This second week of January has been manic. So much so that I’ve had barely time to pick up a pencil, let alone do any drawing with it. So this post’s painting is a little more sketchy than usual and rather unfinished in places. Not only that, but I’ve had to wait a number of days for dry weather to get it outside to photograph.

I’ve also been working at tweaking the website and getting the blog listed in a few places; and it is now listed in the top 80 painting blogs at Feedspot.com

Back to the flowers; the image was started on a recycled sheet of PastelMat that had a mid-grey colour; and that was the first mistake. I should have started on something much darker, because I eventually spent some time adding Deep grey-blue and dark green to the background, to try and make it contrast more with the bright flowers. The initial draw-in was quite rushed and I was anxious to get something down before my time ran out.

Grasses splayed out to the edge of the image and these were laid down rapidly in mid-greens, using Rembrandt pastels to start with. Other shaded leaves at the top were put in with blue-greens and Muted green-grey. The flower centres were started in a deep brown, followed by a deep orange-brown and then lighter orange shades from the softer Unison pastel range.

Strong pinks are tricky, and I actually have very few “flowery” pink colours that tend towards magenta. Shades of mauve form the petals, followed by a bright and rather hot pink from Jackson’s own pastel range. This in turn was muted by overlay in places of paler and cooler pinks.

Finally, in trying to liven up the rather dull greens, I pulled out my collection of Sennelier Iridescent Pastels, using two of the paler greens, a yellow and a little gold. White pearlescent also came in handy on petal edges, a little less stark than white. I eventually called a halt to it, conscious of the fact that a darker background paper could have been more successful; however I was happy with the exploratory work and might consider doing another one at some point, using those iridescent pastels as a boost for muted colour.