A Trial for My Pastel Painting Experience

This has been a fulfilling week of pastel painting. I had started a pastel of Sedona, Arizona on Tuesday evening and then worked on it some more on Wednesday evening. While I didn't finsih, I had a comfortable start to a very difficult piece.

Thursday in class Reif Erickson had a new challenge for us to paint, a solitary grizzeled old pine growing right out of rocks on a mountain peak. Watching Reif paint the picture was really fascinating because he is so deliberate and so steady with everything he does.  I guess if I had been doing it for twenty five years I might have the same steadiness, but since I am a newbie, I take my time.  Reif finished his painting and said okay, now its your turn. We were all marveling at what he had started and finished in about twenty five minutes.

I carefully sketched my pastel painting outlines using a light blue pastel so that I would not have any dark colors to worry about. I have gotten in the habit of starting at the top and working down so that I don't smudge my painting. I put the sky in first and then began painting in the trunk of the tree, the branches. Then I roughed in the rocks on either side and on the bottom.  I got a pretty good start in class during the hour plus we worked and got it roughed in with foundation color. On Friday since it was raining off and on, I worked on the pastel later in the day and finished it that evening. I usually use a fixative on my pastels so that they don't smudge easily. For some reason, I didn't use the Krylon fixative I usually us and decided to use the Sennelier, fixative which I have used as a final fix. I sprayed it on the pastel in the garage, because the stuff has a pretty strong odor, and then left it to dry.  I came back about a half hour later and to my shock, the fixative had separated the pastel in the sky and really made a mess of the painting. Ye gads, I was shocked and hoped I could fix the painting. This is the second time Ihave had trouble with the Sennelier brand of fixative.

Once it was dry, I repainted the entire sky carefully working around the tree and its branches. In some places I had to go back in and touch up the trunk or branches because I had overpainted them with blue. The I began putting the clouds back in and got  the sky back to where it should be with a little darker blue at the corners. I added some shading and color to the rocks and finally had it done. This time I used the Krylon Fixative on the pastel and everything worked out just fine. I photographed it and posted it on Flickr with my other pastels and called this painting, "The Sentinel.".

The following morning when I logged on, I was surprised to see that I had been invited to add several of my pastels to an invitation only painting art and photography group. I filled out the application on line, it was approved and I moved the paintings they had requested I submit. To my surprise, one of the paintings was soon listed as a favorite with a Florida artist.  When I added this painting to the new group it was immediately commented on and listed as a favorite by another artist. So as you can see, this has been a good week for me and pastel painting. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the Sedona painting.