Debra C: Day 5 - Chateau Chantal

Can we say "Simplification?"    chalk pastel   9"x22"

                      "You must do the thing you think you can not do."  - Eleanor Roosevelt
 And so I did what I did not think I could do, an Abstraction of a Landscape.   Shapes explode, movement leads me around, atmospheric perspective gives this a "landscape feel" and holds true to the sense of Plein Air.  I am so happy I played with thumbnails & decided to study the values of various colors with a color wheel/value wheel I brought with me today. When will I stop
"mark making?" Well, today was the day!
    Abstraction is a powerful tool, a perfect way to break a bad habit of over detailing subject areas.
 This over-simplification could even go simpler, so Nora tells me...so, at home I will attempt to abstract even more sections, to keep a tree reading as a tree but without those many branches, lines and crevices! To show the bare essentials I have found using the side of my chalks keeps me from getting caught up in the edginess of the details with the edges of the chalk.  I also try not to get too close to the painting by not bending my elbow, use a straight arm to not act like I am drawing with a pencil.