Jealous moon

Each flower of the rose of Sharon opens and blooms for one day and closes by nighttime. This characteristic led to the title of this piece. The blooms are a variety of colors and I have used them as the subject in many of my drawings and paintings. My wife and I are lucky enough to have a bank of these plants in our yard and they provide color from Spring until Fall. Each flower is unique and their structure is pretty amazing.

My goal was to create as much variety as I could in the overall painting as well as each petal. I work pretty slowly, initially using various brands of pastel pencils and hard pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes paper. The painting develops in light layers, using softer pastels as it progresses. My favorite for this stage is Unison. Finishing touches will be accomplished with my Schmincke, Diane Townsend, and Terry Ludwig pastels. Lastly, I use my pencils to refine shapes and blend certain areas. I refrain from blending with my fingers or blending tools. I believe this can mute the brightness and vibrancy of the pastel. And the pastel pencils blend very nicely with the softer ones if you're careful. Too hard a touch will result in the removal of the softer pastel.

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Pastel Paper Used