"Woodland Emperor"
5" x 7"
pastel on Art Spectrum
aubergine sanded pastel surface
I took several photos of this Emperor Dragonfly while working in the vegetable garden one day. He was almost hidden among the flora with his green, blue and brown color. Once I saw him, I felt like I had 'found Waldo'! Then I decided to do a pastel of the photo!!
Sometimes I like to draw with pencils, colored pencils or pastel pencils - shown below. This detailed piece needed those pencils...as it was a small one for an 8" x 10" frame.
Several times, I have purchased electric pencil sharpeners to try them out to keep these pencils sharpened, but I always go back to the way I was taught to sharpen them - with a knife to whittle down the wooden outside and a sandpaper block to make the pastel/lead a sharpened point.
The latest sharpener has a problem with 'staying on' once you put a pencil in the barrel of the sharpener and then remove it. I don't think there will ever be a perfect solution to this issue, as the pastel lead-like substance tends to crumble easily.
All in all, I miss doing mostly pastels with my art. They were about my only choice of medium at one time.
3 comments:
He is really lovely Patti, you have indeed found Waldo!
What a treasure to find in your garden - and now you have this gorgeous painting to remind you!
Thanks Dana and Claire - I lightened up the photo of this one..someone told me it was too dark..and it isn't that dark on the easel.
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