26 artistApril 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.uk?????????
p STAGE FIVE
The Unison colours shown in the chart (below) were used to build the colour changes of
the sea, with the marks becoming more lively as they near the shore and less pronounced
near the horizon. This helped to give a sense of distance. Picking up the white foam of
the waves added movement. It also helped to indicate the curve of the beach as well as
making the immersion of the rocks more convincing. To achieve the translucent effect of
water flowing over the beach/pebbles, I worked in the beach colours and the pebbles and
then dragged some greenish blues over that before finally adding some whitish foamCHERYL’S TOP TEN TIPS
FOR PASTELLISTS
l Find a support that suits you. There are
many choices available but you won’t know
whether you like it without trying it.
l Find pastels that suit you. Each brand has
a unique quality and colour range.
l Try to buy from an art shop where you
can see the pastels, or use a hand-painted
colour chart such as that from Unison Colour,
especially when you have to purchase
online.
l Keep a note of the colours and brands you
like. Once you have removed the wrapper
it is very difficult to identify the colour from
online or printed colour charts.
l Try to keep colours in separate containers.
I find that once they escape they all start to
look brown. When working on a piece, I try
to keep my colours grouped, eg sky colours,
etc, so that I can locate them easily.
l The joy of pastel is the high pigment
content and the colours really glow. I tend to
work from dark to light.
l Keep a small piece of primed mountboard
to make quick colour test marks. Colour has
the annoying tendency to change its identity
when the underlying colour is changed.
Bit by bit, experience will help with this
challenge.
l Glazing is another important aspect of
dealing with a pastel painting. I use UltraVue
UV70 Anti Reflective Glass, which I buy in
packs of two sheets measuring 36 3 48in. It is
not cheap, but there is virtually no reflection
and there is no problem with steaming up,
should the work catch a strong beam of
sunlight.
l When framing a pastel, ensure the work
doesn’t touch the glass. A spacer, a slip or
a mount will ensure this doesn’t happen.
If your work is heavily laden with pastel, I
advise avoiding mounts – after the slightest
movement they are dotted with pastel dust
and, even worse, potential buyers will think
that the whole painting could shed itself in
the night and disappear.
l Be proud of your pastels. Don’t be
treated as second-class citizens of the art
world. Pastel is a wonderful medium and
has qualities that outshine all the other
traditionally accepted media.p STAGE FOUR
The sea was the next major area requiring freedom of movement and spontaneity. The
most difficult bit is to retain the crispness of the horizon; it doesn’t matter if the marks
wander over the boundaries elsewhere as long as the water has movement and my
horizon is left intact.
There is often a dark line of water on the horizon and, to enhance the luminosity of the sky,
I used Schmincke greenish grey 94D, dragged onto the board, moving to Schmincke
greenish umber 30O to take the blue-greys into blue-greens, both thinly applied. A tiny
touch of Rembrandt gold ochre 231.5 underlies the greenish grey 94DPASTEL COLOURS USED FOR THE SEA
Schmincke
greenish grey
94DUnison
ocean
blue 6Unison
blue green
14Unison
blue green
earth 4Unison
blue green
earth 2Unison
blue green
earth 3Unison
blue green
earth 16Unison
blue green
17Unison
grey 23Unison
blue green
10Schmincke
greenish
umber 30O