I plan to paint at least one park from every quadrant of the city. Here is the first batch, from the S.E. (2) and Center:
Showing posts with label pastel surfaces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pastel surfaces. Show all posts
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Calgary Parks
For me, one of the best things about Calgary is its parks. And I love painting them.
I plan to paint at least one park from every quadrant of the city. Here is the first batch, from the S.E. (2) and Center:
"Beaver Dam Flats Wooden Bridge". Soft pastel on prepared surface. Private collection.
"Up the path you go". Soft pastel on prepared surface. Private collection.
"Reader Rock Garden". Soft pastel on prepared surface. Private collection.
I plan to paint at least one park from every quadrant of the city. Here is the first batch, from the S.E. (2) and Center:
Pet portraits
After painting people I decided to experiment with pets...
"Darth Vader", soft pastel on Pastelmat. Private collection.
"Fawkes", soft pastel on Pastelmat. Private collection.
"Chevy", soft pastel on prepared surface. Private collection.
"Snickers" soft pastel on prepared surface. Private collection.
Portrait workshop
After I participated in a Pastel Portrait workshop with Jane Romanishko I became inspired to paint people. Here are the results:
"Madonna", soft pastel on Pastelmat.
Taormina
Back from my trip to Italy and inspired by the beauty around me, there are lots of paintings that want to come out... Here is the first one from that tip.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Spirit Raven - again...
"Harvest Moon Raven II" pastel on prepared surface, 29 x 44 cm.
There are "hidden" birds in this painting... do you see them?
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Fountains of Andalucia
This is a series of fountains inspired on my recent trip to Spain. The Moorish ruins had been reconstructed and I was fascinated by the stonework, the nooks and crannies, the water features...
Fountain I
Pastel on prepared surface, 29 x 44 cm
Fountain II
Pastel on prepared surface, 29 x 44 cm
Fountain III
Pastel on prepared surface, 29 x 44 cm
Monday, February 15, 2016
Spirit Foxes
Rocks
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Moon Ravens
Freezing Moon Raven
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Monday, August 24, 2015
More experiments with abstraction - Spirit Bear series
Spirit Bear I
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Spirit Bear II
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Northern Lights Spirit Bear
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Private collection.
Spirit Bear III
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
As the Ravens Series in the previous post, the paper received a watercolor underpainting, then the drawing was made on top, then a layer of acrylic ground for pastels applied and finally the pastel was applied to create the painting. The texture created by the acrylic ground can be seen in all the paintings created this way. This adds interest and variety to the work, and it is a lot of fun!
More experiments with abstraction - Ravens series
Harvest Moon Raven
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Private collection
Reflection
Pastel on prepared surface, 15 x 25 cm
Happy Crow
Pastel on prepared surface, 15 x 25 cm
Red Raven; Yellow Raven
Pastel on prepared surface, 15 x 25 cm each
Crazy Crow
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Mystery and Magik
Pastel on prepared surface, 19 x 25 cm
Blue Moon Raven
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
Mystical Raven
Pastel on prepared surface, 28 x 35 cm
This series has been done following the teachings of Debora L. Stewart on abstracted realism and her way of handling the surface pastel is applied to. Starting with a sturdy paper, a watercolor underpainting is created. When it dries out the drawing is made, a coating of acrylic ground for pastels applied on top, and finally the actual pastel work. It is more involved, but an interesting texture results from all this and more colors and undertones can be realized, A lot of fun and surprises!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Lavender fields
At 50 x 76 cm it is larger than my usual paintings, and done on a surface that I decided never to use again (Canson Mi-Teintes Touch).
Monday, March 26, 2012
Commissioned Work
This pastel painting is called "The Four Guardians of Kung Fu" and was commissioned by a gentleman with a passion for martial arts. The animals' colours and respective positions are fixed, which made the composition challenging. The symbols in the center represent the name of his dojo.
Painted on specially prepared board, 60cm x 60cm. Private collection.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Surfaces and supports - PastelMat
I find PastelMat to be a very nice surface to work with. It shares the depth of tooth with sandpaper without the harshness. This means that pastels (specially PanPastels) adhere quite well to it, blending and erasing are a bit more difficult and fixatives are not required. Also there is very little dust produced while working on these surfaces, always a good thing.I call this painting "The leaning Lighthouse of Peggy's Cove", and was created using PanPastels, soft and hard pastels on PastelMat paper.
Surfaces and supports - sandpaper
Here is another example of painting on sandpaper: a Tuscan window overlooking a vineyard.Painted using PanPastels and hard pastels.
Surfaces and supports
Pastels are very versatile and can be applied to almost any surface that has some texture for the pastel to hold on to. Shiny stuff will not work!There are several makes of pastel paper, pastel board, velour paper, sandpaper, and PastelMat.
Some types of pastels work better on certain kinds of papers, I found.
For instance PanPastels are too soft for Strathmore Pastel paper, it just doesn't stick. But it works great on sandpaper or PastelMat.
Or a type of "velour" paper, very soft, like the one used to paint this flower. This velour paper is very interesting to work with, blending is more difficult - and careful planning is required, as erasing is not easy either.
There is so much available these days that can be confusing at first. If you are just starting out exploring the wonderful world of pastels, start with the Strathmore Pastel paper. It comes in assorted colours and is relatively inexpensive. Canson Mi-teintes and Fabriano (these people have been making paper since 1264!) are favourites with most pastelists for their versatility and range of colours.
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