This is the project for my upcoming as in this evening Adult Art Class at the Seminole County Library. It's a Zoom class which is great because most of my students aren't able to come in person. This is done with an inexpensive set of Faber Castell soft pastels student grade and Canson MiTientes pastel paper. I've got a tutorial in the editing stage now for those who missed the class and those who wish to rewatch it. This lesson is about working with shades of white, well really, that there is no real white. I like to keep it simple and then my wonderfully talented students take it further. I enjoy teaching art like this. It's different with each project.
This Pan Pastel painting of a Spotted Woodpecker was done on Stonehenge black watercolor paper. I loved using the paper and I like the white watercolor paper as well. Plenty of tooth. This is on YouTube in real time. Just 40 minutes long. I occasionally get feedback from my viewers and it's always helpful. It gives me an idea of what to keep and what to drop as well as where my strengths lie.
This is a Pan Pastel painting of clouds. I did this on a piece of Canson Mi Tientes white pastel paper. No recording. Just working in silence. I like working in silence but you can't teach that way but I do record in silence sometimes and then narrate.
This is a graphite drawing I did on drawing paper. I'm planning on turning the photo of magnolia leaves into a Skillshare class on Pan Pastels. I still have to do an experimental piece to work out any kinks. I won't film that. I did a FB live video of the drawing process. It took about an hour to complete. It was my first FB livestream. You can still see it on my page. Well. It took longer because when I stopped the video and set the drawing aside for a bit I went back with an eraser and lightened a few areas. That happens often. We're never quite sure when we're done.
So I guess what I do is visualize in my off time. And think about paper. I love paper. Much better than canvas. I can use pastels on canvas if I apply a ground but I prefer the paper. Sometimes I'm just not ready to work on a piece. I just think about all of the possible images. Sometimes I do sketches and sometimes I just jump into the final project. Sometimes I toss the project and start again and again and oh, again. Sometimes I just toss it and say a few words and move on to the birth of my next project.
Sometimes I just stop and do the laundry, organize my next Goodwill donation, organize my art space (which is always in a state of flux) and sometimes I daydream. I have several projects in my head and some of them will make it to paper. Some won't. What is an artist to do?
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