Exploring the Corbières landscape - watercolour and pastels

I sometimes use pastels over failed watercolours. This is a prime example. Having spent most of the weekend labouring on this watercolour, it just didn't work out. But I didn't have the heart to throw it out.

My original plan was to create an abstract rendition of the Corbières landscape which I had sketched earlier in the week. It's a small little sketch, about 10 cm wide. I knew it would be hard to reproduce it's freshness in a larger format.

Instead of using ink for the dark shapes, I used indigo and burnt sienna watercolours. And I was happy enough with how it looked. But I hadn't thought out how I would incorporate the colours above and below. Rule number 1 of watercolours is to start with the lights and finish with the darks. 

I didn't take any photos of the resulting watercolour. It wasn't pretty is all you need to know.

So out came the stanley knife. And the box of pastels.  Much more interesting.

And a few close-ups. I might use these as inspiration for a bigger painting