There are many working surfaces available to an artist, just as there are different media and the combinations and permutations to also include mixed media are many. One of the ways my pastels have developed is based on my own original tutor. Using 300lb watercolour paper I put down broad strokes of colour to create a tonal base. This is then worked with a large brush and water and dried. The process may be repeated to build depth of colour and tone before starting on the detailed finishes. The “accidents” of water runs can sometimes be used in the final painting especially as distant trees. This process can be best explained by a series of 8 images of a wedding present I did for my sister – Tanners Lake, near Lymington, Hampshire. These images show the gradual build up of tone and colour and also show at the end some of the compositional alterations I made.

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I have also explored the idea of abstraction and was encouraged along this path at a weekend tutorial organised by my local art society. The tutor was Dominic Kennedy, a student himself at the Royal Academy of Art. The images here show how the development of a multi-layered still life has been gradually abstracted. The are many ways and techniques for abstraction but in this case each major horizontal and vertical divide has been extended to the edge of the paper and then the individual items distorted and the colouration enhanced and in some cases changed completely. I have since taught this idea to others to encourage them to think more laterally about their style and composition of their own work. The final piece in this series has been referred to as a “quantum jump”, entitled Blue Chair it is so far removed from the original still life as to be completely un-recognisable. In fact it has been likened to the style of some of Paul Klee’s work. I leave it for you to judge.

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