Busy Week

Its been a busy week, so not much time to create things to show you. I did work on a painting i had started last week as part of the wetcanvas landscape challenge. My first landscape challenge, and after i photographed it i see more that i could work on. Anyway, here it is. Oil on canvas panel, 8 x 10.







And i did finally do another version of the wetcanvas pastel challenge with the limited palette of only five sticks. I used the same ones as last time, a yellow, a red, a blue, a dark grey, and a very light blue. I spent a little more time, i worked on layering, and i simplified the towel background, and i came up with this. Pastel on sanded paper, made with Golden pastel ground on 11 x 14 bristol vellum.

EDM #192

Draw something that floats.

Not much contrast. I made the mistake of trying to draw ice in a glass of water, so everything was clear or white. And it looks a little crooked. Guess i need to practice with a pencil more.

Keeping it Simple

I chose a fairly easy subject this time. One orange, cut in two, sitting on a blue towel. I used my husband's halogen spotlight to provide the lighting. Feeling clumsy, as usual, painting this subject with my sticks of pastel. I see more than what i painted, but i don't know how to portray the texture of the skin of the orange or that of the towel. I guess that shows me how far i have to go.

Stretching

I decided to try a couple of challenges on wetcanvas. The first was to draw from a selected photo reference, a picture of the leaning tower of Pisa. I did it in charcoal since i have an easier time rendering value in charcoal than in pencil. Not much detail but the idea is there.

The next challenge was also from wetcanvas, this time from the pastel group. It was to do a pastel painting using only the primaries plus two. Well, i gave it a go, but it wasn't all that successful. The lemons are sort of recognizable, but the towel gave me fits and is not recognizable. The good thing about doing this challenge is that i didn't see any red in the reference photo. But after much staring, and starting to work on the pastel, i did start to see nuances of red. It makes for somewhat of a victory, to see a little better. A little victory though.

Starting a Blog

Me starting a blog. Who would believe that.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog is to post my attempts at sketching, drawing, and painting, and to document what will hopefully be my improvement. This is a pastel sketch of daffodils i did last week. Every time i work in pastels, i wish that i had more colors, and this time was no exception. i could have used more yellows, especially light yellow. and there's not much detail. sometimes you want a looser presentation, but i still feel clumsy with pastel sticks and wish i knew how to imply the greater detail that i'm looking for.

That's it for now.