The Guardian

This artist finds pastel pencils useful for sketching and adding fine detail to a pastel painting because graphite pencils may leave indentations on pastel paper which cannot be lifted out.

- Robyn Hughes

STEP ONE

My aim was to create a hot, dusty sunset in Africa – based on a single photograph of an elephant from Dubbo zoo. Her flared ears and prominent right forefoot inspired the idea of a matriach protecting her family from strangers in her homeland.

The paper was clipped to a piece of MDF board with at least three layers of plain paper underneath to provide a slight amount of ‘give’. I sketched my ideas onto a half-sheet of warm Burgundy paper with white pastel pencil. Sketches on tough Colourfix paper can easily be re-done if needed – using a kneadable eraser.

STEP TWO

Using pastels broken into thirds, I quickly laid in sky colours with side-strokes of the pastels in colours ranging from dark Burnt Siennas through to touches of Gold and Lemon Yellow. The pastels blended themselves on the surface with the use of a few layers. As always, I was more concerned with finding a pastel of the correct tone and hue, rather than which brand (softness) of pastel I was using.

I loosely filled in the distant elephants in shades of raw and burnt umber. Overall they remained cooler and less detailed – further away – than the main elephant.