Puppy in pastels

More on my first pastel attempt, it is progressing quite fast. I like the blendability of pastels but it does mean I have to be very careful where I put my hand! I would certainly get in a dreadful mess with pastel sticks, though they would be useful for backgrounds - I might get a few just for that. The demonstration I am following (by Colin Bradley) is very useful, I wouldn't have been as successful had I just been starting from scratch without any help. Not that the puppy is going to be perfect, far from it but not bad for my first attempt. Here is the update scan.

Playing with pastels

I have taken the plunge and begun a practice piece with my new pastel pencils; this picture is from an online demo by Colin Bradley. I'm liking the pastels so far, very different to coloured pencil and I won't use them all the time but nice for a change. This little dog is in the very early stages but I'm happy with how it's going, also I'm pleased that I did the initial line drawing freehand!

My new toy

No update on the elephants this morning for the simple reason that yesterday I didn't pick up a pencil! That was because my new camera arrived and I spent each spare moment having a little play and getting to know it's basic functions. I think I'm going to be very pleased with it. Today it's raining so I won't get a chance to go out and experiment, so maybe by this evening the elephants will have made some progress! Meanwhile here's an earlier picture for you. This is Rosie a dear little dog that lives near me.