Tonight I started again on my painting which is yet untitled.
Maybe you each can come up with a title that I can name it.
That’s an idea! Can you suggest a name for it?
(Remember that I monitor the comments before approving them :D)
I don’t know if other pastel artists paint like I do.
I use my fingers to blend and push that pigment into the paper.
I do find that this paper I am using (mind you, it is a more expensive paper) is easier to get the pigment into the paper. The tooth on the paper is more coarse than what I am used to, but I am finding that it doesn’t take as much work to get it into the paper. I just sweep the pastel onto the paper, and blend it with my fingers, and it covers nicely.
I am using different shades of grey but I have a hard time finding greys that do not have a blue tint to it.
It gets frustrating, but I am plugging away. What I do is put a TINY bit of the grey on first, actually I will paint it on a scrap piece of paper to test the values and hues of the color.
This color was not exactly what I wanted, but I add a deeper richer pastel and then put a bit of white in it to blend, and it has turned out better than I expected (Thank goodness!)
I use those color shapers too. I blend with them, they are really great to use, because I can control the places I want to put the color. The shapers get in the smallest places to add detail. I paint with them too, and what I mean by that, is I sweep the color shaper directly onto the pastel and apply the shaper to the painting.
For a fixative, I use plain hairspray. It costs me about £1 (GBP). Why use hairspray? Because it does EXACTLY the same thing as the fixative that you get in the art shop, but you pay about £9 for it! So I figure I can buy 9 cans for the price of 1, and it does the same job.
If you are a pastel artist, or anyone who can add tips they use, please comment and let us know.
Thanks very much for dropping by, I am back to painting!
Ciao for now!
Cindy Williams
I figure the woman has either a coy look or a come hither look – very Mae West – come up and see me sometime
Thanks Val, I will have a think about that 🙂
I think I’ve recommended Karen Margulis before, but she has a wonderful blog with tips every day for pastel artists. http://kemstudios.blogspot.ca/ At the moment she is trying out water based oils, but I’m sure she’ll go back to pastels soon. She uses pipe insulation to spread the lower layers – cheap and cheerful.
Also I was talking to a wonderful native pastel artist at an exhibition today. I was explaining how hopeless I am with them and he gave me some tips. He said he has used Pan Pastels and pastel pencils for years. He showed me an instrument like a small palette knife with a spongy end which he uses to blend. Makes sense because it’s like a eye shadow applicator. He said this combination creates very little dust (no kidding he had been painting for a few hours and there were only a few visible flecks on the paint catcher of the easel). He also said the blending tool allowed you to add more layers. As I watched him he had a very light touch.
PS the painting is great. I’m sure it will tell you it’s name when you’re done.
Thanks Sea, I follow Karen, she has some great tips. I’m still waiting on the name lol
Divine. No, that is the name that came to mind. But I agree with Sea, it may reveal itself when you are finished. Looks great Cindy!
Thank you Sheila, I’m holding my breath with each paint stroke 😀