Rambler

Back to roses again today – they are in full swing in the garden so it would seem a shame to ignore them. The bush that produced this flower is a particularly beautiful example. Its blooms vary from yellow to deep pinky reds; I’ve no idea what it’s called as it’s one we inherited when we moved to this house.

I plumped for pastels today, as I’ve been doing so much watercolour recently I fancied a change. This picture was done on mountboard, almost entirely using the Conte hard pastel set I have, The one exception was a light flesh Reeves soft pastel which I used for some of the highlights on the petals. The foliage gave me a lot of trouble. I felt I just couldn’t get the greens I needed with the colours I had available to me.

I might try these roses again another time this summer, if I can catch them before they all finish, either using watercolour pens or paints. We’ll see.

I think that by the time Christmas arrives I’ll have quite a wish list of supplementary art materials. Must remember to add green shades of pastel to it!