Finally, the orchids are done!

So here they are, orchids on burgundy Colorfix pastel paper and orchids on white Stonehenge.

This is the first time I have done this. Here we have the same artist, using the same image, creating the pieces at the same time, with the same techniques and the same pencils. I went back to the pastel paper one and tweaked some of the things that irritated me. At first, I was sure I would prefer the Stonehenge version but I have to admit that the pastel paper image has grown on me quite a bit.

Working on the pastel paper piece was a bit faster. I thought it would take me much longer to do the Stonehenge piece but it didn't. It would have made more of a difference if the paintings had been bigger in size. If I had attempted to create a dark background on the Stonehenge it would have taken me much longer. I have already written my thoughts on working on the sanded pastel surface. Suffice to say that at the time it felt like I wasn't able to get the detail that I wanted and I also felt that my style was looser. What is humorous to me is the fact that in the end, the two pieces look so similar.

In my opinion, the dark one looks richer and more dramatic. It definitely gets your attention in the 'across the room' test. This impact disappears when daylight starts to fade. In a normally lit room, the dark piece doesn't stand out near as well as it does in the daytime and you definitely lose the detail. This effect was brought up earlier in a comment that Cindy Haase made. Lighting is very important if you are displaying dark pieces. The one on Stonehenge looks more delicate and perhaps less intense. It does look great in normal house lighting in the evening.

In the end, not exactly the dramatic difference I expected between the two versions. It just comes down to personal preference. I like them both! This has been an interesting experiment with some surprises along the way. Why not try this yourself? Challenge yourself to work outside your box , (the pastel paper was 'getting outside the box' for me) and maybe you will be surprised too!

I have the April issue of my newsletter just about ready to post. I am attending an art conference tomorrow so the issue will probably get out tomorrow night. I shall let you know and of course I will report back on the conference.

'Orchids' WIP continued

Here is what my Orchids on Stonehenge looks like now. It is is almost finished. I need to spend some time tweaking the veins in the petals. Once it is completely finished, I shall post a picture of it alongside the version that I did on the Colorfix pastel paper.

Orchids on Stonehenge WIP

It is looking better now...please note that the background colour isn't as dark as it appears in the photo. Also, the finished composition will be different as I will be cropping it when it is matted.

As I mentioned in the last post, when I began working on the flowers I started with the areas with the darkest values. Here you can see that I worked those areas quite a bit. Satisfied that I had established my darkest values, I started to work on the upper right and left petals. I worked on the upper right one first and then the left one. I work on areas like this separately because I don't want to miss the uniqueness of the different petals. For example, if I applied a base layer all over the right one and then did the same thing on the left and then repeated this with each colour, there would be the possibility that I would miss subtle differences in shading and colour between the two petals.

I am working from the top of the flowers down. If I had done the lower petals first, my hand would be positioned over the finished petals while I worked on the upper ones. I don't typically work with a hand guard. While coloured pencil pigment doesn't usually smear (oil based pencils are more prone to this or if you have a lot of dark pigment applied it will), I prefer not to have my hand resting on a finished part of the paper. While the upper blossoms are not finished, I have the majority of the base colours down.

Pastel Paper Orchids

Well, here it is...The picture is a bit dark.

My thoughts after working on this piece: first of all, working on coloured paper sure speeds things up a lot. Second, pastel paper is faster as it won't accept many layers of pigment. I liked the fact that you could erase pigment with an eraser. I also liked the fact that you could layer a light layer over a dark layer. For example if I happened to get something too dark I could just go over it with a lighter pencil and the dark bit would be covered.

I don't like the sheen that is on the surface. You can only see this in person and you have to be very close to the art but still...

I love detail and working with this paper frustrated me at times. The gritty surface just doesn't allow fine lines.

I tried the technique of using a stiff bristle brush on areas of applied pigment. I wasn't keen on the technique or the results. I think I will leave this to Linda Hardy and others who do this really well!!
( www.lindahardy.com) About halfway through this piece I started to care less about the final outcome and only finished it to gain the experience. There are things that need to be fixed but this is as far as I am going with it. It is definitely not my best work but I did enjoy getting outside of my usual way of working box.

I have used Ampersand Pastelbord and loved working on that surface so I will order some of this from an on-line supplier. It isn't available here in Ottawa. I enjoyed working on the coloured surface so I will work on one again, just not on this brand of paper. On to the next piece...