Embrace the Silence

This piece was inspired by my time spent in Cape Breton National Park, Nova Scotia. I got up very early to drive to the bog area to watch the sunrise. It was a chilly late August morning and the steam fog was rising from the water. It was the most quiet place I had ever been. Although I had painted many plein air pastels on this trip, this one was inspired by my time spent there and a photo as reference. I chose this palette to reinforce the mood for this piece. I began with an underpainting of 91% alcohol and hard pastel, and subsequently layered soft pastel over the top. Many different colors were used in the fog and very light application of pastel gave me the foggy appearance.