Sunday, August 16, 2009

One Lonely Blossom

I cannot believe that summer is starting to wind down. There are back to school ads on TV (sorry kids) and this weekend is our first heat wave of the season, in mid August, and that kind of tells you what kind of summer we have had here - if you live in the US - enjoyable!!

I finally started some pastels again, and in order to get back up to speed I am working on a few studies. This sketch is done using some blue paper as the background which seems to make the oranges, peaches and aqua pop out at you. Pastels force color on me and my palette tends to be more subdued when using this medium. Colors I would never have considered start to work their way in which is one of the reasons I like pastels. My main concern was to have the vase show its reflective quality, not in a tight realistic approach but a more painterly style that allows the color to speak. Sometimes this can be a fight until I have been working with pastels for a while and learn to loosen up and let go.

4 comments:

Cathy said...

This is stunning Holly. Those two colours are really zingy and go so well together. I love the textures of pastel but am a dead loss with it...haha. Mind you I love pulling out the pastel drawers at art shops and seeing all the co-ordinated colours. Delicious. Hope to see more pastels once you get back into your stride.

magicmyst said...

The colors are magical. This looks so bright and joyous. Kay

Holly Zemak said...

Hi Cathy - I like the word zingy, I think it does describe the color. Don't you just love to look at all of the pastel sticks, a color orgy.

Holly Zemak said...

Thanks Kay, The placement is horrible but I had fun with the color.