Pastels and Watercolors (and a few other art media)

snowbear · May 20, 2020

I was so tempted to make a second one, last night. I even had the ink bottles out, and put a couple strokes on paper, but it was late enough I changed my mind. Next time, for sure.

terri · May 20, 2020

Practice, practice, practice!

I see what you're saying about the sun and sky in each painting. I like it in both, but yes, can see it's much brighter in the second one. Not having seen the original, for me, it works both ways.

terri · May 20, 2020

snowbear said:
I was so tempted to make a second one, last night. I even had the ink bottles out, and put a couple strokes on paper, but it was late enough I changed my mind. Next time, for sure.

Ooo, ink would have been cool to see. It has that watercolor feel, probably due to both mediums being so fluid. Looking forward to seeing the next one!

snowbear · May 20, 2020

It would have been similar - washes for the background and strokes for the main subject.
LL gave me some oils, today.

SquarePeg · May 21, 2020

Been messing around this afternoon with a few different tutorials and techniques that I found on YouTube and Instagram. I did warn you that I’d be over posting this week! The top left flower I used too much paint. It should be more translucent which it was but I kept tweaking it until it wasn’t... Knowing when to be done is going to be my biggest weakness. The lavender field I was trying the wet on wet then wet on dry layering. The background is not as it should be. Not sure if I had too much water or not enough. I think too much because it pooled instead of spreading???

limr · May 22, 2020

Okay, I tried the irises again. I seem to be having the same issue of not knowing when to stop. In both cases, I decided to just do 'one more thing' to try to get closer to a shape or shade of something that I had in mind, and both times, I made it worse

The gouache came out...meh. I used the wrong brush for the stems and flowers, and the sky was better before I 'fixed' it.

Then tonight, on a total whim, I just felt like trying something but didn't have the energy to set up for painting, so I grabbed the pastels that I had totally forgotten I even had until a few days ago. I didn't have any paper immediately at hand, but I had the textured envelopes from the watercolor cards that I had been using to practice. I ran out of the cards during our Zoom painting party and new supplies have not arrived yet.

I sat down and attempted to do the irises. Again, the sky was better before I 'fixed' it and I could do better with the bottom part, but I'm going to give myself a little bit of credit for the result, considering I had never used pastels before and I was doing the image from memory.

limr · May 22, 2020

And this wasn't tonight, but I forgot that I never posted a picture of Bob all decked out in his mandala :boogie:

(It was an impulse buy when shopping for Christmas presents this past year. It's basically a kid's arts and crafts kit - one turtle-shaped 'stone' and some paint, and you decorate it yourself. I bought them as stocking stuffers and decided to get one for myself, just to play.)

SquarePeg · May 22, 2020

limr said:
Okay, I tried the irises again. I seem to be having the same issue of not knowing when to stop. In both cases, I decided to just do 'one more thing' to try to get closer to a shape or shade of something that I had in mind, and both times, I made it worse

The gouache came out...meh. I used the wrong brush for the stems and flowers, and the sky was better before I 'fixed' it.

View attachment 191898

Then tonight, on a total whim, I just felt like trying something but didn't have the energy to set up for painting, so I grabbed the pastels that I had totally forgotten I even had until a few days ago. I didn't have any paper immediately at hand, but I had the textured envelopes from the watercolor cards that I had been using to practice. I ran out of the cards during our Zoom painting party and new supplies have not arrived yet.

I sat down and attempted to do the irises. Again, the sky was better before I 'fixed' it and I could do better with the bottom part, but I'm going to give myself a little bit of credit the result, considering I had never used pastels before and I was doing the image from memory.

View attachment 191899

These are good. It’s a much more complicated painting than it seems. I have found the stemS to be much more difficult to master than the flowers! No matter now small a brush I use they are too thick. I have had some improvement by doing them in shorter strokes than trying to do all at once and I definitely do better painting them In a downward motion instead of up. I need to order some “sap green” as that seems to be the color of choice in all the web tutorials. I copied this tulip painting last night in my little journal. I used a black ink pen to add the final details because I knew I didn’t have a brush small enough (or the skill) to get it right.

waday · May 22, 2020

A few more ink drawings:

Apple by Wade, on Flickr

Blue jay by Wade, on Flickr

terri · May 22, 2020

limr said:
Okay, I tried the irises again. I seem to be having the same issue of not knowing when to stop. In both cases, I decided to just do 'one more thing' to try to get closer to a shape or shade of something that I had in mind, and both times, I made it worse

The gouache came out...meh. I used the wrong brush for the stems and flowers, and the sky was better before I 'fixed' it.

View attachment 191898

Then tonight, on a total whim, I just felt like trying something but didn't have the energy to set up for painting, so I grabbed the pastels that I had totally forgotten I even had until a few days ago. I didn't have any paper immediately at hand, but I had the textured envelopes from the watercolor cards that I had been using to practice. I ran out of the cards during our Zoom painting party and new supplies have not arrived yet.

I sat down and attempted to do the irises. Again, the sky was better before I 'fixed' it and I could do better with the bottom part, but I'm going to give myself a little bit of credit for the result, considering I had never used pastels before and I was doing the image from memory.

View attachment 191899

Always give yourself some credit, even it you're not satisfied with the result, because putting out something is better than just thinking about it. We learn with every effort!

Totally understand about trying "one more thing" and watching it go south. But it's hard to know when to stop, because there will also be times when that "one more thing" sparks the exact right move! The only way to figure it out is to keep painting.

terri · May 22, 2020

SquarePeg said:
limr said:

Okay, I tried the irises again. I seem to be having the same issue of not knowing when to stop. In both cases, I decided to just do 'one more thing' to try to get closer to a shape or shade of something that I had in mind, and both times, I made it worse

The gouache came out...meh. I used the wrong brush for the stems and flowers, and the sky was better before I 'fixed' it.

View attachment 191898

Then tonight, on a total whim, I just felt like trying something but didn't have the energy to set up for painting, so I grabbed the pastels that I had totally forgotten I even had until a few days ago. I didn't have any paper immediately at hand, but I had the textured envelopes from the watercolor cards that I had been using to practice. I ran out of the cards during our Zoom painting party and new supplies have not arrived yet.

I sat down and attempted to do the irises. Again, the sky was better before I 'fixed' it and I could do better with the bottom part, but I'm going to give myself a little bit of credit the result, considering I had never used pastels before and I was doing the image from memory.

View attachment 191899

Click to expand...

These are good. It’s a much more complicated painting than it seems. I have found the stemS to be much more difficult to master than the flowers! No matter now small a brush I use they are too thick. I have had some improvement by doing them in shorter strokes than trying to do all at once and I definitely do better painting them In a downward motion instead of up. I need to order some “sap green” as that seems to be the color of choice in all the web tutorials. I copied this tulip painting last night in my little journal. I used a black ink pen to add the final details because I knew I didn’t have a brush small enough (or the skill) to get it right.
View attachment 191907

Turned out nicely! Love that purple color on those tulips. I like to keep my photo oil pencils around when I need fine detail, just for things like this. Ya gotta have a line sometimes!!

Sap green is definitely a gorgeous, deep green. You'll love it!