Step 6

Then I added the medium tones and a little bit of pure white, and pure, unblended pastel.

This was done from a photo a friend gave me. Although if I were to do it again I would probably make the main flower slightly bigger or bring it down slightly further.

Step 6

Going back to darks/brights.

Step 4

Starting to take shape.

step 3

Not a good step... should have skipped that underpainting - trying to preserve some of the sketch was useless. It's like that middle stage, where you want to give up - like an adolescent... it started off nice, but now it just has to grow up to be beautiful again. : )

I gave it a try, but not so crazy about it... I don't really know what the point is. So, I added soft pastels, my favorite, and I think the original underpainting was kind of a waste.

pink pastel flowers

I tried something new. I've heard that using hard pastels as an underpainting is something some artists do. I gave it a try.

Sunset in Oceanside, CA

So, this is an 11" x 14" pastel I did with my unison pastels on 140# Richeson cold press watercolor paper - the last night I was in Oceanside visiting my cousin. That's him leaning against a rock - he called my cell while I was on another part of the beach to tell me I had to come over and see the sunset. I will mail it to him next week along with the pastel of Leo. It's a nice memory.