It sounded like a good idea at the time……..

One of the reasons I was interested in exploring pastel (aside from the fact that it was new to me) was because of my interest in plein air painting. And one of the things the plein air painter is always trying to do is to lighten the load. Since everything one uses must be carried, it behooves the artist to have as little equipment as possible.

With pastels, I thought, I can eliminate all the liquids that have to be carried with oils or watercolors. After all, fluids are heavy.

Silly me.

What I failed to take into account was the fact that by carrying only 5-6 tubes of color I can have full range of colors. But…… and this is a BIG BUT…….with pastels you must have dozens and dozens (even hundreds) of sticks, each a different color, in order to have a full range. And those sticks add up to a lot of weight.

And so it would seem to be a wash in the weight department. BUT……pastels are fast! Really fast! There is no drying time between layers of color or at the end, when you pack up.

So, I continue to explore pastels as a painting medium... and have started to exercise to build up some muscle……..

"Clear Day Today" 5x8  Just a sketch of a tree I see on my daily walk (exercise!).

New Beginnings

They say that new challenges will keep you young…..well, we'll see about that!
It may just give me more gray hair.

I have decided to learn more about pastel and am experiencing the pains of a steep learning curve.

Let's see where it goes!

Touched by Fall    8x10   pastel on Canson paper