Pastel #19

And another for the WetCanvas! June Pastel Strokes, though I did not post this one in their thread. It's not very good, and I cropped out most of the photo (again!) to simplify the image to suit my skill level.

For this one I tried all soft pastels instead of beginning with NuPastels and/or Rembrandt pastels. Hhmmpf! I need more skill before I try soft pastels alone again. Having a base of the harder pastels makes a difference.

5"x7", Steel Gray Canson Mi-Teintes.

Pastel #17

Yet another for the WetCanvas! June Pastel Strokes.

8"x10", Steel Gray Canson Mi-Teintes.

Pastels #4 and #5

I'm not good at practicing, but now that I have my pastel collection nicely organized, it's time to work on the mechanics of the little rascals. Some people have to practice in order to learn, and I'm a slow learner with little attention span for practicing.




NuPastels and Rembrandts are being used for practice. No reason to waste the good stuff.

When I use watercolors, I have to spend a lot of time doing a drawing before painting. I'm dyslexic (not bad, but enough to be inconvenient), and lines sometimes take off in wrong directions. With oils and pastels the base drawing is being skipped for now. There is time to spot errors and to correct them as I work without ruining everything, so I can focus on learning to use the media instead of a good base drawing.

The nice thing about pastels is that I can spend time with color relationships without having to mix the colors needed. Since I'm in the learning stage, I'm not concerned with wonky drawings but with using the colors and seeing what works for me and what does not.

When I take my glasses off, I cannot see the dust that is left.

Both 5"x7", Canson Mi-Teintes smooth side.

Pastels #1 and #2

After years of collecting pastels, scribbling a few marks on paper, wrinkling my nose in disgust at the mess and results, and putting the pastels away for another time, I have decided to give them a serious try. As I suspected, I am faced with a big learning curve on the mechanics of pastels. Yikes!

Here are my first two attempts. My focus was on applying the pastels, not the drawings.



My first try on the right side of Canson Mi-Teintes. Too rough for me at this time, but it was fun to see what happened with the pastels. I had never tried actual objects before (seriously, only 2-second color scribbles before), and building the layers is interesting.



My second try is on the wrong side of Canson Mi-Teintes. It's rougher than it feels to finger-touch, but I am much happier with the surface.

These are not keepers, but there is enough in them for me to try more, and my pastel collection is no longer pristine!

These were for the Pastel Strokes February 2009 at WetCanvas!

EDM #161 and Painting with Oils

EDM #161 - Draw Something That Smells Wonderful.

Have you ever walked into your kitchen and been surprised with the wonderful scent of ripening cantaloupe? It's more fun if you've forgotten the cantaloupe has been awaiting your attention. A nice quarter slice is sufficient, and I prefer mine at room temperature. The remainder is cut into chunks and placed in the refrigerator for future nibbling.

I tried oils again, though I'm only at the stage of becoming familiar with moving the paint around. Very simple compositions are all I can handle for now. Before I tried the cantaloupe, I pulled out the apple that I tried previously and made a few changes. I like the revised apple best (bottom image). 5"x7".


How am I supposed to store my practice oil paintings? Don't they need access to sunlight to prevent yellowing? Then there's the time it takes to dry. There's nothing worth framing, but I would like to keep them awhile as a reference against possible future improvement. I keep my watercolors in notebooks or in a box, but I cannot do that with these oils. So far I have finished two 5x7's, but I don't look forward to these things multiplying and drying throughout my home.

My Sad History with Learning Oil Painting

Near the end of 2006 I learned about water-soluble oil paints and decided to give them a try. I quickly discovered how little I knew about paints and mixing the colors. Numerous times I had to find my notes on mixing browns and greys. How hard can that be?!!



Above is my first try with oils. It's unfinished because after all my work with the browns and greys, I realized I didn't have a clue about doing the kittens' fur properly and mixing good whites and creams. I gave up.

Near the end of my attempt with the kittens, I cleverly decided to try a portrait.



