new pastel painting - I'm on a roll

Yes, another painting. Went to my art group the other night and actually did a pastel painting. Not terribly original, but mine none the less.

I have been thinking about why I am so addicted to collage/assemblage and associated crafts again. I will have to expound upon this idea further in my next post. But for now, suffice to say that I was looking for inspiration and browsing thro' a couple of art books which I had taken along for the purpose. One a biography of Paul Klee and the other a similar book about Marc Chagall. I happened upon a painting by Chagall with a figure apparently drifting in the air (as many of his do) which stirred something, however I did not like the colour(s) of the painting. White and Blue... seemed rather cold and impersonal. I had earlier noted a painting by Klee which I had considered as a starter for ten and decided to borrow the colours to raise the temperature of the subject.

My pastel painting consists of layering colour upon colour to give an effect which I really like. I will thoroughly 'fix' each layer in turn and put three or four layers down in most areas. I often start with a complementary of the final colour which gives a tremendous depth to the painting, I feel.

Anyway here is my unamed composition based on works by these two great artists.

The drawing leaves a lot to be desired, After two years of virtually nothing but abstracts and collaging, I would be the first to criticise it. Both accuracy and proportion are badly in need of improvement. However , I post this here because it is I hope the first step on the road back to aquiring the skills in painting and drawing which I seem to have mislaid. See my gallery for paintings/drawings from before my abstract period. I intend to carry on posting here the results of the long road back, whatever the outcome along the way.

BTW this painting is quite small, having been done on an A4 sheet of black Canson paper. (Raven by Daler-Rowney).