2010 Pastel Retrospective

[Paula Ford]

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WELCOME TO THE
2010 PASTEL RETROSPECTIVE!!
Your best of 2010!

This thread is dedicated to all of your hard work throughout the year, so let's showcase your best!

You may select up to TWO pastel paintings that you painted in 2010 and post them here in this thread. This thread is for soft pastels only.

Please write a description of why you believe these are your best or favorite paintings of 2010, and include the size of the painting and materials used.

Keep in mind these are finished paintings, so NO CRITIQUES PLEASE!

[chrsalg]

These are two paintings I have done this year, Pastel on Velour, I dont know the exact sized but they are around A1, I hope to enter them into my local art club exhibition later on this year.
Chrissie

[Paula Ford]

Chrissie, These are so gorgeous!!!

Here are my favorite paintings that I did in 2010:

©2010 Paula Ann Ford, Dandilion Dance. Soft Pastels on Uart, 6 1/2" x 8 1/2"
It was such a simple little scene that I saw when stepping out my front door one early morning.



©2010 Paula Ann Ford, In the Spotlight. Soft Pastels on Ampersand Pastelbord, 12"x12". The photo was from a recent trip I took to my favorite place in the world, Old Forge, NY, so the scene is very dear to my heart. The water started out much lighter, but there was just something wrong with the values, so I deepened the water in front and it worked.

This piece also made the Top 15% in the November BoldBrush Competition by Convoo There were over 700 entries!!!

[chrsalg]

Thanks Paula for the nice comments on my work, yours are so lovely Iwould love to be able to do landscapes, but I dont understand perspective, I think I should maybe invest in some art classes!

[robertsloan2]

Oh wow! Chrissie, your cats are incredible. I love them both. I could reach right into the paintings and scritch them - okay, that's partly because you caught that lion cub and that tiger in good moods. They're happy cats. They look like they wouldn't mind some attention. Your tiger loves swimming, that's such a great expression!

Paula, wow! Dandelion Dance has such a happy feeling, it's playful. It's summer vacation on paper. The backlit tree sets off the dandelion clocks perfectly and ties everything together. I like the hints of turquoise in that wildly green foliage - that is the heart of summer vacation when it feels like winter will never come. Your autumn one is atmospheric too, it gives me a sharp chill and makes me smile, reminds me of some other pleasant moments. The water is great and it feels as if there's a sharp breeze in the painting. The frosty tree is gorgeous.

Let's see... my two best pastels of 2010 are two of my most recent pastels:


Autumn Ramble Revisited
8" x 11 1/2"
Unison pastels on dark brown Colourfix pastel paper.
Photo reference by Paula Ford for December Landscape Challenge 2010.

And the other one:

Flower Meadow
10" x 8"
Unison pastels on Canson mi-Tientes smooth side
Photo reference from December Spotlight Challenge, think it was from DAK723.
Yeesh, the scan of this doesn't begin to show how well this painting looks, the sky especially got washed out and lost all its pretty color gradations as well as value gradation.

[chrsalg]

O Robert, my favourite is the flower medow that red is absolutley fab, I think you are giving me the insperation to give landscapes a go.
Chrisssie

[Gerri Mc]

Your paintings are just amazing, everyone! You all set a great standard to aim for.

This little one is my favourite from last year. Pastel pencils on La Carte, 4X5 approx! I have posted this one in the D&S retrospective too, hope that's OK.

[DAK723]

Wonderful paintings so far everyone!

Chrissie, your cats are beautifully done!

Paula, well, you know I love your work! Words can't really describe how great they are!

Robert, While both of these are nice, "Autumn Ramble Revisited" is really special. The color scheme is totally awesome! And while I'd like to take credit for the photo of "Flower Meadow," the image is from the reference library - photo by Chia.

Gerri, Wonderful close up! Great detail!

Don

[Ruthie57]

Fantastic work already! Well done all.

It was hard for me to choose my best of 2010, not because I have so many good ones but because I have so many which are neeeearly there, but not quite IMO.

Anyway, I think the portrait of my Husband John is still my best portrait and the Ballerina below I really like. I've chosen these because, before 2010, I had hardly done any portraits and no figures so they remind me I have come a long way in a year.

[Winny Kerr]

Here is my favorite....I used it for our 2010 Christmas card. I have to give credit to Eric Valentine, who allowed me to use his beautiful photo as my reference. I am not too happy with the water and need to do something about that before I frame it. I'll take a lesson from you Paula as I love the water in your 2nd painting...LOL

[SonyaJ]

Ooohh...this is already an awesome thread; everyone's entries are wonderful! It's easy to see why they were chosen .

I had a handful of favorites out of the 100+ pastel paintings I did last year, and here are two:

Winter Stream
~7.5 x 11 inches #400-grit sandpaper

Based on a photo I took last winter south of Flagstaff, AZ in late afternoon, this scene epitomizes the one thing I love about winter: the stillness and peacefulness of the land covered with snow, and the shadows cast by late afternoon winter sun.

Monkey - A Portrait
12x18 on Strathmore 500-series paper

I did this as a birthday present for my sister, shortly after she had to have Monkey, her boxer, put to sleep. When I spent last winter in Bisbee with my sister, Monkey accompanied me on many of my hikes and photo shoots out in the desert and mountains. So, the painting has sentimental value for me as well. Plus, it showed me that I can do subjects other than landscapes. [sorry for the small size; the image uploader wouldn't resize my original, so this is pulled off of my blog]

[chrsalg]

wow Ruthie, they are beautiful.
chrissie

[Fata_Morgana]

Here are my favourites. It wasn't very hard to choose since I've only done three all in all. //Yvonne

[Dougwas]

Beautiful paintings, everyone. I always enjoy seeing what paintings meant the most to all the artists. We all have our own reasons for our favorite paintings.

My first painting in from a WDE. The reference photo was from the area I once lived in and I felt an immediate connection to the scene. The second painting was from a Spotlight. My eighteen year old daughter loves frogs so I painted it for her.

Fraser Valley Rainbow 7 X 5



Wart's Up? 10 x 8




Doug

[chuas2]

9x10, pastelmat, Girault.

Because it said just what I wanted to say, no more, no less.
Chuas