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Wednesday 20 February 2013

Pastels practice, and a lovely surprise award

© Sharon Whitley
Painted Dog - pastels

I've been inspired to try out my pastels lately after seeing some lovely pastel pieces around, very different way of working than watercolours and I go with a more detailed style when using pastels, I'm interested to see whether people prefer this version or the looser watercolour version on the last post.  I did find it very frustrating using the toothy Daler Rowney pastel paper which leaves the tooth showing through, don't really like that and didn't seem to be able to layer much pastel so I have treated myself to some pastelmat which I'm going to try next - so any ideas on what I can do with the wad of pastel paper I've got would be appreciated!

I had a lovely day on Sunday celebrating a special young man's birthday with fellow birding bloggers, KeithAndrewTrevor, and Kane, Chris, Phil and of course Findlay's mum and dad and younger brother Harley. 


Findlay lives in a beautiful part of Cheshire and led us on a walk around his local patch where we were all very excited to see a beautiful kingfisher fishing on the banks of the River Weaver, I was absolutely thrilled as I've only seen one briefly before.  More about our day with Findlay can be found on Gary's blog post here

And finally the lovely Elaine of Elaine Magliacane Journal has nominated my blog for an award!



The award is aimed at helping people discover about new blogs and is awarded to bloggers you admire who have under 200 followers.  Thank you so much Elaine for thinking of me!

So now I need to pass the award on to 5 blogs that I admire ... Even though I follow a variety of blogs I will stick to arty blogs for the award as that is where my award came from......and I'm choosing those with under 100 followers as I think they deserve much more!

Sherry Schmidt Watercolours  Sherry does loads of plein air watercolours which are wonderful and I love her loose style and use of colour

Vickie's Sketchbook  Vickie's page has always been one of my favourites, I know when I see her thumbnail on my blogroll, I'm in for a treat - and she loves the same subjects I do - birds and wildlife!

Lorraine Brown Watercolours I first came across Lorraine on PMP (Paint my Photo) a link to which you can find on the side bar - Lorraine's main subject to paint used to be florals which were superb and recently she has been painting wildlife and I've been really impressed with them all, absolutely stunning work (very jealous!)

Polly's Watercolours  - the lovely Polly Birchall is a watercolorist  with a lovely style - I don't think she realises how good she is, she paints the most gorgeous cards for people and I always look forward to her posts. 

Alena Hughes - Alena paints mainly in watercolours and sometimes in acrylics - I love the paintings she does which depict the Australian landscape where she lives

So there you go - 5 blogs worth a browse and a like if you've got 5 minutes to spare.





15 comments:

  1. Dificil decision, el pastel está más luminoso, pero la acuarela es mas espontanea, ademas me gusta el verde del fondo. Dificil!
    Enhorabuena por el premio.

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  2. Oh Sharon. What a lovely thing to do and say. I don't know what to say, just a big thank you. Will also check out the other blogs too. :-D xx

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  3. That carried away I forgot to comment on your post. First of all your pastels have a lovely freedom even though you say they are more detailed. A possible use for pastel paper - stretch like you would w/c paper and for darker colours than the paper use watercolour and lighter colours use guache or watercolour with white added. You can get some interesting effects. Findley is a lovely young chap. I wonder if the BBC knows about him. He would be great on Countryfile to encourage more children to start birdwatching. Thanks again ......

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  4. Great idea to try out your pastel, the painted dog is well done. I think that the background is more suitable in this one.

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  5. A very worthy winner of the award and what a lovely idea to be able to pass it on. Thank you so much to you and Gary for helping to make Findlay's birthday so special. He was excited about how excited you were over the Kingfisher. We will get a date sorted for Frodsham Marsh soon xxxx

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  6. Sharon, you're so sweet to think of my blog! Yours certainly deserves the recognition. I remember when we both started, thanks so much to the PMP group. Also, have to say you are a natural with pastels I think! Love the bird on Findlay's card too!

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  7. Your Pastel work is fabulous Sharon and proves what a talented artist you are that you can create in other mediums. Thank you so much for your really kind words about my watercolours the encouragement is so appreciated and I am glad you received a recognition for your blog as you really deserve it and thank you for nominating me.

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  8. Like you pastel just a tad better than the original. The first was impression and loose and the pastel gave more detail, character and I formation. Am sure you had more depth in the pastel because you did the watercolor first. Both well done, just different feelings. Well done

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  9. A wonderful pastel picture and it looks well on the paper you have doubts about. Now picking between the two is difficult as it depends what mood im in. Anyway throw some of that talent over to north Staffordshire

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  10. Sharon I have always loved your pastel work just as much as your watercolours and this one is no exception. Lovely tribute all round with the blogs. Congrats on yours too.

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  11. My preference is for the watercolour where there is a greater intensity of colour and a a more pronounced value range, but having said that they are are both excellent portraits.

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  12. I have to admit that I do like the pastel version better, Sharon. It is stunning. Love the little kingfisher birthday card!

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  13. A lovely portrait Sharon....and I think you will like pastelmat. Which Daler Rowney is it? I often use Murano but, because I like less tooth, I turn it over and work on the reverse side which is a little smoother.

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  14. So surprised that you suggested my blog that I did something awful and forgot to congratulate you. Thought about in the night. So here you are, Congratulaltions you deserve it, I do love looking at your blog and your exquisite paintings.

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  15. Hello Sharon:) Congratulations on your blog award! Making such beautiful paintings with pastels as the hound dog shown upbove it is so well deserved! Have a nice week:)

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I love hearing from you, thank you so much for leaving a comment - I will always try to leave a reply and pop over to visit your blog if you have one - although sometimes I may be slower than others, have a wonderful day xx