Tag Archives: pastel

Blossoms in Blue

Postcard #1 is complete. I think. I will look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. I did some subtractive painting, adding spots of yellow, and a light wash of white acrylic. Next I scraped away some of the white wash to show the yellow, and create some grassy texture.

Added some yellow, and a light wash of white. Scraped and scratched the wash.

The stems were already there. They were part of the first blue layers. I added the flower center, some petal detail on the smaller blooms, and scribbled in some grass. Two blue splatters look like distant flowers, and one of them even has a stem. Pure luck that.

Adding details.

OK, I know this is a bit blurry. I couldn’t get a decent shot, and I was anxious to see how it would scan. I need to seal it, so I experimented and used Saran wrap to cover the scanner bed. (You can see the wrinkles.)

I used oil pastel to add more yellow, and bits of pink and purple. I added nupastel to add more white, and some sky blue, I softened some with a Q-tip, and left some marks rough. I tried to bring back some of the white crayon marks that were in the under painting.

Maybe I will add more yellow. Or more white. White splatters?

I am not thrilled with where the two stems are meeting. I tried to bring one stem forward by making it brighter. Didn’t quite work. I need to darken the background a bit I think.

What do you think? I would value any opinions on how I can improve this. It may not be the one I send in to the Gallery, but I do really like it. On to create another…

Pastel Pear

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I am a slacker. Apparently. It has been two weeks since my last post. (Why does that sound as if I am in the confession box?)

As long as I am confessing, I will add my name to the list of artists who feel like they have hit a brick wall. Slight relief to know at least, that I am not alone.

Is there something in the air?

Does pollen make you procrastinate?

I have worked on this pear for several days. Not sure why pastels are drawing me in now. But I do know it has a lot to do with Karen Margulis and her amazing work. She is a daily painter and she is so generous in sharing her insights on her blog. She also has Fabulous lessons for sale in her Etsy shop.

A couple of years ago, I took several free online classes with Johannes Vloothuis. He worked in several mediums, one of them pan pastels. It was love at first sight for me! I never had any interest in pastels before. Much as I did not appreciate Impressionism when I studied art history, I could not find beauty in pastel paintings. They just never captured my eye.

But again, I have done a 180. I think it is due to the fact that so often details are kept to a minimum. I find pastel very, soothing, Pastel landscapes, draw me in, and give me… a peaceful moment. I have yet to try pan pastels (expensive!!) but I my lust for them is like that of a youngin’ counting the days until Christmas, in July.

I just have to give a huge “Thank You!” to all the artists who share their knowledge so freely. What a blessing!

Here is my humble pear study. I’d love to hear what you think.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

A beginning. Pear. 5 x 5 pastel, © Sheila Delgado 2014

A middle. Pear. 5 x 5 pastel, © Sheila Delgado 2014

An end? Pear. 5 x 5 pastel, © Sheila Delgado 2014

A Pastel Floral

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Flowers for Mama. Pastel, 5 x 5. © 2014 Sheila Delgado

I am so happy with how this turned out.

I found these pastels in the clearance aisle. The set is missing six, all warm, and mostly yellows. Explains why I am leaning towards the cool end of the spectrum. I only spent $4 on a set of 36, so I don’t have that feeling that I am wasting expensive art supplies. Freeing, when it comes to learning a new medium. I can play and just have fun.

I started out thinking I would paint Bougainvillea. Maybe close up abstract shapes. Not what this is at all.

I started with some loose pink shapes in watercolor. I worked the entire piece, but left the flowers until the end. I absolutely love the light green in this, light sap green. Using that with light blue, and indigo and seeing how they play off of each other. The darks in this are all indigo, sometimes mixed with green.

My composition could use tweaking. I have an even amount of buds, and they line up a bit more than they should. I could have divided the layout better, had more of the sky, and more of the shadows. Blah-blah-blah. But I did manage to seal this one without destroying it!

Still for all the blatant mistakes. I like it! Maybe I am hallucinating, I think it really looks good on a pillow. And that is what I intended.

What do you think?