Pitcher picture 2

This is stage 2 of the pitcher picture with paint brushes. I have started to introduce some subtle colour into the greys of the undercoat, mostly yellow and gold ochres, but also some olive greens. The brush handles have some ochre, reds and browns. I have also started to block in the background in order to judge the tones. The background is not black - there are darks blues, greens and browns in it.
I changed the position of the front leg of the vessel - it is in fact a little bent in reality, but I thought that it looked like an error on my part, rather than a flaw in the pitcher, so I "fixed" it!

Pitcher picture 1

These two images are the first stages of a still life that I have set up with a small brass pitcher covered with dust and verdigris that I absolutely refuse to polish off!

The first image, with the paintbrushes, shows a selection of greys down along the left side that I chose for the first layer. From the top down, there are seven CarbOthello pencils; then seven Rembrandts; followed by nine Schminke neutral greys from dark to light - they have a distinctly brown tinge compared to the others - useful fro the brass. Then there are six Sennelier and finally three Derwent pencils. Needless to say, the paintbrushes were done with further colours.

I have used the same set of greys for the second image, apart from the hellebore, where I used only Derwent pencils. In fact, both images have made use only of the CarbOthello pencils to this point in the process. The next layer will introduce more colour - probably the Schminke, but by no means confined to these.

Le bougeoir framed

This is the framed painting of the Spanish candlestick, as promised.
.

Le bougeoir espagnol

Bougeoir espagnol is French for Spanish Candlestick, but of course you knew that.  I didn't keep many notes on this one. The support is Pastel Mat, and this first image is of the dark background filled in around a lightly-drawn candlestick which has had a wash of alcohol before moving on to softer pastels. 

The second image is the finished piece. I used mostly Sennelier pastels, with a touch of Schminke for the deep reds, and pastel pencils for the matchsticks. Image size is 9 x 6.5 ins. or 23 x 16.5 cm. I did not use a mat when framing, but stuck the support onto a backing piece of mat board to stiffen it, and made up a wooden fillet, painted black, to keep the image away from the glass. I'll post a picture of the framed piece if I can photograph it without too many reflections.

Hydrangea

This is a painting that I did last summer of a hydrangea blossom that has thrust its way through a neighbour's fence. I called it "Don't fence me in". I had not photographed it as I worked on it, but I can tell you that it's entirely composed of Rembrandt pastels on Clairefontaine Pastel Mat. Rather than do a blow-by-blow account of it, I have posted some close-up pictures of a few details. The original is 26 x 36 cms. or 10.25 x 14.5 ins. approximately.

I left most of the florets somewhat vague, but I did work on this single one to provide a focal point in the blossom:

This is a close-up of one of the shadow areas, with a sketchy showing of a leaf in the background:

And this is the single water droplet I included in the painting (less is more). You can see that there is not much to it:

Rose fougère

This is a little pastel that I completed last year. The original image was that of quite a different flower, but I wanted a red rose (for Valentine's day!) to contrast with the complementary green vase. The background is a Japanese paper screen, and I tried various methods to make it as realistic as possible, including overlaying an off-white colour and scratching through to a white base colour. The final result is a hybrid of this, plus flat broad vertical glazes.


A la loupe...

The rose was an exercise in edges and shading. Generally, the leading edge of a rose petal has a sharp edge, but this sharpness fades with blending or hatching the colour shift towards the next, inner petal. (This colour shift is probably best seen in the drooping petal on the upper bloom).  The darkest red used in the picture is a very useful Madder from Schminke, hue 045, shade 068B. The support is Canson.

Spanish Candle

This little candlestick cost me 50 cents at a vide grenier (car boot sale - literally attic clearance) and I thought it would make a colourful still life. I tried out various backgrounds - light as per Andrew Hemingway; dark as per Na Luther, who usually has a very dark brown background. I liked none of those and eventually settled on my favourite really dark green and dark blue Senneliers blended together, getting my hands  really dirty in the process. The support is Art Spectrum, which I have not used before. I don't like it as much as Pastelcard - although Pastelcard does not tolerate being wetted. My absolute favourite remains Clairefontaine's Pastelmat.
The photograph is not as good as it might be, as my camera could not deal with the contrast.