Don't play with it

When I was much younger, I did a pastel piece of the Annadale waterfalls. I stumbled upon it recently and decided to give it another shot. The reference I used is one on this blog that I took when doing an island tour with a couple visiting friends, Maurissa and her cousin.

The first time I did a piece like this it was on white paper. Now this time it's on black paper. What I've discovered about using black paper is that it makes the images pop a lot more intensely than on white. Yes, it changes the tones of some colours like yellow and orange to a green-ish/brown-ish tinge but that can be quickly avoided if it's too bothersome by layering first with white.

Pardon the varied photo quality... my camera died somewhere along this journey and I was forced to rely solely on my crappy blackberry camera.

First I layed down the initial colours for the stone and water. I used a mixture of light green, blue and yellows for the water.

Proceeded to add in minor details to the rock face and foliage while blending in.

Added in the flowing-over grass.

Blended in the grass and added the vines.

Everything blended in!