Rocks: Cracks and Planes

One of the most popular requests I get during my Campobello Island workshops is for a rock demonstration. Our 23-foot tides reveal fascinating rocks, skirted with rockweed, and their forms and color simply beg to be painted.

For this 5x7 pastel, I wanted to illustrate how I paint these rocks. Rocks are made up of planes, no matter how "round" the rockweed may make them seem. Bare rock, of course, shows this characteristic more readily. Cracks with deep darks further define the rocks. Finally, I stress that any round line must be indicated not with roundness but with a series of short, end-to-end, straight lines. I often use the edge of a hard pastel to create these lines.

"Rocks and Rockweed"
5x7, pastel, en plein air
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