My Finished (?) Still Life

Still Life with Fruit, pastel, 9 x 12" by Joan Cole 2011

          Well, I think I've finished the pastel I began in Claudia Post's class on Tuesday at Maple & Main Gallery in Chester, Connecticut.  I will be eager to hear at next Tuesday's class the critique of my fellow artists and Claudia herself.  I lost track of time Thursday evening as I was working to bring this piece from the way it looked in my previous post to what it is now.  It certainly was a much warmer activity than the outdoor paintings I had been working on last weekend.


          As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I had begun two plein air paintings of the same view of our lake and the surrounding snow-covered woodlands.  Unfortunately, the snow gradually began to melt from Monday until Friday.  Luckily for me, snow began falling yesterday afternoon, and now the lake and the ground are back to white.  So I'm hoping I'll be able to finish one or both of those oil paintings this weekend.  I've got my fingers crossed....  We'll have to wait and see.

Day 1--Pastel Class

Initial drawing

          This is the initial drawing that I laid in at my first pastel class yesterday at Maple & Main Gallery in Chester.  Master pastellist Claudia Post is an excellent teacher!  As I mentioned in a previous post, I have painted in pastels before.  At last, however, I'm learning the proper way to paint with them.  Yesterday, I learned to use NuPastels (a hard, pressed form of pastel) to lay in the drawing.  Unlike oil paints, which have the name of each color on the label of each tube, NuPastels have numbers pressed into the sticks, indicating each color.  I  began with a fairly light reddish brown like burnt sienna. Oh yes, I also learned how to sharpen NuPastels, so that I have a fine point with which to draw.  (A boring, but necessary, task!) 

          After getting a preliminary sketch down, I refined my drawing with a darker brown.  Then, I continued refining with the darkest green and darkest red.  After that, I began adding local color.  Today, I'm looking forward to seeing what difference moving to my softer Rembrandt pastels will make.  I am so excited!

          Stay tuned!