Tag Archives: natural

On the Beach - Pastel step-by-step

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Wanting to cut loose and paint a slightly abstract pastel I bought this fab uncluttered and stark beach scene.

Stark, high-key yet poetic - this is the image for me!

Stark, high-key yet poetic - this is the image for me!

Do you like it? It’s all soft sand and blowy sky with that rock and some seaweed as accents. A place where you can step out of the world for a while and merge with the sea and sky with sand under your feet.

I am using my Unison pastels and Canson cream pastel paper.

Please click on each image to bring it up nice and big.

Building colour strength and forms

I have more work to go and to be honest am just feeling my way with this as pastel is not my medium usually…watch this space…but this is where I am with it now. I am hopeful and full of expectation - thinking about it in my head as to how I will proceed to give it more richness and depth with the odd kick of light and reflection where it needs it:)

This is where I will stop painting for now...

This is where I will stop painting for now…

Fresh Out of Forde Abbey

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Forde Abbey, Somerset, England

Last July I had a lovely day trip by coach to Forde Abbey in Somerset.

My onion - drawn on cotton rag paper in pencil showing strong shadows that suggest the summer sun

A rural idyll, this abbey was once a monastery but has had many changes made to its architecture which have resulted in a beautiful English stately home and gardens - open to the public.

Onions growing in the kitchen gardens

I was drawn to the simplicity and beauty of the abbey gardens and its well-tended vegetable plots and Victorian white-wood greenhouse flanked on all sides by riotous rose gardens and herbaceous borders. The sun warmed my back all day and lit the flowers and leaves with a gorgeous light that had me snapping photos at every turn.

Hollyhocks against a Victorian brick wall

Here I present two simple sketches. One of a huge onion sitting its hefty weight in the rich soil, and a hollyhock - reaching upwards as it unfurled pale yellow papery flowers.

A small hollyhock study I did in pencil

I have many more images and hours of fun to go as I decide which to cull and which to experiment with over the coming weeks.

I came away from Forde having spent ages wandering the nursery where I bought some tall floaty flowers and smelled many more!