Pastel and Watercolor - Landscape in Progress

I like to spend time with my wife and last night I spent it chatting with her, watching the Nick Cannon hosted America's Got Talent, and trying to stay focused on a gouache painting of a desert landscape based on a monthly scumble photo hosted by Wet Canvas.

I laid down a grid, sketched in some rough lines, and then started slinging paint.  Sadly, I am not that good with watercolor.  I get by and can do smaller projects, but at 9x12, I am starting to get out of my element.  Watercolor some how dries too fast and too slow at the same time and, being the multi-tasking guy that I am, I have a hard time rolling with it.

Watercolor landscape until you hit the pastel sky

I broke the entire landscape down into 7 masses and painted them quickly with hints of shapes within the masses.  By the end of 90 minutes, I was a bit frustrated with how slow layering is, the need to allow time for drying, and generally working it like it was transparent watercolors.  But hey, I don't have to wait!

Rather than succumb to the tedium of layering washes of paint and drying paper with a hairdryer, I busted out a couple of Sennelier soft pastels and blasted colorful dust into the sky of the painting with the abandon of a desert breeze. So. MUCH. Better.  The gradient in the sky is deep, richer than Richy Rich, and creamy smooth.

Now I am working mixed media, and the sky is looking good.  This is a lot of fun!  I have missed using the awesome power of pastels.  The watercolors are super for loose, exciting sketching and I have good control with pastels, so I can dress-up the watercolors and hopefully end up with something almost nice to look at.