Pastel art course

Pastel art course

day four

It often seems to be the afternoon of the third day of an art course that is the most tiring. We started working on the forth day with some renewed energy.

Gabriella was posing again in the salon. We took the pictures a step further. I really wanted the class to be as conscience of the shapes and forms surrounding the model as of the model herself. Also to render the model into simplified shapes. Everything within the picture surface can only be judged in relation to what is next to it; to give volume to the figure it is necessary to consider it’s colour and tonal value in relation to the the chair, or the wall as well as within the figure itself.

There are changes of colour in the floor tiles which describe the light that falls on them. Equally, the colours change from left to right and from top to bottom in the doorway (even in the photo below it is possible to see that the door is lighter and pinker at the bottom and changes as it moves upwards.)

Here are some examples of the pastel paintings.

After lunch we put out the work in the studio and had a look at it all together before Alan arrived to pose. This is the moment to congratulate ourselves on the quality and quantity of work produced in four days!

In a pastel art course I hope very much to give people ideas to continue painting on their own and to encourage them to find their individual artistic styles. One advantage of an art course is that by working alongside others and seeing different interpretations of the same themes, it becomes easier for the students to be more aware of their own particular tenancies: to consistently choose warmer or cooler colours, to prefer close or contrasting tones etc. Use of pastel marks is very personal. It is interesting to see all the different gestural possibilities…

Then one last push to get further ahead in the portraits. looking particularly at reflected light in the skin tones and the three dimensional form of the head, described by the planes of light and shadow.