Our Zoom demonstration at the end of January was from Rebecca de Mendonca, a prize-winning member of the Pastel Society. As a keen pastel painter, I loved it – and learned, or was reminded of, things I’d forgotten.
This report is mainly just notes of things Rebecca did, said or recommended. If you missed it there is a link to the recording of the zoom event in the 25 January Newsletter, together with dates of her April exhibition at Royal Wootton Bassett (Wilts) and links to tutorial activities on her website.
The View Gallery, Royal Wootton Bassett, 4th April to 18th May. This is a new gallery, which has opened this year. The exhibition, ‘Equine’, will show the work of a selection of artists, working in different media.
Why put figures in landscape pictures?
Figures in a landscape give a sense of scale. I want to tell a story through the landscape.
Take photos of landscape for reference and of people in it — rear views for privacy.
Remember to compose things in the foreground big, and then smaller further away. Also light and dark are more extreme in front. Middle tones in the (hazy) distance. Also use more saturated or intense colours in the foreground. Foreground marks tend to be more jagged, and also not blended.
Make test grades of similar hues – useful to have them at the side of your painting for reference..
Rebecca uses pastels from The New Pastel School which she runs with a friend. Note the Wild landscape set!
Tip: to put e.g. clouds on an already pastel background, use a stiff card to scrape off some of the powder so you have more chance for the top layer to stick. Lilac works well in cloud base rather than grey.
And now add people….
Placing people… place their feet, then their heads, then turn them into tadpoles! Men tend to have broader shoulders and smaller hips. Good idea to work it out at the side of your painting. Uses pastel pencil to get them placed as silhouettes. Then adjust tones etc with ordinary pastels. Don’t need fantastic detail, but do need light in the right places. On this scale you have to be very careful with your marks. Remember to add shadows that work.
Discussing some other paintings… street scenes, etc. gets more complicated because of light on blocks. Eyeline is important. Draw in eyeline, vanishing points and block grids. On streets, start with heads level as their heads should be on your eye line, allowing for height differences, and feet go up and down!
People who don’t have their feet together seem to look odd.
A good reference for drawing people is Figure drawing without a model by Ron Tiner. Develop your shorthand of a basic figure to make more than stick figures and give them body language.
A Beach scene
Rebecca did a second picture, children on a beach, after the coffee break. Her reference photos were taken on different days!
Figures on a beach… think about composition and do small sketches to get the body language. When doing groups, think of negative space. You can put them together from totally different times, but it’s easiest if the light is coming from the same point.
Create sense of space by doing figures and then concentrating on background space and how they fit in it.
Uses Conte pencils for detail including where shading — works in creases. A detail like eyelashes makes all the difference!
How to frame without the pastel making a mess
Tip for framing… apart from knocking it so loose pastel comes off, frame the painting with a second mount with a larger opening between the primary mount and the picture so that any dust falls down between the primary mount and glass.
All images are screen grabs from Rebecca’s talk. Copyright remains with her.