Fearless Friday, Pastel Sunflower
After completing the daily watercolor challenge
for World Watercolor Month July,
I’m taking a break this week and playing with pastels
I’ve had this set of semi hard pastels forever,
and I also have a set of pastel pencils
I must confess my knowledge of pastel painting is very limited,
and I am totally self taught in this medium…
I think the best way to learn is through play
Jump in and play with your medium, experiment,
and try things outside your comfort zone
I printed out a collage of paintings for inspiration
and chose a blue gray pastel paper for the sunflower
I painted the center of the flower first, blending several shades of brown
Next I added petals in several shades of yellow and orange,
blending them into the center
I added dark areas to more of the leaves and added green petals
Then came the stem and more leaves and petals to finish
I used a pastel pad of assorted colored pastel papers
and these paper blender sticks
If you’ve never tried pastel, I highly recommend it, it’s so much fun~
it makes me feel like a child playing with finger paints
The colors are vivid and instantly come to life
It’s messy though, so you need to keep that in mind
and do it in a well ventilated area or outside
Here are a couple of favorites from previous Fearless Fridays,
just click on the title to visit the post
Have fun and Be Fearless!
I will be joining these fabulous parties and blogs:
Sundays on Silverado Love Your Creativity
Between Naps on the Porch, Celebrate Your Story,
All About Home/ Common Ground Follow the Yellow Brick Home
Tasty Tuesday Oh My Heartsie Girl Turn About Tuesday
Full Plate Thursday Centerpiece Wednesday Creative Crafts
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Beautiful! Sunflower is one of my favourites.
I love sunflowers, I wish I had them growing in my garden!
Beautiful Jenna! Love the blue gray paper as a contrast and background. Happy Friday ♥
Thanks Mary 💕
I love seeing you experiment. You confirmed my guess in that it is messy working with pastels. Beautiful sunflower! I always loved your sea oats too.
Thank you Rita, yes pastels are messy, but fun to do outside where you don’t have to worry about it!
Oh so pretty Jenna! I just love how you just jump right in. The blue paper was a splendid idea… it makes that sunflower pop!
Beautiful! Enjoy your Friday!
Thank you Nancy!
Sunflowers are my favorite and yours is stunning.
thank you Bernadette, have a lovely weekend!
Love your latest creation! Your sunflower pops off the paper! Do you not pencil in the subject first with pastels? I’m a total non-artist, but I was just curious. Fearless Fridays is one of my favorite times to visit you. I am always impressed and your process and final products ALWAYS put a smile on my face. What a pleasant way to start my day, Jenna. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
hi Rosie, no I didn’t sketch it first, which is part of the fun of pastel, it’s fast and loose. I always appreciate your comments and interest Rosie, as much as you seem to enjoy art, you really should try taking a class, you might surprise yourself!
I haven’t done pastel for quite awhile (and wasn’t particularly good with it when I did.) The pan pastels, though, add a wonderful dimension to some watercolor backgrounds; you just have to be sure to spray them when you are done.
I have a set of pan pastels also, they are fun to work with too, I need to experiment with your watercolor suggestion!
So pretty! I love the blue background!
Thank you, I love sunflowers!
Jennna, I am such a fan of sunflowers and I love your pastel. Happy Friday, enjoy your day.
how long do sunflowers from your garden last? Do you cut them and enjoy them inside too?
About 5-6 weeks. I have some blooms, most are now in the seed head state which attract lots of birds. While in bloom they attract so many pollinators. I do cut them and bring inside. I also love seeing them in the garden. If you decide to plant seeds, I can pass along what we have learned🌻🌻🌻
I just might take you up on that! When do you need to plant them?
We usually plant April-May. You can plant later for an early autumn harvest.
OK, thank you, I just might try that next year, I would love to have some in my yard!
Jenna, I love sunflowers and yours are beautiful. It is so fun to see the results of a different medium. I am not an artist but as a teacher I loved encouraging children to experiment. We just used colored chalks and hairspray as a fixative but it was fun and the kids loved it.
I love to play with pastels but they are certainly messy! Thanks Linda!
Looks like you had a lot of fun…and I would use a high quality fixative…you can always work on top of if you change your mind, and it enhances the depth of the colors. Hugs, Sandi
Thanks Sandi, I need to experiment with various fixatives, thanks for your input~
So pretty, Jenna! 💚🌻
Thanks Patty Anne!
I’ve never tried pastels. I love your art…amazing! I’ve been threatened bodily harm if I purchase more art supplies. ;p
haha, I have way too many art supplies too, but it’s so much fun to have so many to play with. I don’t think you should try pastel because of your health issues, they can be pretty toxic and are super messy. The only place I use them is outside at the beach house.
For some reason I am drawn to pastels. They convey feeling that is different from other mediums.
Yes, they do, and are fabulous for landscapes, thanks Linda 🙂
The perfect time of the year to celebrate sunflowers. Yours is lovely………..
Thank you Emily, I adore sunflowers 🌻
Jenna, I adore sunflowers! I think they are such a happy flower. Your painting turned out beautiful. The flower really pops against the pretty blue background. Sorry, I’m so late in commenting. The family has been keeping me really busy. We take Caroline to college on Friday. I don’t know where the summer has gone. I can’t believe it’s already August! I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!
Oh thank you Shannon, what an exciting time for you and Caroline, bittersweet, you’re happy and sad at the same time! I agree, summer really flew by, my grands start school today!