Category Archives: Pastels

Catch up Friday (aka… It’s raining and I have nothing better to do.)

You were all so very kind not to point out that I missed a day.  Ahem, well… I suspect given that this has happened twice in the first week, it will likely happen again.  Sometimes it just may be poor planning on my part, sometimes just life getting in the way a bit.  Hopefully, as I get used to this whole process, this will happen less and less.  In the meantime, thank you so very much for your patience and good will.  I will always try to catch up when time permits.

This is a quick, pastel, pen and ink sketch of an apple.  Just had a need to draw an apple; there is no rhyme or reason.  I like drawing produce in general, so you’ll probably see more.

Project 365 1/20/2012

This marker drawing is another of those trees, but this time I was taking from yesterday’s line drawing a bit.  Rather than start with the circles like I did with the last tree drawing, I started with the trunk and branches.  It definitely had a different “feel” and sense of movement overall, maybe even more fluid.  I also limited the palette of colors to 4 + black giving it a more cohesive look.  The shading in the background from the bottom up is an artifact of the picture taking process, but I love it.  It is a happy accident that I will try to replicate going forward.

Project 365 1/20/2012

Happy Friday, everyone!!!

Jan 17th part two…

Today was about trying oil pastels.  I can’t even remember when I bought these poor, neglected children.  I started off with a 5″x7″ primed canvas paper and a little blue bottle in the sun.  False start!  Think of it like trying to use chopsticks with your non dominant hand.  It was very awkward and nothing like the ease I usually experience with my pencil drawings.  Meh!

So, I quickly switched over to using a slightly larger, less toothy and much less precious piece of paper.  Touchdown!  It was looser and more natural.  Pushing the color around was a lot of fun.  I intentionally put in some “fire” colors for the background to make the bottle appear that much cooler in temperature.

Project 365 1/17/2012

I learned I very much enjoyed the push of oil pastels on paper, so this will definitely be tried again.  The colors got muddy fast, so there will also be some research involved as to how to properly work with oil pastels.  And, I learned that maybe the materials I work on can be just as important as the materials I work with.

Anti-Resolutions

I gave up making New Year’s resolutions a couple of years back when I realized after more years than I care to count, I hadn’t really kept any.  If anything, I was still making the very same resolutions again and again without any change.  I quietly gave them up and tried not to think about them.  Not too long after that, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with a stage 4 gallbladder cancer.  It makes you wake up in a hurry to the idea there are a few things out there you still want to try.  I dug out the dusty “bucket” list I’d created some time back when the curiosity hit me and picked a couple to try in the coming year.  I loved it!  That was the year of weaving.  This year, it’s the year of art… in particular getting into the studio and trying all those things I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time.

Today was about trying out pastels.  They’ve been lurking in my closet for a couple of years now, totally unused.  I don’t know how to use them but I’ve been curious about them for more years than I can count.  I think it’s the vibrancy of the colors that have attracted me.  So I played and you can see the results of this year’s anti-resolution in progress…

Project 365 1/12/12