Mary River Rocks

This pastellist doesn’t generally work from photographs, because the camera sees things so differently … and she tends to lose the mood, spontaneity and enjoyment of the work when she views a camera’s images of a landscape she has been painting.

- Alison Worsnop

MATERIALS

• Red Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

• Steel outdoor easel (Italian made) – heavy enough to be stable and easy to carry and set up.

• Tripod table: An adapted cheap plastic tray which can be screwed onto a camera tripod.

• Pastels.

• Fixative spray.

• Drinking water, hat, sunscreen, a small tarpaulin for shade; and (sometimes) a painting dog for company.

THE PASTELS

I keep my ‘outdoor’ set in a cheap plastic fisherman’s box – the kind with compartments used to keep hooks and lures. I pack the pastels in with cotton wool or rice, so the rougher the journey, the cleaner they get. I use all kinds from the softest Unison, Schmincke, Sennelier, Art Spectrum, Winsor & Newton, to the relatively hard Rembrandt, Conte sticks and pastel pencils, and now the American Pan Pastels. The more colours are the better. I never have enough. In this painting I used a wide range of colors, hardnesses and makes of pastels – but the indispensable ones were: Art Spectrum Flinders Red Violet and Flinders Blue Violet; Schmincke Dark Green and Grey Green; Red, Green, Purple and Black Pan Pastels; Rembrandt, W&N and Unison Grey-Pinks, Grey Mauves, Reds and Oranges; Pan Pastel and Unison White, Light Greens, Warm Yellows, Oranges and Warm Blues.

I paint most of my pastels en plein air – it must be my English background. If it’s daylight and not too cold, I want to be outside painting; with binoculars handy in case any interesting birds are around. While painting this work, I was joined by a family of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. These magnificent birds were feeding on the native Terminalia and Canarium nuts, with a baby crooning monotonously from a leafy tree nearby.