Alaska, Near Denali « Pastel on Paper

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Alaska, Near Denali

July 5, 2009 by bmcgurgan

Drawings (from left to right):

Unison soft pastel over Windsor & Newton watercolor on Arches watercolor paper (white tone, 7″ x 10-1/4″), July 2009.
Conté pastel pencil and Unison soft pastel on Cartiera Magnani Pastello paper (light blue tone, 9″ x 12″), July 2009.

My productivity lately has been somewhat slow but I’ve (finally) finished a couple of new pastels based on sketches and photos from our recent trip to Alaska. This broad sweep of distant river near Denali begs further study and is a composition I’ll probably continue to work with in the coming months. In both versions above I’ve tried for a very atmospheric feel, first using watercolor washes as an underpainting and in the second building up lots of cross-hatched, loose lines in pastel pencil and soft pastel. These beautiful vistas were a constant source of amazement for us throughout our travels in Alaska – wilderness as far as the eye can see with no roads, buildings, or power lines.

Posted in Works | 4 Comments

4 Responses

on July 5, 2009 at 8:36 pm | Reply Loriann Signori

MMMMMMMMMMMM. Beautiful atmosphere and distance, Brian.
on July 8, 2009 at 12:06 pm | Reply bmcgurgan

Thanks, Loriann!
on July 11, 2009 at 3:59 am | Reply Jala Pfaff

Wonderful blues, turquoises, and sense of space.
on July 12, 2009 at 2:32 am | Reply bmcgurgan

Thanks, Jala! I’ve rarely used my Unison turquoise colors but enjoyed working with them here – they’ll certainly get more use going forward.