Friday, May 27, 2011

Pear

I have a confession to make... when I am a substitute teacher, if I have a free period or a study period to cover, I usually end up sketching something with my pastels. That's how all of my new pastel work happened. The reason I am using pastel is it's easy to transport - no water, brushes, and minimal mess. Everything I need fits into my tote bag and I am able to keep myself busy when there is a lull in the course of my substitute-teacher work day. I used to bring my Matisse book with me, until there was the "incident",  so today all I had with me for inspiration was my lunch... a few pieces of fresh fruit and some vegetable soup. I decided to sketch the pear before I ate it, and it reminded me of one of my favorite bloggers and her recent Pear sketches, Eva.


In a way, sketching with pastels in a school setting is perfect for me. I have never worked with pastels before and I am learning by just doing it. I usually think like a watercolorist, working light to dark. I am now learning that with pastel (and oil and acrylic, 2 mediums I rarely use), to work from dark to light. It was fun working on this, and in a way it made those first bites at lunch time taste even sweeter!

5 comments:

  1. This pear drawing is beautiful! I love the colors.
    I read about the incident and what a shame that schools have to be so focused on such minute details. The good news is, the students will remember you for some time!

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  2. Ha ha ha, Pam! I think it became an incident when there was parental communication involved, and I understood why they had to be informed, but you are right, the kids have remembered me!

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  3. Somehow I missed that post about your teaching snafu. That's pretty funny in a "I'm glad it didn't happen to me" kind of way. : ) I doubt if I would have noticed what was on the back of the book either.

    I love your pastel pear. Your bright colors really pop and the blue and purple shadow look great next to the lime green. Pastels have such an energetic feel to them and my favorite way to work with them is to have the strokes showing as you have done.

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  4. Nancy, I am learning (by trial and error), how to retain light, bright colors, without creating too much dust; dust = mud, right?!

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  5. What a wonderful pear! I love the texture and colors you achieved with your pastels. Thanks for the 'shout out" :O)

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