Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Daisy

Daisy

8x11 inches

Soft, hard and pan pastels and some coloured pencils on wood


I have been asked by several artists how spraying of multiple coats of both fixative and varnish affects the pastel work, and so thought I would do a work in predominantly pastels to see just what happens. There was definitely quite a lot of sinking and changing of colours, particularly in the background, so for anyone who is concerned about keeping their colours true, then I wouldn't recommend this process at all. In this instance though, so long as the skin tones stayed reasonably true, I wasn't too worried about changes in the rest of the artwork - in a funny way, I actually like the unpredicability of how the finished artwork will appear. I was a little heavy handed in some areas of the background where I have tried to soften the two corners that I felt were too dark, but did find that much of the softer overcoat darkened into the undercoat. I should probably have taken a before and after scan to show the impact on the pastels and will do that next time so you can get the full idea of colour changes.

7 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

Karen, she is so beautiful! Reminds me of the old ads for...was it Northern tissue? Or maybe a shampoo. Gorgeous work, as always.

Unknown said...

Thank you Sherry - I don't think I know the ads, but I did want to give her a softer, old world look :)

Artoholic said...

She is just gorgeous Karen!

I am really loving the Juxtaposition (fancy arty farty term huh?) of the softness of pastel and subject vs the hard, grainy timber support. Does my head in, in a very good way. It's kinda like seeing silk made of steel, that sort of thing.

Unknown said...

So beautiful and delicate. Love it.
she does look rather oldie worldly and very pretty.

Unknown said...

Thank you heaps Cindy and Dors for your lovely comments. It's amazing how free it feels working on the wood Cindy - I know what you mean about the soft on the hardness of the wood, and for some reason I find that combination liberating :)

Carol Andre' said...

Your children are always so lovely. I wouldn't have thought of it, but yes it is similar to the old N. tissue ads (if that was the brand). My mom had 4 prints from them, little girls, maybe a little boy in one, not sure. I'll bet they were pastels, I was little at that time and never thought about it. Have seen them in "antique" stores a few times now... what does that make me? :-0
Hahaha...

Unknown said...

I know Carol - it's scary when you think back over the years but so long as we still feel young on the inside!!! :)