August Evening on the Dungeness River

This is a notan - a Japanese word that refers to the simple beauty of a black, white, and gray value study. I made a little cardboard template with a 2" x 3" window so I can quickly draw a frame in my sketch book in which to compose several notans for each painting.

After I coated the 300# Arches watercolor paper with 2 coats of acrylic gesso and pumice, I blocked in the first layer of hard pastels.














Here I have washed the pastels with alcohol creating a loose under-painting.

On the left are the Nupastel sticks I have used - it's a narrow selection of colors and values but enough to 'tone' the paper.











Now I have added a second pass of Nupastel - using the same sticks really, but just refining the values and shapes.  Checking my notan, I see that I am fairly true to the value design I created.












Here is the finished painting...water is difficult to paint; moving water is VERY difficult to paint especially for a borderline OCD painter like me.