Here is something so out of the box for me even I can't believe I painted it. I'm in the middle of painting a portrait, but I needed a break. A student of mine is painting something that has somewhat of an abstract design. She is approaching it in a traditional manner, almost realistic. I, on the other hand, chose to go 180 degrees in the opposite direction...
This doesn't look anything like the photograph. First I did a charcoal thumbnail sketch in my sketchbook. Then I went in with pan pastels on UArt 400 paper, sprayed it with Spectrafix, let the drips happen, and let it dry. I then went in with charcoal to lay out the design. Then I pulled out my terryludwigpastels and had at it with color..... I only used my thumbnail as a reference to paint this, I never went back to the photograph.
First, my thumbnail sketch (4" x 5"):
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved
As you can see by the thumbnail, it appears to have some kind of growth on the branches. In the photo they were red berries, and it was my original intention to put them there. As the painting progressed I felt that it really didn't need the berries, just the red color of the berries.
Finished painting (8" x 8"):
© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved
I really was hesitant to put in those berries. I liked the simplification, for me this was all about lost and found edges, scumbling and the color palette.
