Saturday, June 25, 2011

Mathilda

Soft Pastel on illustration board coated with gesso/aluminum oxide, 10 x 8

6 comments:

Anna Sellers said...

How do you like working in pastels compared to the other mediums? I have thought about picking them up, but the pastels seem pretty complicated.

You seem to be doing very well with them. I like the color transitions in your shadows. Very nice.

WC Lee said...

Pastel is easier for me because I am really bad at mixing the colors especially when adding white (tendency to add way too much). To me, it is a step up from using vine/willow charcoal and the transition is almost natural. The only disadvantage is needing a lot of sticks of different colors/shades/tints even though most of them will not be used in any single painting, but not all paintings will use the same colors/tints/shades.

If you want to give pastels a try, pick up a small set aimed at a particular subject. I know you go to life drawing, so I would recommend Art Spectrum Life Drawing set of 12 that goes for $40 online at Blicks online and some charcoal/pastel paper. Then if you decide you like them and want to continue using them, you might consider getting some sanded supports to try (Art Spectrum Colourfix, Wallis, UArt, Pastelbord, etc.)

Most of what I post regarding pastels is done in about a hour give or take 15 minutes, reason why almost all of them look so rough. Occasionally, I will get into the zone and actually keep refining a painting for hours (this one for example) until I ruin it (not this one yet). Sometimes it comes out nice and other times, it get filed in the garbage can.

tiffannysketchbook said...

it looks awesome.Pastel is such a gorgeous medium. No shiney gross reflections from paint. i think it's the easiest on the eyes of all the ways to apply color.

WC Lee said...

thanks Tiffanny, pastel can also be quite frustrating to use, sometimes the color of the stick doesn't indicate the value of the color it releases onto the support and looks different on different supports. It's funny, it looks so easy when watching demos from the pros and then trying to do the same, the results doesn't look anything like the demo :D

Sandy Byers said...

This piece is stunning! I keep coming back to admire it. Bravo.

WC Lee said...

thank you :)