The Sunday Post-Variety and Expressive Strokes

One of the many nice qualities of working in pastel is that it is a hands on medium, and can be used in many ways.
When used in an impressionist manner , individual mark making with the sticks is emphasized.
Every pastel artist develops his or her own unique calligraphy, and I like to  use  a variety of strokes in my own work.

"Clipping the Baco", is a good example of many different types of strokes used. The background hills and sky are rendered with blanketed strokes, in order to stay quiet, and to recede.

The strokes in the vines, and foliage are by contrast very distinct, to give the impression of the rough bark of the trunks, and the tangle of leaves and twigs that are in the foreground. You can really see individual strokes, applied heavily and quickly, to give the impression of vigorous growth..

In the figure, there are smaller somewhat less distinct strokes, however I was careful to have the direction of them go around the figure, to give roundness to the form You can really see this in the shoulder and arm area.

The portrait, or face is done with very small, careful , and softly blended strokes. again the roundness of the form is important, but this area is handled in a much more sensitive manner, as befits giving character to the worker.

"Up and Away", follows some of the same principles, however heer I was concerned with rendering light, specifically that of  early morning, and distance in the landscape.

The background strokes are soft, and indistinct. As everything comes forward, strokes are more distinct. Notice in the shadow areas, they are also softer than in the lit areas. I also applied much heavier pastel in the illuminated areas. There are short, choppy strokes in the trees in the foreground, and again more softly blended as the vegetation goes back, barely indicating the terrain at the top...not yet lit by the rising sun. There are some long, broad strokes in the roadway, but these are broken by horizontal strokes that go across the road, which go along the ground plane. this is obvious in the orange streak, but also done a little further back with a slightly lighter violet along the road.this prevents the road from lifting off of the page.

So, a variety of strokes is enjoyable to the viewer. Different strokes for different folks!