Bowl of Mandarin Oranges

Pastel Bowl of Mandarin Oranges
Bowl of Mandarin Oranges, pastel on flannel grey paper, 13 in. x 20 in., April 2018

This is the first pastel observational drawing I drew from my spring 2018 Introduction to Pastels class. Previously, I had never learned how to use pastels. I personally found that pastel drawing is unlike either colored pencil drawing or painting, both of which I do regularly. But in this first drawing, I didn’t know that yet and I treated the pastels like they were smudge-y sorts of colored pencils, which explains why my colors are not opaque or saturated enough. I later learned to work in many layers to build up the pastel colors and blend them to an opaque creaminess.

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