Energizing Mark Making
Lively mark-making is a wonderful way to create expressive, playful paintings. I am always amazed at how versatile pastels are when it comes to making marks that add movement to a composition.
For my new Orchard Blooms painting series, I wanted to test the visual impact of varied marks and strokes to portray the same scene on different weather days. The first painting explores marks to convey a calm and warm spring day (top image). For the second piece, I wanted to capture the energy of a breezy day just after the spring rains ended (bottom image).
Making color choices based on the weather (amount of sun, warmth, wind) was straightforward. But how could I convey the difference between a breezy, damp day versus a warm calm day with my strokes and marks? How could I leverage my marks to create an expressive interpretation of the orchard?
For the calm day painting Orchard Blooms in May (top image), I used a light hand to lay down the first layers of paint. As I built up layers of color, I used a mix of widths and shapes of strokes to give the blossoms volume and variety. The narrow and zigzagging strokes give a sense of airiness in the new growth at the end of the branches of the apple trees. The thicker “impasto” marks convey masses of blossoms.
I turned to more adventurous and directional marks to portray the breezy, damp day in Orchard After Spring Rains (bottom image). The distinct and visible marks did most of the work to indicate energy and movement in the air. Rich hues and the deep value range helped highlight lush new growth in the farm field.
As I worked up layers of pigments in both paintings, I left most marks alone and did minimal blending. I edited out details in the scene to keep the composition fresh. These strategies helped the distinct marks tell the story and prompt viewers to linger a bit longer as they take a visual journey through the springtime orchards.
Diana Rogers, Orchard After Spring Rains, pastel
