Pumpkin Still Life
Create a warm autumn or Halloween inspired soft pastel picture, think about the colours you pick, and when drawing try to push out those niggling thoughts about if its "good enough" or "not matching the first pencil sketch", enjoy using your materials and try to stay in the moment.
STEP ONE
Once you've finished setting up your still life, pick a view point that you find interesting. Now grab a pencil and paper, then loosely sketch out the shapes, positions of items, composition and angles of the still life. For my pumpkins, I could see different circles contained within each pumpkin. This isn't about geting it perfect, but to create a rough guide.
STEP TWO
Choosing your colours of soft pastels begin to build your picture, the good thing about soft pastels is you have the chance to immerse yourself within the art making process, build up your tones and use your fingers to blend, smudge and then keep blowing or shaking away the excess pastel dust.
STEP THREE
The colour version of your sketch might change, becoming bigger or smaller than the original sketch, and that's okay, the pencil sketch is just to get you started. Take your time working on each item in your still life and how they work together. Remember to use blues and purples mixed into your black colours, to keep your image vibrant and alive.
STEP FOUR
Using hair spray or fixative, keep building your tones and layers of colours, and adding edits or changes to your picture, then make sure to spray the finished piece and put up somewhere to enjoy the wonderful warm autumn palette. Don't forget to share your work with us on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ArtfulThinkingUK