Mixed media – acrylic spray paints, acrylic ink, watercolour and soft pastel on Canson Moulin du Roy 300gsm (140lb) ‘rough’ deckled edged and watermarked watercolour paper 22 x 30 inches (56 x 76cm)
Organic expressive marks with interwoven media contrast beautifully with the more solid clean edged shapes of almost flat acrylic spray paint areas throughout the painting. The painting combines also a more abstract vision with expressive marks for the landscape/seascape painting. The high white and unique rough textured watercolour paper was ideal to greatly assist the reflective light and sharp rocky formations from foreground to middle distance to the edge of the sea.
Pursuing new directions with your art rather than constantly staying on safe ground is not detrimental to your practice – rather the opposite. New creative skills and the awareness with what can be achieved with painting and drawing media is vital to self development.
Trying something new not only stimulates your creative repertoire as an artist but leads to positive outcomes. At the same time as creative exploration It is also worth while, every now and again to assess your own art with a critical eye.
Assessing my own work to date for the most part I would consider that I have followed quite a figurative path so far. However, more recently I have been pursuing a more abstract/ semi abstract direction with my work. It is something I have naturally developed, almost without noticing it yet, at the same time deliberately and actively seeking something ’new’.
One of the greatest and most versatile media at my disposal which is more than assisting these inspiring creative directions is Unison Colour pastels.
As a stand alone media with such a great colour range not only can I both sketch, draw and paint with the media (see my previous tutorials in the Unison Colour Pastel Academy), but when combined with other media is both exciting and compelling to use.
Realistically there is nothing that pastel cannot do. The immediacy of pastels is the attraction – colours literally at your fingertips which work in really responsive ways. Unison Colour have created the perfect sized pastels which feel great in the hand. Half sticks add versatility and are economic value whilst the large bespoke made to order ‘jumbo’ pastels are a joy to use for work on a grand scale. Of added value is their reliability when hand made not to fracture or dust as many other brands do and the pigments are top class.
One subject I keep coming back to when working with Unison Colour pastels (and other more firmer brands of pastels in combination) are seascape and coastal paintings. The freedom of all that space, light and air is exciting to express in my work. There is something spiritual I find being next to the sea.
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