Pastel painting has always put the fear of God into me to say the least! As i bumble about the page with what feels like a huge crumbling banana i find i have absolutely no control over what i produce and  it all ends up a big powdery mess on the page!!

Yesterday i decided to bite the bullet again, but this time to do it big!!Here lies the answer i think – dont do small with pastels, get the biggest piece of paper you can, and then let go of all expectations – and just go for it!

The painting here was completed within 20 minutes, no blending, and on black paper – i liked using this as i didn’t have to worry about the background so much as it was already there……and the colours i used really worked to just ‘highlight’ the image. I tried to keep the strokes loose, and to just give an impression of what i was looking at rather than trying to represent it in a realistic way.

I think it has worked quite well for a newby, but intend to produce a load more to see how it all develops!