DEMO
3
Initialpastelmarkshelpto
‘key’thepicture– thisinvolves
establishingthelightestlightand
thedarkestdarktocalibratethe
painting.I didthishereandthen
I startedworkingfrommydarkest
dark,comparingotherareasof
shadowinrelationtomyinitialmark.
Workingmethodicallyinthismanner
helpstogetthecorrectrelationships
establishedearly.4
I continued to work on the coffee
pot looking carefully at the
reflections and highlights to compare
shapes, values and saturation and
how they related to each other.
I considered the shadows on
the tabletop, keeping in mind the
direction of the light coming through
the window and making sure that
they read correctly so that the light
remained coherent.
The details on the wicker handle
were added using a small broken
piece of Conté à Paris pastel that
gave a nice sharp edge to work with.5
l laid down the lightest area of the
orange’s skin and moved outwards
over the form, using a more saturated
orange pastel. I followed this with a
duller, darker terracotta colour to
transition out to the original shadow
laid down earlier. When I needed to
neutralise any of these steps, I could
desaturate the colours by using a
green pastel of the same value as the
orange pastel used beneath.6
With the orange skin worked over,
I added the highlight. Moving out
from the main white spot, I applied
dots of lighter pastels to suggest the
texture of the zest. These became a
little more yellow as I moved outward.
Remember that less is more, so be
careful not to overdo this stage.7
As I worked on the segments of
clementine, I noticed that the
smaller segment had light passing
through it. It was important to keep
the shadow side sufficiently dark in
value, so that there wasn’t a big jump
as you moved into the shadow cast
on the tabletop. I added a few strokes
of a saturated orange pastel into the
flesh of the clementine in shadow to
suggest the transmitted light. I also
warmed the cast shadow to suggest
that the light passing through the
flesh was modifying it.
After I had established the fleshy
parts of the clementine, I began to
overlay the pith using the corner of a
light yellow pastel. A light scumble of
white over the segments helped to
suggest the membrane. I checked to
see if any further touches were
needed, prior to calling it finished.
http://www.lizbalkwill.comTop tip
Let the texture of
your support help to
establish the rough
surface of the fruit
in pastel4
6 7
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5