Pastel Paintings

"Solitude"
8 x 10 on Pastelbord, using Sennelier pastels

This is a painting that I did for my Grandma. I did one for her a couple weeks ago of this lake and she wanted 2 more to match. She grew up on the lake in Michigan and a painting I did took her back to that. I was happy to do these for her.

"Wispy Clouds Over the Lake"
8 by 10 on Pastelbord, using Sennelier pastels

This was my second time doing this painting, the first time was for myself, and of course this one is for my Grandma. She hasn't seen these yet, and they will be mailed out to her tomorrow. I hope she is pleased with them!

Wispy Clouds

"Wispy Clouds" is my latest pastel painting. I couldn't seem to get a good scan of it, therefore the colors are not perfect. The colors in the original painting are beautiful. I took this picture at my Great-Grandma's house on the lake in Michigan. I remember spending many summer days there with my Grandma. I used to fantasize about what was on that island (in the painting). As a little girl I used to think there were people living there! I have many other pictures of this house on the lake, and I plan to paint some of those as well.

Tomorrow I am expecting my complete set of Mount Vision pastels! I've never even tried them, so I hope I'm not disappointed. I have been using Sennelier pastels and I love them, but cannot afford an entire set. They're about $3,000! I've heard many good things about Mount Vision so, I'm sure I'll love them!

Untitled - Unfinished Pastel Painting

This is a pastel painting that I was working on today. The reference picture is one that I took at a park not far from my home. The way the sunlight in the reference picture just dances across the field is beautiful and I tried to capture that in the painting.

I don't have much experience with soft pastels, and I'm still getting used to them. I have used oil pastels in the past and just loved them. I'm finding that I'm loving soft pastels as well. Once you get past the mess that they make, they're a lot of fun.

So after leaving the painting for a while and going back to it I can tell it needs some more darks. I think if I just darken the darkest values, that should do it. It could also use some other small changes.

I'm feeling like I'm not all that prepared to complete a pastel painting because I don't have all the supplies that I need. All I have are a few sets of Sennelier Pastels, no pastel pencils, blenders, or brushes. So, doing detail is pretty much out of the question, until I purchase these supplies. But I have enough to play around, and that's what I'm doing! :)

Just a little reminder - For the next couple weeks in my Etsy shop, I will be donating 100% of every sale to the American Red Cross to help those in Haiti. If you were going to donate anyway, this is a great way, because you get a little something for doing it!