Apologies for being slow to approve comments, I’m off on an adventure – my first solo holiday – to Devon and London. So far, having a great time visiting relatives and toddler is on his best behaviour and charming everyone. I haven’t done much drawing yet but I’m taking plenty of reference photos for later.
Do keep the comments coming, I really appreciate hearing what you think of my artwork. Do tell me what you create too. I’ll reply when I can.
I finished it just in time for my trip away, so I was able to enter it for the August Paint My Photo Challenge. You can view the other submissions in their August Album. There is almost a week to go, so still time to enter.
A3 Pastel Painting based on a Photo by Rick Brind
I would like to have spent longer on this as it’s a bit sketchy in places, but I like the overall effect. The challenges are a great nudge to try subjects I wouldn’t have considered before. I can’t wait to hear what next month’s is.
Let me know what you think of my first pastel landscape in the comments below!
Here’s where I’ve got to so far. As you can see the walls of the boathouse and the foreground need a lot of work. I’ll also put more into the roof tiles as they are meant to be the main subject.
Still have to work more detail into the building and foreground
Hopefully I’ll get a chance to complete it tonight and tomorrow before I go on my adventure, as I’d love to submit it for the challenge before I go.
I really enjoyed taking part in the July Challenge over on Paint My Photo, so when they announced their August challenge about roofs I was keen to take part even though the subject isn’t necessarily my strong point. There were two photos that I would like to have attempted but I’m running out of time before my trip away (the deadline is before I get back) so I think I’ll be lucky to have one finished piece.
The reference I’m using is this Scottish Boathouse taken by Rick Brind. If I was a more experienced watercolourist I’d have loved to attempt the colours of the roof in watercolour, but I’m not! And I don’t really have time to experiment if I want a completed entry in the challenge, so I’m sticking with more forgiving pastels.
Here’s where I’ve got up to at the moment, just the first layers of colour on the background. I’ve got to adjust the pitch of the roof as it’s looking a bit skewed.
First layers of soft pastel in the background
Apologies for being so quiet recently. I was feeling pretty rotten with hayfever and a bad asthma flare up and I was using the spare time and energy I did have to decorate parts of my flat – still have a long way to go with that project.
However I have not been forgetting about art work. I started to plan out an illustration that didn’t quite get to a stage I felt able to share it. I might go back to it at a later date. I picked out a Paint my Photo reference to use for their August challenge and I’ve started on that – which I’ll share in my next post. I’ve also completed some of the admin tasks required to set up as self-employed and got my first commission! I’ll start work on that once I get back from my week away in Devon/London.
I hope to have time for a bit of sketchbook work while I’m away, but as I’ll be in sole charge of our toddler that might prove tricky, in which case I’ll take plenty of photos to sketch and draw from when I get home. I’m really excited, it’ll be quite the adventure!
If you enjoyed my polar bear, you might also be impressed by the high standard of entries in the Paint My Photo July Challenge. The theme was underwater creatures, and there are coral reefs, sharks, koi, all kinds of beautiful colourful fish painted in many different styles. The variety of approaches to the challenge is inspiring.
Spirited Sketches 