Paint Party Friday – Pastel frangipanis

Paint Party Friday

After a nasty week involving sick children, sick hubby, sick sister and sick me, I am slowly surfacing back into the real world. Very little art was done this week. Very little of anything was done this week. But on Monday, before the worst of it hit, I had a short time to play with my pastels.

Whether pastel work is painting or drawing, I have no idea, but I’ve referred to them as pastel paintings for ages, so I figure they fit with the challenge.

Anyways, this one has a story behind it. It was started way back when I first purchased my pastels, before I had children (yeah, BC has more than one meaning :D) and I was very, very new to the medium. I’m still new, just not as new as I was then. I stuffed up part of the design and it has been sitting around my studio gathering dust for years. When I tidied up my studio last week, I discovered it again and after staring at it for sometime, trying to decide whether to chuck it or keep it, I decided to keep it and have a go at creating a piece of art from it.

So here you have my work-in-progress submission for this week’s Paint Party Friday.

FrangipanisFrangipanis, soft pastel on blue canson pastel paper, approx. 175 x 220 mm.

One thing I did notice in this is the stark contrast between my current technique and my old technique. Can you tell which part of the painting I worked on? None of it is at a finished state, but I am happy with its progress so far.

Here’s hoping I get back into the swing of things this week and get some more artwork done.

Best wishes,
Liz
(yes, that is a real name behind the Nutty)


Comments

30 responses to “Paint Party Friday – Pastel frangipanis”

  1. Hi Liz! :)I’m glad you didn’t chuck it away. Looks wonderful! I have no idea which part you worked on. 🙂

  2. I love pastels although I haven’t used them since school (a loooong time ago) I was never very good at them but I admire people who are. I’m guessing the top left flower is the one you worked on as it looks more progressed than the others. I think this is a really nice piece and look forward to seeing it completed. Hope you and your entire family are all feeling better now!

  3. LOVE this- it makes me homesick for the Caribbean (where we lived for 7 years) we had several Fangipanis in our garden there- just beautiful! You really captured them well!
    Oh, and I consider pastels “finger painting” of a sort, you’re still blending and all just not with brushes 😉
    Happy PPF!
    Stephanie

  4. I think you’ve touched up the flower at the top left, we see that now have less fear of using the cake. Anyway you should not throw it because it’s a beautiful cake. Greetings

  5. This is just beautiful! I don’t know much about pastels — have never even held one of those sticks, but you seem to be quite good at them!

    Happy Paint Party Friday!

    Charlie

    PS. My library is also a public library and very rarely quiet. That photo was taken in 1913, just before the library opened for business. I don’t think it has been so quiet or so empty since 😉 That said, it is one of the few libraries in the Denver system where most children under the age of ten are actually accompanied by an adult, so it is rarely as chaotic as some of the other branches I’ve worked in 🙂

  6. Tell me about the illness stuff… man I still can’t shake my virus!

    Very pretty little flowers.

    Feel better soon!!

  7. Hi Liz (Wow, I feel like some sort of curtain has been pulled back – hee hee!)

    I’m sorry to hear about all the sickness in your home – I hope everyone is feeling much better soon!

    I’m loving this pastel painting. My guess would be that you worked on the flower in the top left and possibly the leaves in the background?

    xo
    Kristin

  8. Your pastel work is just lovely. Love to see the finished piece. Thank you for sharing! 😉

  9. your wip’s always look finished to me!

  10. Pastels are great to work with. Your painting is just rich with the look of pastels. Great work. Flowers would be great too. Thanks for sharing. Hope you feel better soon.

  11. You can draw or paint with pastels. This is definitely a painting. I’m glad you decided to pull it back out and work on it because it is looking great! Love the colors in the flowers.

  12. Crystal Avatar

    I love this pastel. You have such a knack with them! I beleive you are correct they are referred as “pastel paintings.” Glad you rediscoverd this piece! 🙂

  13. I do agree, I just love the tropical feel of these….i can almost smell them, they are so well done, Nutty! have a great weekend, sorry to hear everyone was ill, hope things turn around! xo

  14. So good you kept it! My guess is also upper left flower.

    It a gorgeous WIP Liz/Nutty! (I really though Gumnut was an Australian first name that I had just never heard before!)

    I hope everyone is completely better and your energy completely returns!

  15. This is beautiful! I think pastels are very challenging. You do a wonderful job with them. I love these colors. My guess would also be the flower at the top left.

    I hope you are all back in good health very soon!! 🙂

  16. I am sorry to hear you’ve been sick. I hope you are all feeling better by now. Your pastel painting is lovely! Did you work on the flowers? I say it’s a keeper..frame it!

  17. Sorry to hear about the yukky virus’s. I have no idea where you worked on it but I love your flowers.

  18. Beautiful flowers, definitely a good thing you kept it. Its hard to tell where you worked..but after getting out my magnifying glass (heehee!) i’m guessing the upper left side was where you had worked already…
    Everyone here is sick too….I have the steely resolve that it will bypass me!!…fingers crossed! 🙂

  19. Marlene Avatar

    Hi, hope your family is all feeling much better by this time.

    The flowers are gorgeous, I would just guess you worked on the top flower. I love the way you have given the petals more dimension. Do not throw this away it is very beautiful and will look amazing framed.

  20. Beautiful! And I agree that it looks like the top left flower, it’s much more “finished” looking. Can’t wait to see how it looks finished.

    Sorry you’ve been sick and I hope you (and everybody else) is feeling much, much better!

  21. Fabulous…gorgeous work..very uplifting and so inspiring…lovely!!

  22. Wonderful work! Makes me want to dust my pastels off too!

  23. Gorgeous Nutty! You never fail to impress and inspire me!

    xo
    Melissa

  24. I do believe you worked on the top flower…it looks even more life-like than the others. I do the same thing…go back and fix my old work…sometimes it’s just asking for it :0
    xo

  25. I’m going to guess upper left hand too but it’s hard to tell. Very detailed!

    Here in BC, Canada, besides standing for British Columbia people also say it stands for: Bring Cash (so expensive to live here), Beside Canada (Very different politically) 🙂

  26. Very pretty, you make the flowers look soft, touchable and delicate. I think maybe the top flower is different, so maybe you worked on the flowers – but it all looks good to me. When I use oil pastels the results seem to resemble a crayola crayon original by a five year old. Lol.

    Sorry that you’ve all been poorly sick. Hope you’re all much recovered very soon.

    Kat X

  27. Beautiful pastel art, thank you for showing your work in progress, its looking so beautiful already. Annette x Hope you feel better soon.

  28. Looks great! Pastels are hard to work with, looks great, and is exciting with the upcoming spring. : )

  29. Oh boo hoo with all that sickness – hopefully you will all be extra strong now! And the pastel is lush. Love it.

    Now, is it Ruth or Liz…? Mystery!

  30. Browsing around and came across this. Love it! We call them Plumeria here and mine are just about done blooming…