Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

terri · Nov 11, 2020

waday said:
Thanks for the tip with the OP and turpenoid!

Sure thing.

I found them a difficult medium to learn, partly due to the limited tutorials on them out there. It's also a medium where quality really does have an impact on learning. It's a catch-22 - no one likes to invest much money when trying out a new medium, so it's smarter to play with cheaper brands. This works well enough for oil paint, watercolor and colored pencils, but for oil pastels it can lead to frustration. They crumble, don't blend well, and can make you wonder why anyone would bother with such a crappy medium. :lol:

@SquarePeg: Sharon, you're too critical of yourself! I think that mountain landscape is lovely. I'm loving all that golden yellow in the water.

SquarePeg · Nov 11, 2020

Thanks @terri I appreciate the support! It's hard not to see the flaws especially when you do a tutorial and compare it to the original. They make it look so effortless, and it's hard to tell with watercolor if the issues I have are related to my inability to follow the technique or the cheaper paper I'm using. I hate to buy expensive paper for learning but my paper and paints don't seem to react the way the tutorials say they will. May have to just close my eyes and buy a pad of Arches paper.

terri · Nov 11, 2020

SquarePeg said:
I hate to buy expensive paper for learning but my paper and paints don't seem to react the way the tutorials say they will. May have to just close my eyes and buy a pad of Arches paper.

I hear you! Some of the tutorials I followed when I got started were actually geared towards kids, which was fine by me. :icon_mrgreen:

Oil pastels are popular for kid art classes because they look like crayons, but kids can (truthfully) be told they're things artists use, too. And the instructor used cheap colored construction paper, so I was able to take that part out of the equation, at least. Other tutorials were not particularly forthcoming about paper types or brands used, but it sure can make a difference!

Either way, my stuff generally sucked compared to the tutorial, regardless of the audience level. When I trusted my handling better, I let myself get better materials - and wow! Can't say that helped my technique, because that's just practice - but it sure did let me move along better, and things just seemed smoother and easier.

terri · Nov 13, 2020

So, most of you know that I have back issues that ebb and flow in the pain level, and keep me from hiking around with my camera gear like I used to. :icon_mad:

Over the summer it's gotten worse, so I finally went back to see my spine guy (not the chiropractor), who ordered a new round of x-rays. He tells me the scoliosis has gotten worse, and showed me side by side x-rays. It was both freaky and depressing to see it onscreen - so objective, just sitting there being scoliosis. He lectured me on exercise (bite me, brother - I'm a 200-hour certified yoga instructor, I know the moves), and then we discussed treatment. :76:

Anyway, I came home upset and ticked off. Found myself a couple hours later with my sketch pad in front of me, and drew this:

That's my pain demon - in control of me. My husband said it was a dark and depressing sketch - I thanked him. :icon_mrgreen:

Went ahead and re-sketched it on Arches oil paper and made an oil pastel painting from it:

The first time I addressed my so-called pain demon, it was a couple years ago in this painting:

And just recently, I did this one, modifying the demon a little bit for a more geometric interpretation. I've stood and painted while my back is killing me and wondered if it ever showed, so I tried to express the correlation in this one.

I've read about recurring subjects in artist paintings, or symbols. Without really thinking about it, I seem to have developed this theme of the pain demon popping up and getting me to paint it. Bastard. :lol:

I think I'll paint some flowers next.

waday · Nov 13, 2020

@terri, love these

waday · Nov 13, 2020

I’m finding that while I like my charcoal pencils, they don’t last long at all. This comic summed it up perfectly.

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snowbear · Nov 13, 2020

Sorry to hear the demon is strong (soft virtual hugs) but I love the drawing. That makes me think of the PNW native styles, a little. They frequently use additional faces to fill empty spaces.

SquarePeg · Nov 13, 2020

That sucks Terri. So sorry you’re in pain. Your paintings are stunning and really tap into emotions.

terri · Nov 14, 2020

snowbear said:
Sorry to hear the demon is strong (soft virtual hugs) but I love the drawing. That makes me think of the PNW native styles, a little. They frequently use additional faces to fill empty spaces.

Well, how cool is that? I never heard of that, but haven't looked at that much art from that region. Now I'll have to do some exploring!

Another artist who used faces and lots of other symbolism is Marc Chagall - I adore his stuff. Picasso and other artists did, as well, it's just not something I've done much of, but I'm trying to figure it out.

Thanks for the virtual hug. The demon rises occasionally and yells his ugly head off, but I usually find a way to beat him back into submission.

terri · Nov 14, 2020

SquarePeg said:
That sucks Terri. So sorry you’re in pain. Your paintings are stunning and really tap into emotions.

Thank you - that means a lot!

SquarePeg · Nov 14, 2020

Playing around with some snow.

From a tutorial and from a photo

snowbear · Nov 15, 2020

What are you using for the snow, gauche? I really like these two.

I took the small sketch pads and WC pencils on the trip trip and did a quick sketch from the hotel lobby. I'll add some color after I get the beast unloaded and returned.

SquarePeg · Nov 15, 2020

snowbear said:
What are you using for the snow, gauche? I really like these two.

I took the small sketch pads and WC pencils on the trip trip and did a quick sketch from the hotel lobby. I'll add some color after I get the beast unloaded and returned.

Yes white gauche. I don’t have the skill or the patience to mask out the highlights first or keep them paint free. Plus, splattering the snow on at the end is the fun part and it hides a myriad of flaws! I may become a theme artist and paint only snowy landscapes lol.