9 November 2014

Painting dried roses – step-by-step

Home » Painting dried roses – step-by-step

Pastel of Dried Roses

My plan for this post was to show a step-by-step progression of my pastel of dried roses in a vase. The roses were a gift from my honey for my birthday in August but it wasn’t until well into September that I painted them. They were beautiful when fresh and still beautiful once they had dried.

When it came time to put this blog post together I realized that, silly me, I had only videoed the process ie I’d taken no stills. I also hadn’t taken a photo of the set-up. Argh. Since I had my heart set on sharing this pastel and since I couldn’t think of an alternative, I decided to go through the videos and take a few screen shots. This I did. The only thing is, because the camera isn’t facing the pastel straight on, the photos are slightly skewed and not as clear as I’d like them to be. Nevertheless, I think you’ll get the picture.

First off, here’s the final piece (taken with my camera not the camcorder).

Gail Sibley, "Still Beautiful," pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in - a pastel of dried roses in a vase — Gail Sibley, “Still Beautiful,” pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.

Starting at the beginning….

1. Thumbnail of dried roses done with biro, 3 x 1 1/2 in. Pretty sketchy but still showing areas of three values.

2. Charcoal sketch complete of the dried roses in the vase. — 2. Charcoal sketch completed of the dried roses in the vase.

3. Beginning to apply pastel. Massing in the main shapes.

4. First layer of pastel lightly applied and then rubbed with a paper towel to create an 'underpainting'. This way, I get rid of a lot of the white of the paper. — 4. First layer of pastel lightly applied and then rubbed with a paper towel to create an ‘underpainting’. This way, I get rid of a lot of the white of the paper.

5. Beginning to re-state the original pastel colours - creating a more saturated base to work over. You can see this particularly in the flowers and leaves of the dried roses. — 5. Beginning to re-state the original pastel colours – creating a more saturated base to work over. You can see this particularly in the flowers and leaves of the dried roses.

6. Starting to add more pastel and delineate the shapes, particularly the flower heads.

7. Beginning to describe the leaves and the spaces between.

8. Background worked on, dried roses evident (flower heads, leaves, stems), vase made visible. Close to finishing.

Here are a few close-ups of the finished pastel:

Gail Sibley, "Still Beautiful," pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in - detail of dried roses — Gail Sibley, “Still Beautiful,” pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in – detail of the pink roses and leaves. Pretty much life size

Gail Sibley, "Still Beautiful," pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in - detail #2. Pretty much life size dried roses — Gail Sibley, “Still Beautiful,” pastel on Wallis paper, 17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in – detail of the red dried roses. Pretty much life size

And here are the Great American pastels I used:

Great American pastels right after finishing.

Great American pastels I used but now all cleaned up. Anyone notice anything?? – Have a look at the previous image

Hope that was helpful. I’d love to hear any feedback!

Demo at Opus!!

I also wanted to tell you about a demo I am doing in December. It’s going to be at Opus Art Supplies here in Victoria on Sunday 7th December, 11am-1pm. It’s called “Colourful Still Life in Pastel” and I’ll be demoing a small pastel with a limited palette using Schminke’s box set of 20 pastels. Click here to learn more.

I’m prrrreeeetttty excited to be doing this. It’s my first time demoing with Opus. It’s free but you’ll need to register in advance by calling them at 250 386 8133 or going into the store.

And thaaaaaaat’s it for this time. Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend.

Until next week,

~ Gail

PS. If you looked closely at both photos showing the pastels I used, you will have noticed I forgot to include the darkest pastel in my cleaned up photo. Mea culpe.

PPS. Here’s a photo of the roses in my bedroom when they were fresh!

Fresh roses rather than dried roses! — Fresh roses!

PPPS. The Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago – 9 November 1989!! Do you remember when that happened? I do. I also remember when I was in Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie 32 years ago, looking over at the grim buildings in East Germany and imagining the people walking on the other side of the wall. Wow – what a change when the wall came down. I can hardly believe it’s been 25 years ….

The Berlin Wall comesdown http://youtu.be/zmRPP2WXX0U — Click to watch

Then go check out this amazing art installation!!

Grief and art: Gail Sibley, "Farewell (for Ray)," Great American and Mount Vision pastels on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch (white), 14 x 20 3/4 in

Grief And Art – Using Art-Making To Deal With My Sadness And Anger

Creating Art Is Hard Work!!

Colour Schemes: Gail Sibley, "Bowser View," Unison pastels on UART 400 grade paper, 12 x 9 in. Available.

Colour Schemes And How I Don’t Use Them

Using black paper: Gail Sibley, "We Three," Unison Colour pastels on UART black 400, 12 x 9 in - detail of shoes

Using Black Paper For Pastel Painting

Take a course

Like my Blogs?

Leave a Tip

Do you like the blog?

Support HowToPastel and help me to keep creating content to instruct, inspire, and motivate you with your pastel painting. Although I’ve been asked, “How much does it cost to subscribe?” HowToPastel will always be free. Your financial support is completely optional but does go a long way in helping with the cost of running this blog. Thank you!

Gail Sibley

Artist. Blogger. Teacher.

My love of pastel and the enjoyment I receive from teaching about pastel inspired the creation of this blog. It has tips, reviews, some opinions:), and all manner of information regarding their use through the years – old and new. Please enjoy!