These pastel drawings are mostly inspired by my surroundings. Here in the Applegate valley, where I live, there are numerous occasions to see nature at her most exuberant best. In addition, this technique is very enjoyable and somewhat unusual. The paper used is BFK Rives and is actually for printmaking. It works well as it "holds" onto the pigment the way a canvas takes paint. I use mostly hard pastels as they are more readily incorporated into the paper. Each drawing is made with many layers of pigment. Most of the light you see is not white pigment, but underlying layers made visible by erasing at strategic points. This is the opposite for drawings done on black paper. In this case the darkest dark of the paper comes through by lifting the built up layers.
Framing is a really important issue with these drawings as they need to be preserved, even though the pigment is fixed with the best available fixative. Some have been framed and can be shipped in their frame when they are sold. The frames have been chosen to be easy to replace so you can use a professional framer to create a custom frame or just display them in the frame provided. No matter what, they must be matted and under glass. The mat provides space between the glass and the drawing and the glass provides protection from dust and worse.
Sunset on Williams Hwy, Oregon
11" X 9.5" Unframed
Hard Pastel on BFK Rives
Winter Sunset with Trees
7" X 12" Unframed
Hard Pastel on Black BFK Rives
Cantrall Buckley Park, Oregon
7" X 9" Unframed
Conte and Pastel on BFK Rives
Ocean Sunset
9" X11.5" Unframed
Conte and Pastel on Black BFK Rives
Click on thumbnails to see photos of framed drawing
Click on thumbnail to see photo of framed drawing
Click on thumbnail to see photo of framed drawing
Click on thumbnail to see photo of framed drawing
“Nature uses only the longest thread to weave her tapestry, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.” ~Richard Feynman.
