Secret of Vintage Jewelry

At art group, I’ve now completed my balloon painting, and it was time for a go with the new pastel paper, courtesy of Maggie. This was my first attempt at pastels for more years than I cared to remember, so I’d brought along a beginner’s book on pastels to remind myself. However, it was more suited to people who were complete beginners at all aspects of art, not just pastels, so I took it back to the library afterwards. By the end of the session, I’d completed a fairly detailed picture of Park House Hill (known locally as the Dragon’s Back) and no longer felt I needed a book.

This was my second go at the Dragon, the first being a small picture to use as a logo for the “Artists of Derbyshire” website. I like this one better, and might put it to use on the site. Some of our members had been kept away by snow, but have now started to return. Elizabeth, no longer snowbound, was back and raring to go. She had a go at the pastels – it had been a while since she’d been along and she hadn’t been aware that we were trying it out. What surprised me was how quickly I got the picture done (it is 35 cm x 26 cm (approx 14” x 11”), - no miniature).

Turbocharged Elizabeth managed to complete her sunset picture – complete with elegantly descending birds – in less than two hours! There’s no waiting for the paint to dry, and it seems a fairly straightforward medium. I have a backlog of ideas, and hope this will give me chance to catch up with myself (so to speak).

Karen, meanwhile, attempted a more challenging subject – a galaxy, working from a prettily coloured photo of some stars. She had been under the impression that the stars would have been that colour in real life, had quickly found they were not, and was wondering why the difference. My better half takes “astro photos”, and I explained that it was done with a coloured filter, trying to remember how else it could be done, and wishing I’d taken more notice of what he gets up to (I’ve since been told the colours can be edited in on the computer, using Irfan View or Gimp). The photographer will often colour the photo to show areas where infra red or ultra violet light occurs.

Enough science for now, more arty fun next time.
Jewel