Toby

One of my favorite subjects, my old cat Toby. This is my first pastel on velour paper--very interesting to work with. Not easily blended, but a lovely soft texture. Still not happy with my fur rendering, but overall I'm happy with this one. Pastel on brown velour paper, 8x10.

Easter Radishes

Not entirely happy with this (happier than with the previous attempt!), but I'm posting it to show that I'm actually working on things! After the detail of the green vase, I wanted to try something a little looser, so I gave these radishes a try in pastel. Not sure why they're called Easter radishes, but that's what they were labeled at the store. I tried these previously on Wallis sanded paper and the red radishes ended up looking candied, so I put these on Strathmore Mi-Tinte paper--surely did dull them down! I'm pleased...not sure what it is, but this one just doesn't make me smile as I usually do when really pleased with a work...8x10.

Kaibab Rocks

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!)

Pastel Sunrise

Had an extra piece of superfine sandpaper on hand, so when I saw a sunrise photo on Wet Canvas (thanks, artastic), I gave it a try with pastels. The reference photo was more complicated, but I simplified it to just the sky and a few trees, concentrating on the sky. Mine's not nearly as vivid as the reference photo, but I'm happy with it, considering that I have so few pastels (18, I believe) and had to make due with the colors I had.

Pear on Glass Dish, pastel

Desiree, one of the extraordinarily talented artists on Painting Friends, walked us through this pear on glass using pastel on sandpaper (oh, my fingers!). What a lot of fun--and frustration! Keep reminding myself I'm new to the pastel medium and shouldn't expect a lot, but the glass dish was a real challenge for me--lots of tiny lines of varying values. It's pretty messy in real life. I'm happy with the pear itself and the background, but I'm ready to try something else that doesn't have any glass in it! Later...the more I look at this, the more I like it--could be worth the sore fingertips!