Got a great deal on a 96 set of vintage NuPastels. This is my first attempt with them on some UArt 240 I had leftover. I need to practice scumbling and Im working on composition. Where is the focal point for you when you look at this?
50 marks on uart 500 using NuPastel, Rembrandt, and Light Wish pastels.
I bought a set of 30 PanPastels bc I couldn’t resist. I plan to mostly use them for backgrounds and base layers for fur but played around a little and made a landscape. Reference from Unsplash.
First image is for a challenge called #50Marks. I plan to do a couple more pieces using just fifty marks that are more expressive but this is where my brain went for the first try. The second image is just for fun. I hope someone can identify the person! My kids kept asking who the lady was 😂
On UArt 320 with mostly Rembrandt, nupastel, and Stabilo pencils. I thought the pink shadow blob in the middle was too distracting after I finished so I tried to blend it in but I wasn’t very successful. Oh well moving on haha
This is my first time using uart paper. This is on 240 and while it’s definitely an improvement from actual sand paper it’s still pretty rough. I accidentally knocked the paper when taking it off the easel and half of my pastel came right off.
Fairly confident I’m not a fan of poppies lol I do like how my distant trees look though. Trying to teach myself how to block in color and finding I really can’t do much on my cheap paper. But I’m going to use it up so I can buy more 😂🫣
I keep thinking I’m choosing simple references and they’re all soooo not simple. Or maybe I’m just overcomplicating them trying to put too many layers. Alcohol wash underpainting on wet/dry sandpaper with light wish pastels.
Made this during nap time and after the kids bedtime tonight. I wanted to try something a little different including an underpainting with alcohol. I ended up getting annoyed with the direction it was going so alcohol washed it again and reworked it. This is on Strathmore pastel paper with Rembrandts, a few Nupastels and Light wish.
Learning lots. I don’t want to do fences. I need to pick a color method. I need to do a value study. But I finished it and did NOT throw it away so that’s progress! I also tried mounting the paper (Pastelmat) with the tape tab method and I think I would’ve liked it much better if I’d used the entire sheet of paper or just taped the edges. This is lightwish and nupastels with some Carbothello pencils for the fence and grass details.
Did this one on 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper altho I didn’t do any underpainting. I tried hard to keep the background out of focus and soft but I almost think the right hand side is too crisp? Does it take focus away from the bird?
I’ve been experimenting with landscapes lately and hate it. Hah! It seems like I can’t slow my brain down long enough to really dedicate the time I need to do one properly. Anyone else struggle with impatience? For pet portraits I spend probably ten-ish hours on each piece stretched out over a week and a half. Doing that means I can get the level of detail I want. But working landscapes and trying to be more suggestive of form leaves me annoyed that I can’t just finish a piece in a couple days. I even tell myself before I begin to make sure I breakout my time into a week or so. Bleh. I threw my last landscape in the trash 😬
I volunteer every spring to create pet portraits for my local humane society and poor Chip here had been abandoned by his volunteer artist! The fundraiser usually happens in April so his owner has been waiting for their portrait for months. I’m so glad I had the time to devote to Chip! This is on Strathmore pastel paper with student grade pastels and a Carbothello pencils. I tried to be more painterly with the grass and keep it soft but I def need some more practice. I can’t wait to try out my sanded paper that just came in the mail!
I know people come on here all the time and say “this is my first time” using pastels but this is my legit second time trying anything with pastel (or drawing with color!) and here is what I’ve learned so far.
Buy better paper
Buy better paper
Buy more pastels
Anticipate bankruptcy 😂
It takes so much more material to build up the layers needed to fill the tooth of the paper I’m using which is just strathmore pastel paper. I used mostly student grade pastel sticks with some nupastel sticks and a couple neutral carbothello pencils. I was really surprised how much blacker my nupastel stick was than the carbothello but I tried to use that to my advantage on the head. I’m loving seeing what everyone is posting!