Day 7: An Exercise in Softness: the Iris

From January 7, 2012

Iris, a soft pastel on 6x6 pale blue Colourfix Suede

1. I blocked in the shape for the iris by using white PanPastel applied with Sofft tools applicator. Since Suede officially says that it's well suited for a softer touch, that's what I wanted to use throughout for this piece.

2. I needed to refine the shape of the petals, and after spraying with Spectrafix, I was able to apply more PanPastel to the surface. This Suede surface carries the "nappy" features of fabric, so as the foam applicator for the PanPastel is pulled across the surface, you can see a reorientation of the fibers in the surface. It makes creation with the PanPastels carry another dimension.

3. After a second splash of fixative, I opted to use standard soft pastel sticks to add the veined details of the petals and the curved nature of the petals using lost/found strokes. I ran up against a time constraint here (after going out for some uncharacteristic socializing), but am pleased with the final presentation of this piece.