Pastels #25 & #26

Another one for the September Pastel Strokes at WetCanvas.

8"x10", Flannel Gray Canson Mi-Tientes.


This one was for the October Landscape Challenge at WetCanvas.

8"x10", Flannel Gray Canson Mi-Tientes.

Not happy with either one, so I will count them as more practice with pastels.

Pastel #24

Done for the September Landscape Challenge at WetCanvas. I thought it would be good practice for clouds, but pastel soup ensued.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Tientes.

Pastel #23

Done for the September Pastel Strokes at WetCanvas.

9"x12", Canson Blue Mi-Tientes.

Pastel #22

Always a glutton for punishment, I have done another Pastel Strokes Challenge from Wetcanvas. We were given a selection of black-and-white photos from which to choose. The color choices are mine. Next time I will choose something with less detail.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Tientes.

Pastel #21

This one is for the WetCanvas! July Pastel Strokes. I'm not pleased with it, but it's done.

Pastel #20

This is a WetCanvas! Landscape Challenge from last year that I never got around to doing until now. I need to try this one again with more time and patience.

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

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 #18

This pastel was done for the WetCanvas! June Landscape Challenge. I usually do the landscape challenges in oil, but the pastels were handy. I didn't think I could manage the scene in either medium, so it didn't matter.

It came out much better than I expected, and the water blues are much more subtle in real life.

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

Pastel #17

Yet another for the WetCanvas! June Pastel Strokes.

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

Pastel #16

Yet another challenge from WetCanvas! This one is for the June Pastel Strokes.

The original photograph includes the whole boat, but I simplified things for me and cropped for a less complicated area.

Though I prefer working on white paper, I am trying colored papers. I have already used a few cream-colored papers, but I was unhappy with them because I don't like to see the paper color around the edges of the painting. This time I taped off the work area with black drafting tape, and I was not distracted by the paper color.

8"x10", Icy Blue Canson Mi-Teintes.

Pastel #15

Another WetCanvas! Pastel Strokes for May try. It is not what I really had in mind, but it is okay. My mechanics of using pastels must be improving because this one is on Canson Mi-Teintes, and the several layers of pastels behaved beautifully ... or I got lucky and don't know how.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes.

Pastel #14

A WetCanvas! Pastel Strokes for May. Mostly Rembrandts on Colorfix sanded paper. I used a couple of Schmincke pastels around the sky and water, but the paper chewed into them too much to suit me. A lighter touch for applying the pastels is needed, or the paper could be sanded down a little.

About 9"x12".

Pastel #13 - Cloud Practice

A little cloud practice is needed. Looking at clouds is a pleasure, but rendering them scrambles my brain. Based on a photograph from the Image Library at WetCanvas!

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes.

Pastel #12

A different paper! This is done on Colorfix sanded paper with Rembrandt pastels. I had tried the sanded paper once before with just marks on a half-sheet and made a horrible mess. So far I have used Canson Mi-Teintes or similar pastel papers, but I needed something that would hold more pastels.

As a beginner, a lot of my problems with pastels are simply lack of experience. I have seen many beautiful paintings done on the Canson paper, so I cannot blame the paper. Cannot blame the pastels either. It's me!

I pulled out the other half-sheet of the Colorfix sanded paper yesterday, made some pastel marks on it, and suddenly everything went well. I even tried some watercolor on the paper and added pastels over the watercolor after it dried. Nice. Time to try an actual painting.

This scene has been done before, but it was easy to choose for my sanded paper experiment. I went so far as to use watercolor for the first layer. It was very pretty and rich in color, but it made it difficult to determine where and how much pastel was used. I'm not ready for a watercolor background.

The pastels were so easy to apply this time around. Only Rembrandts were used because they were doing great on the sanded paper, and I did not plan to take this farther than getting used to the sanded paper. The Rembrandts work so much better than on regular paper. I'll add the softies on top next time.

This one is 9"x12". As usual, the colors are a little off. I fool around with the color adjustments, but I get bored with learning how to do them and give up. The best I can do is to pick a white point, usually with the aid of a value card to the side in the photo, and leave it at that.

Pastel #11

Another for the WetCanvas! April Pastel Strokes. I keep trying. Colors are a little off but close enough. I'm still focused on the mechanics of using pastels, and the Pastel Strokes is giving me lots of practice material.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes smooth side.

Pastel #10-1/2

Revised painting.

Original painting.

Some changes were made to the painting in my previous post, mainly to emphasize lighter and darker areas. I was actually testing a new pastel fixative, SpectraFix, to see how I liked it, so the changes were done quickly and with more thought to the fixative than the painting. I prefer the revisions (thanks, Paula, for the suggestions), and I like the SpectraFix.

The photo adds brown to the orange area, but the other colors are close enough.

The SpectraFix is odor-free, and that alone is enough to be fond of the product. Other fixatives have a toxic, strong odor, but the SpectraFix is not toxic, and there is no odor. It's in a pump-spray container, and I need to become familiar with the distance to use for spraying and the least amount to spray at a time. Now I won't avoid fixing the base layers of pastels.

Pastel #10

Another for the WetCanvas! April Pastel Strokes. I keep trying.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes smooth side.

Pastel #9

Done for the WetCanvas! April Pastel Strokes. The only thing I managed here was to get the pastels on the paper. I took an interesting photo and made an uninteresting painting. Maybe next time will be better.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes smooth side.

Pastel #8 - Birds of a Feather

More messing around with pastels.

Pastel #7

More birds from the WetCanvas! March Pastel Strokes.

Some of the colors are off, but it's raining outside, and this is close enough, though the bills are much more yellow.

For my seventh pastel, I'm okay with it. I have a pad of Strathmore 400 pastel paper, so I thought I'd give it a try. With my inexperience with pastels, it didn't make much difference to me. My focus is learning to work with the pastel layers and colors. Ditto when I use oils and watercolors.