Garden at the Pond at Twilight

Garden at the Pond at Twilight, © 2017 Sheryl Karas

In this piece I've returned to my first love — pastels! But I do it differently than most because I wanted a way to present my work without glass and a frame. That meant a lot of of research and multiple experiments to come up with a solution. I'm not going to give away all of my secrets at the moment but several top coats of fixative and acrylic varnish are involved.

The scene is a garden featuring lavender in the foreground at the edge of a pond at twilight when the light comes in low to the ground from the side. It's what photographers call the "Golden Hour"—everything seems washed in shiny gold as the sun is just about to dip below the horizon. I snapped a reference photo to remind me of what the scene looked like and added fantasy details at home.

The original is available. It's 12" x 12" on cradled panel mounted on a second 16" x 16" cradled panel painted black. Prints and prints on canvas are available on Fine Art America.