Paint Along with Me - Day Four

With a very light yellow, I indicate lightest areas of the painting. This is to help me determine my value range. How dark do I want to go based on my lightest value? Note: this isn't stark white.

I begin to work the background choosing various colors. This is the time when, if you were actually here, that we would talk about color choices. 

I'm working more intuitively now and focusing on the glass plate. 

My colored pencil work of the past is well known for sparkling glass. In pastel, I want to handle my impression of glass much less precisely. 

The reflections cast onto the table: With a light color, I lay in a pattern of reflections. Then, with a gloved finger, I drag across the whole area to soften it. Sscroll back to the reference photo to see how the reflections soften as the plate gets father away from the surface it is sitting on. At the base of the plate they are sharper in shape and lighter in value than at the rim of the plate where they are less defined and darker because the distance of the rim of the plate in relation to the table top is increased. 

to be continued...