Challenges in the Latest Pastel Painting

Rose of Sharon, 10 3/4 x 14 on BF Rives print paper

At the end of January, I felt the need to do another floral. I’m not good at getting the right perspective, contours, and depths of flowers, so on Jan. 30, I printed 5 x 7 photos of a couple of rose of Sharon pictures I took last year.  I laid a sheet of BF Rives paper on the kitchen counter (it had the bigger, cleaner space), got out the transfer paper and, using two photos, traced the flowers onto the paper creating a new scene.

I put the sketch on the big easel on Feb. 1 after removing the finished painting and cleaning up. I took measurements, labeled it 19-005 unsure what to use for an actual title. I started laying in the underlayer with pan pastels. I realized I didn’t have the right color blue-violet for the flowers. That entailed placing an order to Blick.

I returned to Rose O’ on March 3. I wiped away the wrong color on the flowers and added other colors. I know I was done the background and leaves which are under the flowers, but adding some subject colors helps me see determine how to proceed and gives me a semblance of how the painting will come out.

I added browns to the background scruffing up the colors to create a textured look. I’m not following the photos closely. I’m eager to get farther along, but there’s still a lot of background to build.

I was back in the studio this morning. I intended to start a pastel for the cover design of my poetry book now that I have a vision of what the cover should look like. However, instead I walked over to Rose O’ and began working on that. I didn’t even stop to put on a mask … but I did turn on the air purifier.

I added some background, then began adding definition to leaves. I concentrated on the area around the first flower in the upper left. It’s hard because there are overlapping leaves and I can’t tell with the photos where one leaf ends and another begins.

I moved on to the flower itself. Now that the leaves are in, I can make the petals overlap. I tend to lay the soft pastels in a little thick which creates a challenge when I want to put in detail lines which is best with pastel pencil. Unfortunately, pencils are usually harder which only pushes a groove in the soft pastel without adding the pencil color.

I try using edges of broken pastels, but I have difficulty telling where the point/edge is and end up getting the line in the wrong place. Some work better that others. What works best is a soft charcoal pencil. I’ll soften the line using a pastel tool.

For the most part, I’m happy with the first blossom, but work is still needed on the right side. I have an idea for the next time I’m in the studio. I also need to do the stamen (the yellow part).