Working with a tetrad #2

I decided to do all 4 of my little lambs using the same pastels – a tetrad of red, green, yellow and violet. This is my second lamb, named “Geordie” – he seemed too cheeky to be called “Good Friday”.

No more words – must get on with the third……..

Working with a tetrad

I shifted straight into sheep mode this weekend after another busy, but art-less week. I am very pleased with the square frames I pre-ordered online, as recommended by my friend Louise Worthy and I have at last found the thin black wooden moulding I had been searching for. Yesterday I sat down to ponder what shape sheep to put in them! So many photos, so many live subjects just outside the door -  but what to paint? I decided to work on a set of four lambs. This little sweety sat on the doorstep of our neighbour's bothy, soaking up the sun and asking for a portrait – so I obliged.

It’s a bit of a challenge and somewhat back-to-front to compose your art to suit your frame, but it limited my choices and helped make some decisions. My source photo was very colourful, so to ensure I achieved a balanced design I selected my pastels from a tetrad of red, violet, yellow and green and then closed the lid of my pastel box so that I was not tempted to reach for any more. At the very end I lifted the lid and added some off-white to the very lightest lamby bits and a very dark violet-brown for the darkest shadowy bits – this seemed to lift the composition as well as make a connection with the frame and cream mount. Henry named this painting “Easter Sunday” and now I shall make a start on “Good Friday” (back-to-front and a bit behind as usual).

A tetrad of tasty pastels
(Titus thought so when he knocked them on the floor)

"Easter Sunday" 20 x 20cm

Framed picture against newly painted door, obscured by Pumpkin

Sheep-mode

Carrying on from the theme of new and exciting challenges, I have another one on the go. I have been accepted for the Highland Wool Festival as a “sheep artist”. The show will be a celebration of wool with all sorts of makers who use wool in their work. My stall of course, will be slightly different – celebrating the source of the raw material – the sheep! So, I now have just a few weeks left until 24 May to put together enough new paintings to take to the show, and design an interesting display around the constraints of a sheep market pen without spending a fortune. I’ve ordered the frames, just some painting to fit in which has been a bit difficult of late! This weekend I slipped into the required sheep-mode using a pastel sheep drawing as a demo for my first workshop – drawing animals. The day was fully booked with budding artists, aged 8 to 80, filling the room with piles of paper and pastel dust. I really enjoyed it and hope to see the same faces again at my second workshop at the end of the month.