Puppy in pastels - finished

A quiet boxing day has meant time for me to complete my first attempt in pastels, working from an online demonstration by Colin Bradley. I like the softness of the result though it wouldn't suit all subjects - I still prefer the precision of coloured pencils but I can still see that I will use pastels again for some pieces. The colours haven't come out that well in thus scan but good enough to get the idea. The finished picture is approx 11" x 8".

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!