Pastel Guild of Europe

Good news for all European pastellists!
If you're like me, maybe you have missed an European Society to join, to promote our wonderful medium, to find information, to share our passion for soft pastels with others. Maybe even join in competitions and challenges, find information about workshops and exhibitions?

Here's what you need, a newly founded Pastel Guild for all European pastel artists.
To join the Guild, visit the Guild's website here: Pastel Guild of Europe.

The Guild is founded by pastel artists, for artists, aiming to promote our art in our countries and throughout Europe. Join us and be part of a new renaissance for soft pastels in Europe!

Red Cadillac

My lates, all fun and recreation. Lots of fun, shiny stuff and beautiful reds! And now - back to work. ;)

Mix of Ludwigs, Unisons, Faber Castell, Winsor&Newtons and pastel pencils on La Carte.

Skyscape

Been a while since I posted, but that doesn't mean I haven't been painting. Doing a few commissions these days, and can't show the work before they are delivered. Don't won't to ruin the surprise for anyone when the work is going to be a present.

Here's one commission, a skyscape done on La Carte.
Done in soft pastel, 15x18" (30x40 cm).

Springer update

Doing a realistic portrait like this is tedious work, it takes time...spend a few more hours on it today, and are close to finished on the dog. Still got some more detail work left, but getting closer. Finished the nose, still using the same grays, browns and black. Will adjust the values on the nose more when the background is done. I save some loose hairs for last, to make a more realistic look. Next up will be the background.

Springer next step

My next step on the Springer, starting to work in details. I've finished the back started to do details on the left side. I'm layering browns, black, white and grays, adjusting the strokes to the length of the fur. I've started work on the jaw/mouth area, blocking in lights and darks with the same colors I used on the ear. It gets rather dusty at this point, and I've found good use for the blow-brush that came with my camera. Tiny little thing that effectively blows off access dust, keeping my colors clean. Being right handed I work from left to right, I find this keeps the colors cleaner, even though it means more thinking in terms of getting the values and colors right in the end.

Getting ready to start working the right side and the nose, and gotta decide what color the background will be. Maybe I'll do a soft green, we'll see....

Springer WIP

Thought I'd share a work in progress with this Springer. This is a piece for my portfolio, need to build up more work. Might as well show you the steps in my work.
I always start with the eyes, I can't stand the ghostly look of an animal with no eyes. Freaks me out,lol! The eyes really show the soul of an animal, and somehow I feel more connected to the subject when the eyes are done. The eyes are so important for likeness too, and it would be too frustrating to do all the work on the fur and end up with eyes that don't work if I left it for last.

I build up the eyes, laying down the black part of the pupil and leaving out the highlight area. I soften the pupil with a dark gray towards the iris. Sometimes I'll lay down a bit of blue in the pupil too, to create a sense of wetness and substance. The iris I'll usually start with a layer of orange or sienna, before I fill in the highlights and shadowed areas. In this case with yellow ochre, brown sienna and browns. I'll use a little dark gray for the shadows under the eyelids. I use a light and medium gray for the white parts of the eye, and a little red to add more realism. For the lines around the eye I always use a black Faber Castell Pitt pastel pencil, and soften the lines with a little brown on the lower lines. Last I do the highlights, pure white for the wet look and brightest part, softening with a little gray. Close up the eyes:


Next step is to block in larger shapes to get the basic colors down. At this point I'm not doing any detail work at all, I want to get the shapes right as this defines the bone and muscle structure of the dog. I'll also identify lights and shadows at this stage. I limit the colors when I block in areas, I'll do details with more colors later on. For the black areas I'll use a pure black, and will bring light to those areas later with blue, gray or browns, depending on the color of the fur. Starting to think about background too, but will leave it for later. I've used pastel pencils for the eyes, and switched to pastel sticks for the fur. Back to the drawing board now - see you later!

Various softies and pastel pencils on La Carte, 15x18" (30x40 cm)

A bit more done....

Tweaking, tweaking, tweaking some more......adjusted the nose, shadows, a bit of work on the headstock.....at this point I try to do as few strokes as possible, I don't want to fill the tooth of the paper in case I need to tweak a little more! Close to done now, but the drawing's gonna stay in my studio for tweaking a few days.

Willie, getting closer

Had one of those nice Sundays, nothing planned just all day free for painting. Put a few hours into the portrait I'm working on, got most of the hair done, more definition to the beard and hand, and started working on the guitar. I'm putting down color all over now to see how it all comes together. For a while the hand seemed to large, but it might work out when the guitar and shoulders are finished too. The ref photo is shot from the front, and the hand seem larger due to the perspective. Challenge is to make it work in the drawing.

To pull it off I blended the colors in the hand and arm, to push it back. I've not blended any colors in the face and hair, and I don't want to do that. It all seem to work now. Now, Willie does have his own very personal guitar, and I want to do this realistic. Had a hard time trying to figure out what is written on it - impossible to see so some artistic license used....the guitar ain't the focal point anyway, so it's just going to have to work...