Pastels

Topics:

Pastel Process

First step is choosing the key colors around which the painting will originate. This process might take as many as 2-3 days. I a testing colors for value, hue and temperature making sure that when layered on top of each other they create depth of field as well as...

read more

Snow in Pastels

How to make Snow in Pastels?  Well.. living in Maine in the winter teaches this! Everyday it snows or there is snow on the ground is a lesson in white... the full range of white like Gandolf's cloak. Here on the Schoodic Peninsula we have our own weather system.. I...

read more

Painting Snow in Pastel

Painting Snow in Pastel is full of dsnuance. In pastels I have two large trays of whites- I have them sorted by warm and cool colors. I pick from these trays the whites that are right for the scene I am observing and for the feeling I want to create. This is our dusk...

read more
Mixing Spring Greens

Mixing Spring Greens

Whether one mixes greens from blues and yellows or uses greens from the tube, greens need to be warmed. Mixing greens for Eastern spring is fun. But I just figured out, not so much a formula but a Guiding Principal. I am a bit embarrassed it has taken me this long to...

read more
Choosing Pastels

Choosing Pastels

There are so many pastels .. and they are not cheap. How does one choose which to purchase. Nupastel has a 96 stick set. These colors are clear, not chalky and cove a range of values and hues. I take them on location and complete most of a painting.  They are a very...

read more