Lesson Learnt at Opus Demo

Last month, I was invited to do a pastel demo and chat at Opus Downtown Vancouver on Sunday afternoon. I went over to the mainland and spent the weekend with my brother and his family. On Saturday, I went out and bought a selection of vegetables. I thought it might be a good idea to try a set up and then make a small thumbnail so I could have some sort of plan the next day. Good idea yes? I thought so. So I excused myself from family fun and went to work. Here’s the thumbnail sketch I did:

I was all set. Or so I thought. The next afternoon, I set up the vegetables at Opus, turned on my flood light, and…..all the values were different. For instance, where the shadows had been the darkest value, now they were a middle value. It didn’t matter that the set up was the same including the same temperature bulb shining from the same direction. The ambient light was different and that seemed to make all the difference.

Conundrum – should I stick with the old plan even though I don’t see that, or take the time and effort to create a new one? I decided I couldn’t just make it up and so created a new one:

Subtle difference in the thumbnails but a big difference when it came to pastelling. Just goes to show, even though you prepare, you need to be flexible and be able to change at a moment’s notice! The plans of mice and men….. Still, I’m glad I did do the veg set up and selection beforehand.

Here’s the pastel that emerged from the demo. I didn’t get nearly as far as I had planned (it always takes way longer to answer all the questions before getting going and also along the way) and I added things like highlights long before I normally would but I wanted to show how I would finish. All in all, it gave a good taste of layering and how you can make do with a limited palette.

IAPS

As you probably know by now, I’ll be on my way to the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS) Convention at the beginning of June. As I did last time and the time before, I’ll be helping out at the Holbein booth. This year for the first time, I’ll also be demoing…at the Schminke booth. I’ll be there Friday 5 June 9am-12pm and Saturday 2-5pm. In between, I hope to shoot a LOT of short videos like I did two years ago.

What I want to know is, if I asked one question to a number of the artists, what would it be?

I’m looking for input, what do you want to know? If it’s a question for a specific artist, let me know. Please leave your questions as a comment so we can all see them.

To get an idea of who is teaching, go to the IAPS website here. Remember too that there will be a lot of amazing artists attending and I hope to ask them questions as well!

To give you inspiration, here’s a few of the videos I shot last time. Click on the image to watch. To see all the interviews, go to my Channel and check under “Interviews”.

So, what’s your burning question?! Tell me so I can ask it when I go to IAPS!!!

Next time, I’ll have my pastel choices for April. Wait for it!!!

Thanks for being here,

~ Gail

PS. Your burning question is???

PPS. If you are coming to IAPS, please come find me at either Holbein or Schminke booths!