Category Soft Pastels

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Happy Visit

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 0 Living in Michigan, Misc. Blatherings, Oil Pastels, Pastels, Soft Pastels No tags Permalink
happy visit

We had a very happy visit this month, in that Kirsten came for a few days from Portland. Friday we went up to Lansing to clean up the graves. The lavender is still in bloom on the Thorne/Cleary plot in Mt. Hope, and we did some stone scrubbing. There wasn’t much left on the plots in Evergreen, probably because of the lack of rain through most of the summer. We did try the TikTok cleaning tips and got a bit of moss off the stones. We will do more in the spring.

happy visit

After we got back from Lansing, we spent some time with pastels before Bob joined us for dinner. It was fun to just have that quiet time talking and being creative. Mom and Kirsten worked with the oil pastels, while I used the soft pastels. How do you blend with your finger and not rub a hole in it?

happy visit - soft pastels

I used soft pastels for this spring iris image, photo reference from a picture I took in our garden. It was a very happy visit indeed, and I am looking forward to Kirsten returning. Mom is going to continue working on some oil pastel work. I’ve started up a quick water color and gouache, photo reference from a recent cover of Fine Gardening magazine.

It is nearly October. The weather has been lovely, thankfully. I hope it continues all of next month.

One Image, Several Mediums

Monday, September 6, 2021 0 gouache, Painting, Pastels, Soft Pastels, watercolor No tags Permalink
one image several mediums - soft pastels

As you saw from the August 16 Watercolor post, I took one reference image and used it to paint in watercolor and fountain pen ink. I decided to continue the trend over a few other mediums, hence One Image, Several Mediums. Above is the attempt in soft pastels. I like the boat and I like the overall softness of the image.

one image several mediums - oil pastel

This next image is in oil pastels. This is my first attempt using them. Here’s a hint if you haven’t tried it before: don’t use watercolor paper. Especially cold press. It is too textured and you can’t get the best blending nor can you get color in all of the low areas of the paper. I’ll have to give oil pastels another try on a different paper for sure.

one image several mediums - gouache

This final image, and the best one I think, is in gouache. I’ve had the most practice with gouache, and I’m probably best at it for that reason. I think it’s still not what I would want it to be, but maybe it’s the reference image. I read once that a photograph might not always make the best reference for painting, but I can’t really figure out what makes a good reference and what does not. I don’t feel like I’ve had great successes with painting in the recent batches, which is a bit frustrating. Still, I’ll continue on.

Beam Watercolor Paints

This final image was a watercolor using a very limited palette of Beam Paints. Gosh, these are gorgeous paints. And the kit, when you receive it, makes you feel like you have purchased a very special gift for yourself. I encourage you to check out the link for the company, even if you aren’t a painter. I think it will spark your own creativity and make you consider how you purchase any art or craft supplies. I’m not pleased with how the image turned out, but that’s my fault and not the paint. I just don’t quite get watercolor yet, you know?

It was a lovely, peaceful holiday weekend. I did wind up finishing my last book, so I’ll have a Summer Reads update coming up soon. The summer went much, much too fast but then again doesn’t it always here in Michigan?

Misc. Blatherings

Wednesday, August 25, 2021 0 Animals, Kitty, Misc. Blatherings, Painting, Soft Pastels, watercolor No tags Permalink
misc. blatherings postcards

Time for some misc. blatherings. Can you believe we’re nearing the end of August? I did finish a sewing project, an altar cloth, for Mom. It has some decorative stitching on it. Work is a bit stressful now. I’m trying to chill out, but you know how that goes. Most of the time, I wish I was home painting.

I have been doing a little bit of painting. I’m not counting these, above, in my official paintings, so they don’t have numbers. They are small, postcard sized, trying out some new paper and new techniques. Again, I figure it is fair to show the things that aren’t working out so well and not just the good ones. Cousin Marlene sent me a pack of vintage postcards, including this one of cacti. The piece one on the left is in watercolor on watercolor postcard stock. The one on the right was my first attempt with soft pastels on sanded paper. It’s obviously not good. But, I think maybe I like pastels? Last night I started a bigger one, of the boat on the water images I did with watercolor and ink in the previous post. I don’t quite have all of the right colors but I think it’s coming together anyway. I’ll post it when it is done. It seems you need a bigger size piece for pastels, especially the Terry Ludwig variety as they are chunky.

I belong to a large number of facebook art groups. So many in fact, they are taking up all of my feed and with a lot of crap. So I have taken to hiding a lot of the artists from the groups as if it isn’t inspiring or I just don’t like that kind of art, why look at it? And horse paintings? Automatic hide. I would guess horse paintings are the number one subject for people just starting out in art. Why? I don’t care how good it is, when you’re done with it, it’s still a freaking horse.

Such sweetness of a sleeping beast. I had last Thursday and Friday off work to join an online MSU gardening conference and Maxy sure enjoyed having company on the couch. He really misses Bob during the day.

We’re going through another round of 90 degree days, so summer hasn’t quite given up yet. It’s been humid, too. I’ve had two migraines in the past week, and headaches every other day. At least we did get rain last night so the garden was saved from certain death by dehydration.