It has been almost two weeks since I last posted, and I apologize for the delay. Life gets busy sometimes, especially in the summer months. It was just delightful to jump back in the painting process again with this quirky setup. I have this little wooden chicken that works his way into table settings and onto various shelves at different times. That, along with the strawberries offered a color jolt that I liked. I tried to do some color mixing of the pastels not by blending with a finger, but by crosshatching with strokes of a slightly different color in a close value. The berries have about four different reds in them with hightlights in a light orangey-pink. Color is such a joy!
Love all the colors you used in this piece Carol. Hope you get to paint more often. Me too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Carol! I am, indeed, looking forward to more painting time, and I hope you'll have some, too.
ReplyDeleteI always admire the textures that you produce with the pastels nearly as much as the painting itself. Your strawberries look super and that quirky little chicken is cute! I like how he makes his way in to everything-sort of like that traveling gnome:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Libby. The Wallis paper gets credit for a lot of that. It's always been one of my favorites. You can scumble or blend to your heart's content and it seems to take it. Rugged stuff!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous color combination! It's so fresh and strong. I love your use of pastels, makes me want to work with them. Wallis paper . . . and which brand of pastels do you use?
ReplyDeleteHi Lorraine! So wonderful to hear from you. I thank you for your kind comments, and will answer you here and then through email if you don't make your way back here.
ReplyDeleteFor surfaces (and there are so many possibilities in pastel) my favorites (currently) are Wallis and Art Spectrum. AS comes in many lovely colors and I choose depending on the subject matter or effect that I want.
I usually do my lay-ins with harder pastels, namely Nupastels, or Panpastels. Panpastels come in a "cake"-like container like makeup and you apply it with sponge applicators. These types of pastels help fill the tooth of the paper in a first layer so you don't use up your soft pastels so quickly. Sometimes, I'll make make an underpainting of this first layer by brushing each area with alcohol, or, for more of a design effect, spritzing with water and letting it run slightly. Artist Jean Ranstrom has done this with "Crabby Baby" on her blog at http://jeanranstrom.blogspot.com Go back through "Older Posts."
Then, the fun begins! The soft pastels are applied next, and my favorites are Sennelier, Unison and Terry Ludwig. There are so many wonderful quality brands out there, and I haven't begun to use them all yet. It's all personal preference, and really, you can't go wrong. I hope this gives a little idea how I get started, but there is no ONE right way.
This painting is so fun. Love it
ReplyDeleteThank you, Angela! I had a lot of fun with it. Appreciate your comments
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