I have not long finished this painting it is now at the framers. When we were leaving Shetland and on our way to the airport this dramatic sky caught my eye. The image stayed with me and I just had to paint it.
Shetland Sky, Pastel
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Category Archives: Pastel
China Tea Set, Pastel
Recently I did a demonstration at Stirling Art Club. This was the pastel painting I did during the evening. I had prepared a sketch on mid to dark green Canson paper along with some tonal sketches and colour studies. This enabled me to explain how I would approach the painting.
Quiet Bay, Barra
When I visited Barra I found all the beaches had a different feeling. This one had a calming experience on me. I sat and sketched the scene undisturbed and soaked up the atmosphere. The sketch evokes the memory of the location really well. This painting was done with reference to my sketch.
Dune Grasses, Oil Pastel
This is a study for a larger painting I intend to do. I have not decided what medium I will use yet. The grasses always surprise me how tall they are. I love the sand dunes on The West Sands St Andrews. They always inspire paintings.
Water’s Edge, Pastel
This is the second attempt at this painting. The first one has been painted over, which is quite satisfying as I wasn’t happy with it. This second one is larger and painted on different pastel card. I used Clairefontaine Pastelmat which I am still trying to get to grips with. I did the drawing first then added pastel on top. The ground really grab’s the pastel which is a plus point. However it is not so forgiving when you make mistakes. It is a joy to see children at the beach completely captivated in what they are doing. I hope I captured the mood of the painting.
The Wave, Oil Pastel
Working on a textured ground I did this seascape painting, using Sennelier 38ml large oil pastels. I bought them recently and I am experimenting with them. Normally I use the smaller less chunky version. However I really liked the larger version as you can push the oil pastel around more easily. They felt comfortable in my hand. I love the strength of colour you can achieve with these oil pastels.
Red Squirrel, Pastel
This little squirrel visits our garden ever so often (especially when there is a fresh supply of nuts). He or she is a delight to watch and very cheeky. I couldn’t resist doing this painting.
Christmas Baubles, Pastel
At the last class at St Andrew’s Art Club. I set up a still life with these colourful baubles. I did this painting using mostly tertiary colours.
Tertiary Colours
For this exercise I used pastels that were as close as possible to the 6 colour wheel tertiary colours. I arranged them as they would fall on the wheel. For the painting below I used these colours plus some black, light blue and cream. It was good working with these chosen colours.
Old Masters Triad
Last week at St Andrews Art Club we were looking at The Old Master Triad. I selected the pastels which approximated the appropriate colour for this exercise. I then set them out like a colour wheel before starting a painting. It was nice to work with these harmonious colours. Sometimes with pastels there are so many colour choices it can get overwhelming.