PASTEL RIOT - Week 5/18 - 5/24

[Craig Houghton]

Last week is going to be a tough riot to follow, but we can do it. I had a tough time narrowing down the 3 subjects, but hopefully these should provide adequate fuel. Give them a try, and feel free to reinvent the selections -- crop, chop, or alter till you have something you can call your own.

And remember, "this is about seeing the different interpretations of styles, choices of colours, technique, paper etc. The main thing is to enjoy what you do ...... open to anyone and everyone who wants to participate, only stipulation is that it is in 'pastels'..."

I found the shadows, the blue sky, and the negative values of the trees too good to pass up: so cal oaks -



I love these cone flowers (echinacea). Check out the spirals in the center:



and finally, here's a twist on a the traditional:



Enjoy and experiment!

__________________
Craig!

[flower]

Hey Craig,

What a good choice, like them all especially the half eaten strawberry, i want to practice some techniques in pastels so the flowers would be a good choice for me too, look forward to trying them out

[Dark_Shades]

...... the first one to post their painting, opens the following weeks thread

..... choosing 3 pics either their own or from the WC's extensive reference Library

[Kathryn Wilson]

Way to go Craig - a good variety! Think I'll give the flowers a try - have not done flowers before so it should be interesting!

[flower]

Hi everyone

I tried this "half eaten strawberry" on white canson paper 200gm, 9x12 although i cropped it, the paper is for watercolour or acrylic but all my pastel paper is at guess where????????at my caravan LOL

[Craig Houghton]

what a fantastic strawberry -- there's a real elegance here that goes great with the less than proper condition of the strawberry well done!

i love the way you used color exactly where and when it was actually needed - looks great!

and! you'll now have the honor of posting next weeks riot

yesterday after posting the images i did the oaks, but I have to wait till I get back to my home state before posting -- besides, I'd rather wait to see how other ppl interpret the pic

-Craig

[Dark_Shades]

nice work flower ......... love the use of the colours ....... so well described by Craig

..... woooooo hooooooo you get to open next weeks....... well done

[Kathryn Wilson]

Flower : It shows the spontaneity with which it was painted. Brilliant!

[Craig Houghton]

Since I picked the pics this week, I shouldn't probably be so hasty to post, but I am! Shortly after finding the oaks pic and posting it, I made this while at my gf's with a limited pallete. It's rembrandt and a few sennelier on colourifix primer i tinted navy blue using some gouache.

-Craig

[E-J]

Craig ~ I love the effect of the dark supports you use ~ and the dramatic contrasts you manage to create in your paintings ~ this really has impact.

Patricia ~ you've done a super job on that strawberry considering you didn't have the right paper!

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks E-J, but now I'm addicted to the dark colourfix. I keep trying the lighter shades and regular paper supports, but I always end up coming back for my dark colourfix fix -- I'm a hopeless convert.

-Craig :P

[flower]

Hi everyone,

Craig, thankyou so much for these comments, i was overwhelmed when i read them, your pastel is also extremely good, i like the intensity of the colours, the sky is beautiful.

Dawn, Kyle, E-J, thankyou for your encouraging comments too, i don´t know if there is a right or wrong paper, i found with some watercolour paper if i lay white first i can get the colours to blend really nice, found the canson mi-teints paper now so i´m going to try it out.

If i have some photos of my own do i have to send them into the ref library or can i upload direct into the thread?

Happy pastelling

[Craig Houghton]

Thanks flower.

Also, I rightclicked the reference photo I wished to use, and then I copied (using control-c or Copy from the Edit menu) the url, and pasted (control-v or Paste from the Edit menu) the url into the message using the button on the message editor labelled "IMG." The will link right to the image in the library so that one needn't use the uploader etc.

Hope this helps,
Craig

[Dark_Shades]

Originally posted by Craig Houghton
Since I picked the pics this week, I shouldn't probably be so hasty to post, but I am! Shortly after finding the oaks pic and posting it, I made this while at my gf's with a limited pallete. It's rembrandt and a few sennelier on colourifix primer i tinted navy blue using some gouache.

-Craig

Nice work Craig ... well done

[Kathryn Wilson]

Craig: What great color you achieve in your paintings. I love the shadows the trees are casting - it was the first thing I looked at when I viewed the ref photos.

I am in love with Art Spectrum's colourfix paper too - I keep using other paper I have on hand and wishing I had used the dark colourfix paper. Have you used any of their light colored paper - I have a sample pack with some light paper in it.