Learning to paint in pastels
In the begining...
I started off very simply by selecting photos that I liked and sketching them with pencil and charcoal, usually on a large scale.
This "Follow my leader" was 100 x 60 cm
Details...
I found that I really enjoyed working on details of animals rather than the whole. Here I was trying out sepia pastels but still keeping the painting monotone.
Mixing it up...
After 5 years or so, some clients were suggesting touches of colour in my paintings. I started doing this in a semi-natural way, for example the manes of giraffes or the red feet of tree frogs.
Comments varied...
Many clients liked my original monotones; others loved the touch of colour. A visiting chameleon looked a little grumpy about her portrait!
A big move...
My next move was a big one, from Zimbabwe, were I had lived for 30 years, back to the family home in south-west Scotland. I brought with me my African art and started drawing from my limited number of wildlife photos of subjects on my new doorstep; rabbits and our rescue hedgehog, Henry, being among the first.
Caption
Re-focus...
Again, I listened to clients and the galleries and started my love affair with coloured pastels! The local traditional Belted Galloway cattle was a great place to start.
Caption
Smaller and more detailed...
With the fantastic range of colours and the shaper points possible with hard pastel sticks, I started painting in greater detail (not always animals found on my doorstep!) and smaller because of the time involved; although some, like this tiger, were still approx A1.
Caption
And so I arrive at where I am today...
I love working from my own photos, but as my collection is limited, I may seek permission of photographers for the use of their photos, as is the case with this beautiful image of a red squirrel here in Kirkcudbright.
Grateful thanks to mprwild.