Wendy's Tiger lillies

[Debzy]

MY IMAGE(S):



GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Wendy's Tiger lillies
Year Created:
Medium: Pastel
Surface: Paper
Dimension: 8.25
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
I started this pastel yesterday because I am sick in bed at present and needed to do something quick and easy. ....... Well, tu<br>ed out to be NOT SO EASY!!! Anyway, I have spent about 6 hours on this, it has been in WIP forum via stages. I began with pastel pencils, but soon tu<br>ed to soft chalk pastels after the pencils began to frustrate me. One in particular, the main one I needed for early darks had broken lead in it, so kept breaking every few minutes. Arrrgggghhhh...... Time for soft chalks! I had some trouble with the pastels getting the details of the lillies, but I enjoyed the challenge of few colours, no background and lots of different shapes. It was a good exercise. I realised when I had finished that I also pastelled my dooner.... eek! "Not happy Jan"!!!

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
All C & C welcome, don't mind if it's harsh, as it was just a quick study in form, colour and tonal range. Any suggestions on getting detail with pastels would be appreciated. I tried breaking them to get clean edges etc, but still had difficulty. Cheers. Debs. =))

[leisure artist]

This is lovely Debz....i havnt done a lot of pastel work as i find them too dusty,but i used the soft for larger areas and the hard pencils for detail..im sure the pastel experts will offer more advice....pleased to hear you are feeling a lot better.....Christine

[Dana Design]

It's beautiful! Great variation of color. You've done very well here!

BTW, what's a dooner?

[Debzy]

Thanks so much Christine and Dana! I did start with the pastel pencils, but I wasn't starring with them. They could be useful for detail I am sure, the only problem I had when I tried to use them on top of the chalk pastels, they wouldn't work. I hardly got any response from them. Frustrating!!! Dana, a dooner or doona perhaps is the correct spelling is a bed quilt. Like you can get a feather doona! It has feathers in it. The puffy thing you put a pretty cover over and it lays over you in bed! =)) Debs.

[Dana Design]

Aha! I have a doona! But here we call them feather comforters. Couldn't sleep without mine!

[Revilo]

Nice rendering. I think it could benefit from some addition of complimentary colors. It seems limited to the warms. Here is an example of what some color would look like.

[Erica Shipley]

Looks amazing.

I was wondering how you were doing that in bed with out making a mess! I have been down with an injured leg for 2 years and have a hard time finding things to work on with out making messes as I tend to work on the couch or in bed. Good Job!

[Debzy]

Thank you Erica, an Revillo. Yes my doona needs a good wash when I am up and about again!! =)) Thanks Revillo, yes I love the addition of colours and if I repeat the study with water colour I will certainly be thinking along those lines. I was more interested in the shapes, tonal variations and limited colour palette for this one, more of a study to see what I could do. It has opened up many possibilities because just the shapes alone are so interesting that it could make a lovely abstract if one was so inclined!!! The addition of colours as you displayed works nicely and gives it a brighter mood! Thank you so much for your trouble and I will definitely be thinking that way next time. Cheers and keep smiling! Debs. =))

[NRC]

I often employ PShop tools when painting to 'see' better when painting cause all the help one can get is much needed at my end. The monochrome conversion shows values primarily mid-range with few darks though it may be the photo and not true IRL. When image is converted to threshold, it shows a strong patterning of dark and light, though somewhat balanced between the two. Warning: Pastels quickly become addictive and you are in a weakened state. It's a beautiful study and very near being a finished piece.



Laundry is a pain even when feeling great. Hope you are feeling better soon, Debzy.

Nell

Edit: regarding detailing ... one recommendation found in pastel forum thread is to use the cheaper NuPastels and sharpen them rather than using pencils.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...02&postcount=7

[Debzy]

Hi Nell, and thank you so much! I will try to get some of those pastels, to be able to sharpen them would be great! The pastel pencils just didn't have enough softness in them to go over the soft chalk pastels. Much appreciated for the heads up on that one!!!! Also, yes, I did feel that perhaps there weren't enough dark values but to keep the orange colours looking almost flourescent it was very hard to go any darker. The only way I think would be to use a dark brown with an orang red over the top, but the orange and red colours that I used won't go any darker. =(( suggestions please??? Cheers Debs. =)) P.S. Here is the reference photo. Cheers =))

[arnieb]

Lovely bright colours - very cheerful. We used to call them eiderdowns before duvets were introduced from the continent. Arnie

[NRC]

Hi. Ref shows that perhaps your darks are all there and it is the lights that need to be pushed. If you want a brighter, purer light the colour already applied can be erased so hue can be applied pure, without mixing with the one below. I always forget that and end up changing chroma. Too much blending also changes the chroma. I just learned that lesson myself.

[Debzy]

Thank you again Nell, you are right! The lights need to come out more! I will erase back the light areas and give pure light colours and white on the areas. That may be the answer! Thank you so much. Really appreciate your effort to help, I must learn to use Photo shop. I have an Apple Macbook pro, can you get photoshop on them? WHat you show me here is amazing! Cheers =)) Debs.

[Debzy]

How embarrassing!!! I just found out that these are not Tiger lilies! My friend told me she thought thats what they were when she gave them to me, but I just looked them up! They are a Clivia! Called Clivia miniata "Doris". Not a Lily at all!!! Sorry for that silly mistake! Andrew, what happened.... Im surprised you didn't correct that one with your encyclopaedia knowledge mind!!!!! Cheers =)) Debs.