Something in the woods

Found a scrap of Pastelmat, so of course had to do something ‘woodsy’ to it …

The set up
Getting there
‘Shelter’ soft pastels on Pastelmat 24x9cm

I really like trying chiaroscuro effects with pastels. This is not as loose as my other woodsy pieces – maybe ‘cos I was working on such a small piece of Pastelmat and that tends to make me fiddle about. Anyway it was fun to do.

Source image is a still from this video :

Mixed bag of goodies

Been dabbling with new art supplies (Santa was very kind๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿ˜)

Acrylic pours

‘Sea of Dreams’ 25x25cm on MDF canvas panel
‘Insomnia’ 20x20cm on MDF canvas panel

pastel

I received some Unison soft pastels over Christmas, so tried them out with the Sennelier and Rembrandt ones, as well as handmade pastels from Cumbria

‘Edge of Tyrells Wood looking towards fields -December 2021’
30x20cm Soft pastels on Pastelmat

Cheers!

Forest

‘Forest’ Soft pastels and ink on Pastelmat
23x23cm

Hope everyone who pops by here during this Silly Season has a phenomenal Christmas and all the very best for 2022!๐ŸŽ„โ˜ƒ๏ธ๐ŸŽ๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿฅ‚๐ŸŽ…

Autumn

Nothing Gold Can Stay

BY ROBERT FROST

Natureโ€™s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leafโ€™s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

A response in soft pastel:

I’m possibly going to start changing aspects of my art in coming months as I embark on Level 2 of my degree study. I anticipate a lot of experimentation and deviating from my usual style .. so apologies in advance if some of the things I post on here seem to be at odds with who I am.

Enjoy the wonderful colours of autumn (in your area) ๐Ÿ˜˜

Shelter in the woods

For some time now I’ve been following a guy on YouTube who makes bushcraft videos. He’s based in Turkey. There is no annoying commentary, special effects or music … Just him and his Belgian Malinois trekking out into the forest (or other wilderness areas). It’s so therapeutic watching his videos and has been inspiration for many of my woodland soft pastel paintings. This is a new one:

‘Shelter in the Woods’ soft pastel on Pastelmat 27x20cm

I took a screenshot from his video to use as my reference photo. You can find the video here:

Enjoy!

New large Soft Pastel

I have been a bit quiet posting on here lately. It’s not that I’ve done no work, just lazy double posting, as I put a lot of stuff on my Instagram these days.

I have just finished this one:

‘Early autumn woodland stream’

This is on recycled stretched canvas, which I covered with organza, then primed and worked on the painting with charcoal, inks, iso alcohol and soft pastels. It is 3’x4’x1.5″ deep or 100x120x4cm.

Here is a pic of it hanging:

This is a gallery of photos taken whilst I was making it.

Update

I seem to put images and info of new art on Instagram these days and then forget to post here! Sorry๐Ÿคช

These are some images of latest work:

I also sold this ink monotype piece yesterday ๐Ÿฅฐ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ˜:

Seascape

Monotype Notecards

i have at last received labels for the backs of my cards, which were professionally printed in the Netherlands.

I am building up a varied range of designs and colour combinations. Coming soon … Watch this space for details of where to buy!

Monotype landscapes

I use a gel plate, which once painted on is folded to create a channel in the paint. I use Golden Open Acrylics. Then I lay it flat and may use a stencil and dot with isopropyl alcohol before taking a print. Afterwards, I work into the surface with soft pastel pencils. This is all still in the experimental stage but lots of fun.

Monotype landscape
Monotype landscape 2
Monotype landscape 3 (with stencils)

Get Jingling them Bells …

This year has been a good one for me, can’t really complain, at least i’m still alive. It’s just the hanging about waiting to see family, give people hugs and sloppy kisses, that’s what’s been crap about it. I made the decision in February to sell my ageing car and whilst that was a good financial move, it has created a lot of frustration. Gone are the days when I could just take myself off to the nearest wood for a wander about, or go shopping by myself somewhere out of the usual supermarket slog. Pathetic to whine about crap like that though, hey?

I have worked from home for the last twenty years of my life, so that has not been an issue for me – other than the fact that I’ve had no work since February! I share this home with my daughter and son-in-law, plus two grandchildren, so I’m fortunate not having to worry too much about the massive dip in my earnings, I have definitely not gone hungry. Her Majesty has been kind enough to provide a couple of hand-outs this year and I believe another one is on the offing soon, I would never look a gift horse in the mouth (sorry, ma’am) but I really want to get back to earning my own dosh soon.

We’re being told that lockdown measures may be relaxed somewhat over the festive period, allowing us to be close to loved ones and in our case have more than one person visit. The ‘rule of six’ has been a gut punch for us, as there are already five of us in this house, so only one visitorwas ever allowed.

If you pass by this post between now and 2021, know that I wish you a very pleasant festive season. I hope you are safe and well and that 2021 is kind to us all.

Merry Christmas peeps!

Soft pastels on Pastelmat

I got me some Pastelmat paper this week and a few new soft pastels (budget brand – Art Discount, they’re not bad though). Did some plein air work (as part of course exercises) today – a scene in our local wood, very early morning. Obviously wasn’t going for realism, just an impression of the atmosphere of the place.

Early morning wood – soft pastels on Pastelmat paper – +-A4

Skimming the Surface

Decided to do some abstracts over the weekend, as I am doing a lot of landscape work in oils and other medium at the moment for coursework and the acrylics were getting a bit neglected. I tried out working in a series – doing two paintings on a similar theme/colour palette.

Skimming the Surface 1 – acrylics on paper – =- A3

Skimming the Surface 2 – acrylics on paper +- A3

Both available on my shop over here

Brush pen work

I’ve been interested in brush pens, ever since I got the ‘greys’ set of Tombow pens for coursework a while ago. I obtained a Pentel Pocket Brush pen (comes with 2 refills) yesterday via uncle Amazon and have been fiddling around with it.

Tombow and Pentel brush pens on scrap Clairefontaine paper

I wonder if anyone else in my circle of WP mates use brush pens and if they know anything about the ARTEZA brand? Tombow are a bit expensive (I was going to get a range of colours to take with me on holiday soon for sketching purposes). ARTEZA brand products keep popping up in my search results for brush pens and I’d be interested to know if they are any good?

Keep safe peeps

River light

Inspired by a photo my grandson took on his holiday yesterday … they are in the Peak District. I was trying to go for a very loose style with the brushwork and lots of water mixed in with the paint.

River Light

Acrylics on stretched canvas.

50x45x1cm or +- 19x15x 1/2″

Not for sale.