Highland Stream

Latest pic, pastels on Pastelmat, 16.5 x 12.5 inches

Smile

Couldn't resist this lovely little girl, Patti Patterson.  Thanks to Li Newton for the photo.  Pastels on pastelmat.

Cuillins Sunset

Another picture of the lovely Cuillins, this time at sunset.  The view from Elgol is truly awesome, and one I'll revisit at some stage.  Pastels on Pastelmat, 21x9.5 inches.  The picture is a bit dark, there is more detail in the distant mountains.

Sharbat Gula, pastel portrait

In the summer I took up my pastels again after experimenting on the wonderful new paper Pastelmat.  This paper is really marvellous, it solves all the problems that made me give up pastels years ago.  There is no texture to detract from the painting, and the paper grips the pastels enabling the build up of lots of layers, and none of it falls off.  So I treated myself to the Portrait set of Unison pastels, and this was my first experiment. This is the photo of the refugee Afghan girl by Steve McCurry, made famous in National Geographic magazine.   Steve has very kindly given me permission to upload this picture of my painting to share with my friends - thank you Steve!.   It isn't for sale, and copyrightof the photo remains with Steve.  You can see more of his wonderful photos at http://www.stevemccurry.com/.  I have his book of Portraits, if you can get a copy it is inspirational.
Unfortunately I'm not such a good photographer as Steve, and my photo of the painting is a little dark and has lost some of the detail in the hair, but it's there!  16x12 inches.
I have been using the Unison pastels and the Pastelmat paper quite a bit this summer, on portraits and landscapes, more coming soon!

Sad News

Going to be a break in the painting for a while, as my Mum died on Sunday.  Lots to do, funeral and things.  Guess the previous painting suits my mood.

Bealach na Ba finished

Well, it's been a while since posting, due to my mother being seriously ill and having to go down to stay in England for more than two weeks, with no internet access.  I had laid the picture aside, because it had gone slightly awry.  I wanted to paint the pale mist over the dark sky and blend it, but I thought it would maybe stay cleaner if I sprayed the sky with fixative first. Big mistake!  Don't know if the fixative was old, but a dark spray of speckles all over the sky was the result.  So I had redo the sky when I got back, and have now finished the foreground.  It is rather different from the reference, but an improvement on the photo I think.  I kind of lost the impetus with the long and stressful break, so it's not my best work. 

Still, onwards and upwards!  Have started on an altogether different picture, a sunset over the Cuillins, so lots of lovely colour and cheerfulness.

Bealach na Ba stage 2

I've done some more work on this, but the approaching North East Open Studios event is taking up time.  Hanging pictures, sorting prints, cards, organising publicity etc.is cutting down painting time.  However, when it starts on Saturday I shall be in the studio all day every day, so hopefully will get this finished in between visitors!

Bealach na ba stage 2