Well, my lovely readers. I completed my first piece with pastels. It was just a "learn as I go" piece, so nothing terribly special or fancy, but I'm still pleased with the results--except for the background, which I hate. A week ago (well, half a week ago maybe) I decided I wanted to get into pastels. Mainly because I really miss painting. Alas, as of yet I still don't have a suitable space to set up my easel and painting supplies. Particularly a place that would not quickly become a certain fuzzy cat's new favorite local. I'm thinking cat hair isn't the proper way to build up a surface. ;) Painting "plein air" (outside, on location) would be ideal, but so far the weather hasn't been terribly ideal. Either it's raining or it's so freaking humid *I* would melt, no mention to the painting process.I have always enjoyed and appreciated pastel pieces, granted some more than others. Though, I do reject the trend of calling pastel pieces "paintings" but that's probably just because I'm a snob about such things. So, I went out and got a very cheap set of soft pastels--24 basic tones and 12 earth tones. I soon discovered I should have bought the 12 gray tones as well, but now I'll wait on that. If I get into this hard core, I'm going to want nicer pastels to work with anyway. (At which point I'll also want to get a set of pastel pencils.)
As soon as I had the basic supplies, I dove in. A few mark experiments on a test page, a little fooling around with blending and layering, and I started the piece now posted above. It was fun. I kept a little photo-and-note record of the progress, from the sketch stage to each leaf. I do think I should have gotten pastel paper, or at least something with more tooth, but that'll be the next stage. I have four sheets of watercolor paper, which has a lot of texture to it. Learn the materials, find a basic method, then start to work with the paper. I'm excited though! And I even have a series brewing in my mind.