This is as far as I went. My first realization was that I had forgotten how to draw eyes and that painting them would be even worse.

So, off I went to work on drawing. Watercolors were also part of my education only because I had tried them once before and I had a stash of old watercolors, brushes, and paper.

With the watercolors I became familiar with the color names, attributes, and mixing. Huge learning curve! There's so much more to learn, and my watercolor skills need a lot of work.

Although I'm still working on drawing and watercolors, I decided to pull out the water-soluble oils again.


I know this is bad, but the paint is on the canvas (canvas paper! *lol* the others are on stretched canvases), and it has a bunch of mixed colors that I could not have done before. No pre-planning for this one -- I drew an apple and everything else just happened. Now I'm comfortable enough with colors to pull out the oils occasionally for a bit of practice.

The photo of the apple is not sharp, but after 15 shots I gave up. The auto-focus did not like the fresh oil, and my eyes are not good enough for manually focusing a digital camera.

EDM #154 - Draw a Lemon

Since the yellow was ready, you have a bonus of two lemons instead of one!

Lemon is fantastic for so many things.

Lemonade! Two servings please. A spritz of lemon in my Coca-Cola is fun. Lemon in my iced-tea is a must.

Homemade lemon meringue pie is a favorite. If it's homemade, there's a good chance extra lemon juice and zest has been added.

I could go on, but I'm already beginning to feel the calories.

With so much time being spent on practicing drawing, I've been neglecting practicing with watercolors. That's what happens when trying to learn both at once, but sometimes I feel the progress. Nothing exceptional; just progress.

EDM #152 - Draw a Nut

Pralines. Pecan pie with whipped cream. Toasted, salted pecans. Fudge with pecans. Just a few reasons I like pecans.

EDM #133 - Draw a Peach

It's not a real peach. It's a glass art peach that I was given after working on a presentation for an ad agency. They won the account.

WetCanvas! April Challenge

Here's my try at the WetCanvas! April Challenge, Fruit Vender, St. Lucia. There should be more fruit, but I was tired of drawing bananas. It's kinda' like what I had in mind ... not close but kinda'.

5x7 inches, Fabriano Aristico Traditional White, MaimeriBlu watercolors.

Future BLT Component

This tomato will soon be joined with bacon for a delicious sandwich. I'm out of lettuce, but who cares! BLT's would suit me three times a day, though I do miss the old-fashioned, more acidic tomatoes.

Pears

Just practicing.

An Apple

Drawing the outline of an apple is easy. Filling the outline with watercolor is difficult for me. Perhaps I should paint an apple a day until I get it right.

EDM #98 - Free Choice: Draw Anything You Like

Last summer I ordered a small Lama Li watercolor book that was described as having cold-pressed paper. The name Lama Li was nowhere on the label or book, and even though the label stated cold pressed, the paper is rough. I was just starting to learn watercolors, and I did not want something new and strange in the mix. The book was put aside.

Feeling sorry for the poor, neglected book, I pulled it out to give it a try. Interesting paper. The paper won't take any abuse, but I like the way colors react. The book will be put away again, waiting for the time my skills develop more and I can handle the paper.

Fruity Christmas

While hoping someone would send me a box of fruit for Christmas, UPS kindly delivered a box with a selection of oranges, apples, and pears. I'm sending a thank-you note on the postcard I painted of some of the fruit. By the way, they're all delicious.

EDM #24

So, I was bored. The banana was easy.

More Fruit but on Flat Paper

Same paper as in previous post, but I stretched this paper using paper tape on gatorboard. It's nice and flat. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get used to stretching paper ... when I am skilled enough with painting to warrant nicely stretched paper. Until then, I will stay with working on paint, water, and mixed color while using drafting tape or nothing with the paper.

The best part was discovering it wasn't difficult to get the paper tape off the gatorboard.

Tightly based on a loose painting in a book. I need to loosen up!

Little, Warped Pears

Well, they do resemble pears! The paper was taped to a board, but it's very warped. It's 140-lb paper, though not a good brand.