May saw the welcome return of Pastel Artist Richard Turner to our evening meeting.

Richard looks to paint shapes (not things) with tones, colour and texture working in 3 stages ,to fulfil a check list of his objectives.

1: A black and white sketch (or finished drawing according to the complexity of the subject) to establish necessary accuracies.

2: Moving on to a mid tone red coloured board, (bringing warmth to an otherwise dull image,) colour was applied ,duller colours first, blocking in darks, then moving to lights.Richard used gentle pressure on the pastels to allow background colour to show through at this stage, and filling big shapes marked out in stage 1.

3: Time for smaller detail. brighter colour applied now, using more pressure to cover first layer, and heighten the values. Then the textures, using more active marks.

Richard filled the evening with so many tips -like; standing away from the painting to make decisions, -not close up, and finished with the suggestion to ask yourself at end of painting ,could you explain what you have done?

Richard communicated how he makes his lovely paintings in a relaxed manner demonstrating with great skill , and made it look easy, though we all know better! 

Below the painting in its 3 stages.