Hesitated over posting this as I'm just learning pastels and this is my first real attempt at a landscape and is obviously very beginnerish. These beautiful lichen-covered rocks were at an overlook in the Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona (near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon). I bought a pastel landscape book by Albert Handell and it gave me the courage to give this a try.
Interesting note on the paper: This is on Wallis sanded paper. I did one terrible version of this landscape and was going to throw it in the trash, but the paper is expensive, so I tried something--I put it in the kitchen sink and washed as much of the pastel off as I could, then let it dry. It still left quite a bit of color, but I could easily go over it and change/correct things. This paper can really take some punishment! (Now I wish I'd tried that with the other five pieces I ruined and threw in the trash!)
