The Old Red Deer Stag - Mixed Media on Black Paper

''The Last Call'

Red Deer Stag, mixed media on black pastlemat.

Each year we spend a couple of days over the New Year period in Scotland and weather permitting on New Years Day itself we pay a visit to the Highland Wildlife Park at Kingussie.
I always take hundreds of photographs and when looking through them for inspiration this image jumped out at me. Judging by the amount of grey and white he had on his head I would imagine he is quite elderly but he was still watching over the hinds.

Slow Progress on the Foxes

Progress has been slow on the foxes because I've spent time doing things with the family over the Christmas period.
I'm going to Scotland for a few days from tomorrow but I intend to finish all the pieces I've started before the end of January. Expect to see the bear, foxes, pheasants and a leopard all of which are in varying stages of completion.

I'm deciding what my artistic aims are for 2013 so that will be my first post of the new year.

Red Fox - Part 2

I'm working slowly on the foxes in between starting my Christmas preparations. I alternate working on the leaves with the fox to hopefully keep both fresh. My aim is to finish the top left corner next.
I am impressed with how well the pastelmat is taking both paint and pastel.

I decorated my tree on Friday much to the delight of Cody who likes to investigate the bottom branches. We are always careful to put anything edible on the top branches, it's amazing how far collie necks can stretch to investigate chocolate.

Red Fox and Cub on Pastelmat

I don't think I've ever neglected my blog for so long but I'm back now. I had a few days away demonstrating and then caught a horrible cold which developed into a never ending cough. I'm still coughing but starting to feel slightly more human.

I'm giving the bear a rest due to having 'bear overload' painting for four long days while demonstrating at the NEC.

This is mixed media on brown pastelmat, probably one of the largest paintings I've attempted as it will end up about 28 x 20 inches.
The fox cub is a mixture of soft pastels and pastel pencils and the leaves are watercolour. I'll add the detail to the leaves in pastel later.

Comparison of Pastelmat, Pastelbord and Fisher 400 paper

I have recently read several discussions among artists about using supports other than paper, so here are my experiences with the above.

'Eye to Eye'

cat on Pastelmat, for the 2009 SOFA exhibition in September

Pastelmat

Made by Clairefontaine, acid free, 360 g/m2, available in various colours as single sheets or in pads.

Two sizes of sheet available: 50 x 70cms or 70 x 100cm's.

Can be purchased in the UK from Great Art or Tim Fisher.

I have used both the black and the white.

I found the surface mid way between colourfix and velour, certainly much softer than either the Pastelbord or Fisher 400. It took several layers, you could get a nice sharp line and on the black it was possible to get a really white, white. I have found this difficult on some black surfaces.

I could not get as many layers as on the Arches paper I often use, but this didn't matter to me as the colour saturation was good.

Katherine Tyrrell has done a review of Pastelmat on her Making a Mark Reviews Blog.

'Aristocrat'

Cat on Pastelbord

Sold by the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London, SOFA 2008

Pastelbord

Made by Ampersand in the USA.
Ampersand Pastelbord is described as "a clay and gesso hardboard panel with a granular marble dust finish" The pastelbord is available in four colours, sand, grey, green and white.
I have not found a supplier in the UK, I have had to use mail order from America which makes it expensive.
I ordered samples of all four colours although up to now I have only worked on the sand one. The Ampersand website shows the four colours and gives much more information on the product, including the diversity of media you can use on it.
So far I have used acrylic, coloured pencil and neocolorII.;
This is the hardest of the three surfaces and can be framed without glass.
Again it takes several layers but I found it harder to get the fine lines for my fur than on either of the softer surfaces, it is possible, just harder to do. It is again possible to get white, whites and paint highlights in acrylic if you don't mind mixed media.
The benefit to me of the Pastelbord was framing without glass.

Fisher 400

I wrote about this in my last post.

Developed by UK artist Tim Fisher it is a sanded pastel paper.

Supplied by Tim Fisher in the UK, International customers are welcome.

I probably enjoyed working on this surface the best, it almost 'grabbed' the colour, was easy to blend and burnish yet retained sharp edges where I wanted them.

You can read an in depth review of the paper here by super talented artist Nicole Caulfield. Nicole also uses Pastelbord for her work, her portraits are stunning, especially the one she did of my son., 'Rob'

Links

The Ampersand website

Tim Fisher's Website

Great Art website

Nicole's blog

Making a Mark Reviews - the introduction

Cat on Pastelmat continued (again!)

I'm almost finished, just a little more on the right side then I need to decide how I want to crop him.

I've been experimenting with Claybord, watercolour, coloured pencil and then scraping the fur in. I'll share when I've a little more to show you.

Cat on Pastelmat continued

Todays bird is a Pied Wagtail which was having a drink in the river, for once the sun was quite bright on the water so I lost some detail.

More on the Tabby on white pastelmat, I still like the appearance of the fur on this surface,

Pastel cat on Pastelmat

I wanted to compare pastel and coloured pencil on Pastelmat. I also wanted to see how colours worked on the black as I always feel that black Stonehenge has a deadening effect on colours.

Here's a few stages in a little demo I did.

I like the pastel, the colours stay vibrant, at least for now, I'll revisit in a few days

More Tabby Cat on Pastelmat

This morning we took all the dogs on the moor just as the sun was rising. I walked along the moor road looking for birds, I saw a couple of Curlews and then met the hounds going for their early morning walk.

Here are a couple of photographs.

Juno waiting for the ball to be thrown andthe hounds.

Macro Cat on Clairefontaine Pastelmat

I have been wanting to try my new Clairefontaine pastelmat. I cut a small piece and drew a macro tabby cat as I wanted to try the surface more than worry about drawing. So far I'm really liking it, it feels like a cross between velour and colourfix. It takes layers well, you can blend and burnish and the fur has a soft look to it.
I'll be doing a more detailed review when I finish the piece.