Here is some work I did recently:

This is the start of my Columbia River birds.

 

 

A little further along. . .

 

The finished work!  Kind of an exercise in subtlety with the various greys throughout, and lacking the vibrant color and light that is usually apparent in my work.  What little bits of color there are, in the pilings for instance, are very soft and delicate.  The narrative, birds possibly taking a break before flying on, is more the focus of this piece.  The background and foreground are all water which reflects a cloudy, gloomy sky.

 

 

 

This is the start of a vibrant sunrise.  I've got the pencil sketch done and have started laying in some color in the sky.

 

The sky is pretty much complete.  Next I worked on the mountains.  I love the purples!  And I've started working on the water.  Unlike many times where I would work dark to light, I'll be doing the pilings and such last in this piece as they are just about the closest thing to the viewer in the foreground.  I try to layer foreground objects over background objects.

 

 

Finished!  I think this is one of my favorite pastels to date!  Of course, it's purple (my favorite color), so go figure.