Saturday, March 8, 2008

Warm-up Exercises


I start a pastel class again tomorrow, and decided that I should make sure that I'm not too rusty to draw...since having been in writing mode now for months in the contracting world. Yup, it looks like I still have a few neurons firing in the tips of the old arthritic fingers...in this 11x14 inch piece with a working title of Raven Haired Beauty. Granted it's a composition based on someone else's photograph--and wouldn't qualify as a totally accurate portrait, but it works for me all the same.

This is a 3-day class spread over three Sundays, one each in March, April, and May, and I took it last year as a "beginner". I'm coming in this year as an "intermediate" student, I guess. Last time I wrote about the surfaces that I most like for working with pastel, I was becoming a big fan of working directly on canvas. The piece shown in this post is on PastelBord, which could also fast become a favorite surface, and I've got some of the Colourfix paper from Art Spectrum to try too. Both have really toothy surfaces...akin to sandpaper. I have to admit that I love the way the pastels just crawl into the crevices. On the other hand, my blending fingers feel like I've been rubbing them on sandpaper--smooth and a little sore!

I look forward to learning something new...and to getting out of the house this weekend to meet a few new people. Now that volleyball season is all over, and the snow frequency has finally dropped to maybe once a week...with maybe just a flurry or two this week...there's more time to do things other than move snow around!

No comments: