Istrian Vineyard

Soft pastel 24x19 cm
I took a beautiful photo of this vineyard on my last trip to Istria in early November.

Wild Teasel #19

Soft pastel 9x14 cm

Dandelions on Rocks

Soft Pastel 8x10" of indigo blue Canson MT.

Painted for WetCanvas

Joyous End of 2014

Soft pastel, 5,5 x 3,5" (9x14 cm)

All three are done for  WetCanvas challenge

Goghing

Mini copies of some of the most famous paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. Each is 6x9 cm (around 2,5x3,5")

Wild Teasel #10-13

Soft pastel, 10x15cm (4x6") on Canson Touch paper

Wild Teasel #5-8

Soft pastel, 10x15cm (4x6") on canson Touch paper

I very much like the shape of the teasels. I think I'll continue painting quick sketches with teasels in main role.

Mljet

Soft pastel 65x40 cm on indigo blue Canson MT Touch paper

The island of Mljet is one of the most beautiful and most forested islands in the Adriatic and one of the most beautiful pearls of the Mediterranean.
Mljet National Park makes up most of the island, and there are several villages, two salt water lakes and a Benedictine monastery on the tiny little island.

Ratatouille

soft pastel 40x30 cm (16x12") on black Canson MT Touch paper
The photo was taken during the Streetpaint festival in Zagreb 2014. The girl on the photo is illustrator Ines Ignjačić who won the first prize.

Pigcture

Soft Pastel, 25x20 cm (8x10") on home made pastel paper
painted after photo by Valri Ary (WetCanvas member)

Donkey ride

soft pastel 20x20 cm (8x8") on blue Canson MT Touch paper
painted after photo by Rosalind Amorin

Awaiting an Artist

Soft pastel 30x30cm (12x12") on Canson MT Touch paper

This painting "Awaiting an Artist" was the winner at the Get Dusty Competition for May 2013 organized by the Pastel Guild of Europe.

I did a lot of preparation and made many setups for this painting. This was so much not my way of doing painting but the end result was a painting that I still watch and enjoy. I guess the lesson learned from this is to always carefully plan the composition and the colors.

The additional honor was the use of it for the cover of the Pastel Scribbler newsletter for June 2013.

Here is what the jury said:

Great abstract simplicity in the arrangement makes this painting

a real eye catcher. The muted background lets the brighter colours really shine.

The application of pastel is simple and straight forward, using the darkness of

the paper to provide some variety and structure to the areas. The little corner

of tape curling up in the foreground is adding to the realism.

Don't Drink and Paint

Soft pastel 30x30cm (12x12") on Canson MT Touch paper

Eaten in 3 Days

soft pastel, 40x30cm (16x12") on Canson MT Touch

After 3 days of eating nothing but raw very/fruit juices all that is left from the veggies is this painting.

Pigeon with red

Soft Pastel 30x30 cm (12x12") on gray Ingres paper

This was for the challenge "go red" on the WetCanvas.
I finished this quick painting last weekend but Minja was not allowing me to post it until I fix all the details she did not like, especially the drawing of the head. She was right as always and made it look better :).

Stone Bridge

Soft pastel 30x22cm (12x9") on Canson MT Touch

This is the first time I experimented with the alcohol on Canson MT Touch. The alcohol on a brush was used to create the underpainting, after the initial tonal sketch. The original color of the paper was maroon, but it was completely gone after the alcohol application. I abandoned this paper after a few initial tries, didn't like the texture and how it grabs pastels, but after this I changed my mind and will use more of it in the future.
The detail below is by far my favorite and I tired to make it the focal area.
The reference photo is from the WetCanvas RIL, by blScott.
This is the Stone bridge in Beacon Hill Park, Greater Victoria, BC

Monet value study

Soft pastel 20x15 cm (8x6") on recycled Fisher400 paper.

I picked the field by Monet to work on. It is a clean example of the values and I love to copy masters
I made the 3-value study but was no sure where to put the distant hills, in the dark or mid value. Finally I went with the dark and later I toned it down.

The reference was greyed down before I picked the colors to do the value masses:

 The figure is a bit strange on the original. It looks like the guy is taking a photo of the fields with his phone .
I tried to point his head towards the middle of the painting. But it is always a challenge to make such a small figure. The color palette choice I made should be more appropriate for this time of year.


Here is the "Poppy fields" by master Claude Oscar Monet. Respect.

How to use Šljivovica in the pastel painting?

"I saw a fork in a tree"

 Soft pastel on Wallis 20x15 cm (6x8")

After the initial drawing I wanted to drop this painting, but forced myself to continue and at the end I was really happy with it. The reason is probably the new process that I just invented. I ran out of alcohol which I sometimes use to make the under-painting, and came up with an idea to use Šljivovica (plum brandy) instead. I heavily applied it and enjoyed the smell while it was drying :).
Some pastel particles got drunk, started to float around and made some beautiful effects which I used to my advantage. Or it was my eyes that were floating? Can't remember well :)


This study is done for the WetCanvas WDE thread. The reference is this thread here.

Physalis blue

Physalis blue, 30x40cm (16x12")

This is a second try on this painting. The first version had a too colorful background and I had to play it down with the grey blue.
Made from my photo: