This particular specimen I've written about on another blog. But briefly it was from a cutting of a friend of my mother. It was brought all the way from Thailand as a gift from her husband. Her name was Stella, so I am calling this picture "Stella". She sadly died of cancer but her memory still lives on.
This is also the first time I have worked with soft pastels. I didn't really like them at first - they were too gritty and the colour didn't want to stick to the paper. But I eventually got into a rhythm with smudging. Of the set of 50 I purchased (cheap) it came with no black or white. I could have really used the white.
I also had to introduce some of my charcoal tinted pencils, just to get into the nooks and crannies the pastels couldn't fit. I can see why people who work in pastels, also purchase the pastel pencils.
I actually want to hang this in the kitchen, but first I have to find a square frame!
I love this! When I was in Australia, quite a few of the cafes had huge paintings of frangipani by local artists. The trees were not in bloom when I was there but I have been fascinated by it since.
ReplyDeleteSoft pastels are an interesting medium-I enjoy working with them a lot but yes, I think the pencils might play a role in finsihed work. Like watercolor, there is a vast selection of techniques that can help. I generally use them in a straightforward manner as you have-to draw and then paint in the subject.
You might have to find a frame shop and buy the parts for your frame-or maybe IKEA still has those frames that are used for record albums (Not sure if you have an IKEA near you).
Frangipani does seem to be one of those "done to death" subjects. I think they're a beautiful flower and know why people are drawn to paint them, but sometimes wonder, do we really need another frangipani picture, lol? I actually avoided painting our frangipani in flower, for that very same reason!
ReplyDeleteBut there's something different about drawing your own plants. The story becomes your own. I remember when this tree was first gifted to me, to save it from a black frost area at my mum's house. I remember the first time it flowered, the branches which fell on it by a nearby tree but seemed to bounce right off, lol. Lastly, I remember the first successful cutting I took from it this year! I even snapped a picture of a small green tree frog, who decided my cutting made a great hiding spot. So there's a lot of memories behind my picture, and I'm glad I didn't let a well-known subject matter, stop me from trying.
While I like the effects I managed with the soft pastels, I'm not sure I really like them as a medium. Kind of like how you feel about watercolour pencils. I like it but I don't. Maybe I need to experiment more?
I was thinking about visiting a frame-shop, we have some really good ones in town. No IKEA near us. I'm sure Brisbane must have something, but I rarely visit there any more. When I do frame and hang it, I'll do an update. Because I'm even thinking of changing the wall colour in the kitchen!
If I had frangipani, I'd paint it too. In the U.S. It's roses that can be overdone but I love doing Google image searches to see the different executions. I never get tired of it.
DeleteAs to pastels, I think that they can be challenging but look at the work of Mary Cassatt- she got a great deal of details in her work using them. You can " sharpen" the sticks with a razor to a point if you don't have pencils but pencils have harder pigment. Sharpen the blocks over a paper and save the dust to use again. There's alot to know.
I once hated pastels with a passion but I was required to work with them for a couple of assignments and got to know them better.
I suspected it would be a matter of simply learning more about them. Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been taking in much of the ebook Mary Cassatt put out, and trying to incorporate it into my pictures. Especially the backwards "S" she refers to. I wouldn't say mine is a backwards "S", but if you look at the arrangement of the flowers, they run in an "S" formation. I placed an extra flower in, that wasn't in the photo I took (lower, far left). Rather than having a gaping hole in my picture, I used Mary's suggestion of placement to form movement.
DeleteSo thanks for sharing that lovely ebook suggestion. :)
Chris, that book was by a Charlotte somebody…Wharton? I can't think.
DeleteBut Mary Cassatts work was/is similar. She was an Impressionist. Also Degas used pastels. The reason I am pointing them out is that you can see how they used pastels to good affect and still got "details" if infact an Impressionist work has such things as "details". I like to study how they used their pastels though.
Ah, Charlotte Wharton, that's right! How embarrassing. I will have to look up Mary Cassatt's work. True about impressionist techniques. Still so much to learn. :)
DeleteDon't be embarrassed:) I am horribile at names unless they are extremely famous myself.
DeleteI read about Mary Cassatt, and of the portraits in pastel I saw (4) "Margot in blue" was my favourite. Mary led a very interesting life, but she was fortunate to have a father pay for her pursuit of art. Even though he wouldn't pay for her art supplies, he did pay for her cost of living. Otherwise she would have had to marry to pursue her love of art. It was just the way things were set up back then. But she certainly had to struggle to be recognised.
DeleteI think it was ironic that a few of her subjects were about motherhood. Maybe she had regrets. Wanted to ask you....the pink spiral shapes in your drawing...is that how frangipani buds? I missed that initially but it's a nice touch.
DeleteI like it too, Chris. I'm afraid it'll be quite a while before I can do anything as good and as subtle in colour. I've decided to stick with pencil drawing (B&W and colour) for the time being and have been watching lots of tutorial videos and they are great. I know nothing about techniques.
ReplyDeleteI thought from memory you were going to write something about sharpening pencils? And maybe link to a video. I've had a quick look back though your posts and can't see anything. Did you do it? I may have missed it...it was a quick search. I'm having huge problems with these Mont Marte pencils, but I suppose it's to be expected of el cheapo stuff. Yesterday I bought a set of woodless graphite pencils (same brand, though) and hope they'll be easier to work with. Some time ago I bought a set of woodless watercolour pencils but only a small set of a dozen, not a lot of variety. Haven't tried them yet.
How's David at carpentry? You'll have to get him onto frame-making ;-)
Dave is a brush-cutter kind of guy, lol. Loves to take giant swings at weeds and thickets, but procrastinates over intricate details. Which sounds exactly like what I've been doing about that sharpening pencil post I promised. Yup, procrastinating!
ReplyDeleteI've lined up a video tutorial (not mine) and some of my Mont Marte pencils as examples of before and after. Will try to get it posted today. Thanks for the reminder. ;)