Pastels are not colored chalk. Blackboard or sidewalk chalk is mostly gypsum with more or less pigment added. They are usually quite inexpensive, though, some more high-quality (and, therefore, costlier) types can be used for amazing sidewalk art for festivals and such.
Pastels are pure pigment--exactly the sort used in high-grade oils or watercolors--but are held together with more or less gum binder. There are quite a few kinds, including oil pastels, where the differences depend on what kind of binder and how much. The good ones can run into real money.
I've dabbled once or twice, but never really tried to work with them in any serious way. I have accumulated, however, over the years, a very nice array of pastel sets, large and small, inexpensive and not-so-much. They just sit there. Waiting.
Until now.
I started with a snow scene--a version of which I had done smaller in colored pencil and given to our neighbors in whose front yard I had snapped the photo. Did I post that one? I don't remember, but I'll check later and show the two together.
Next, I found a shot I had taken of the aspens in the higher country a few years ago during an autumn day trip. It was fun to play with the contrasts--I like the dark-silhouetted pines against the backdrop of brilliant yellows. Loose and impressionistic.
Then I wanted to test some more precision techniques. We have a planter in front with Dutch iris (just finishing up with their blooming season now). Behind the flowers is a layer of little river stones I've found around the yard. It turns out, I was more interested in the subtle colors of the stones than in the flower. Good to know. I consider this (as all of these, really) an exercise piece. Light/dark, again, but soft/hard, vegetable/mineral. Cheesy composition.
Trolling for landscape photographs I've taken, I landed on this one of a mountain scene I snapped during a backpacking trip a few years ago. Early morning, mostly in shadow. I'm also influenced by the poster art of the thirties done to advertise railroads and national parks. Lovely stuff. I will keep working on my own version of that style, I think.
Lastly, I went back to the scene from my neighbors' front property. The reason I love it is the picket-fence-type arrangement of trees in the foreground. Over the last four years, as I've gone past on my daily morning walks, I've taken 25 or 30 shots of this same scene at different times of year. I took this photo a week ago-looking east into the rising sun. [by the by, click once to see the pieces better--the pastels look more, um, pastel-y that way]
Yesterday, I started a piece from a photo taken in our front yard of the tangled limbs of manzanita trees (20' tall= trees). It's complex--I don't know how long it will take. Especially since I'll be squeezing it in between yard work, and any number of random distractions. But I'll post it when it's done, if I can wrestle it into submission.
All of these are just stops along the way to somewhere. Who knows what will become of this little rabbit trail, but it's fun for now.
