Crab park

This is painted around the same time as Wet Parking lot. At this time I have started to move away from my "paint-by-number" approach (will show examples in the future, maybe) and adopted my oil painting methods.
In oil painting we follow the rule "fat over lean". Fat is basically paint un-diluted, so paint directly from the tube. Lean is thin paint, paint diluted by mineral spirits such as turpentine. Fat over lean is not just a conservation technique to prevent cracking, it also provides structure to a painting. If you apply the same brushstroke, same size brush, same thickness of paint everywhere on the canvas, the painting can look uninteresting. Using fat over lean, I'd dilute my darks, and use it to block in the paint, create large masses, establish composition, before I slowly introduce white and less the amount of solvent. Thinner paint gives a more fluid and streaky look and thick paint is bolder and and textural.
When I transferred the thinking to pastel painting, I find in many ways it works. And I love to use dark pastel stick to quickly block in the composition, instead of doing a line drawing first and then fill in the color. I find this process is much more natural, organic and the shapes blend so much better since they are not "confined" in lines.

2013 Jan. - 6" x 8.5"

Here is a close up. Click on it to enlarge.