Learn how to use pastels to create skies filled with mood, atmosphere and drama.
This book will teach beginners and beyond the confidence and skills to create convincing, stunning skyscapes, from rich, glowing sunsets to bright clouds on a fresh, blustery day.
This practical and inspiring book distils award-winning artist Sandra Orme's insights and experience into a complete course in the fundamentals of working with pastels. She explores those aspects of colour that are key to painting skies: how to retain vibrancy; how to avoid muddy colours through the use of 'bridging' colours; and how many pastels to use for the best effect.
Each of the stage-by-stage projects focuses upon a particular sky effect, and each main stage is shown both before and after blending for clarity. Her 'Sky clinic', which finishes the book, offers more specialist and technical help on some of the common problems readers might encounter.
Containing the all-important specifics on how to hold the pastel to make various marks, along with close-up pictures showing how the surface should look before you start to blend at each stage, this book assumes no prior knowledge and contains information and insights of value to even the most confident artist.
Table of Contents
Introduction 6
What do you need? 8
Pastels and colour 26
Painting skies 34
Blue sky, white clouds 36
Cloudburst 48
Windy Weather 60
Vivid Sunset 72
Stormy Sunset 84
Delicate Sunrise 96
The pastel sky clinic 108
Index 128
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About Sandra Orme
Sandra Orme is renowned for her ability to capture dramatic skies and a sense of place. From her studio in the heart of the Peak District in Buxton, Derbyshire, she explores the ever-changing sky and landscape.
‘Nothing can be beautiful that is not true’ wrote John Ruskin, a sentiment that Sandra uses as her inspiration as she seeks to recreate the beauty of dramatic skies and moorland vistas. Inspired by the grand landscape tradition from JMW Turner to Alexander Nasmyth, Sandra applies contemporary pastel and charcoal methods to develop epic representational works that convey the terrible beauty of wild open spaces.
Sandra has a degree in Fine Art and many years experience as an art teacher and tutor. She regularly exhibits at both local and national shows as well as galleries, and has exhibited with The Pastel Society at The Mall Galleries in London. Sandra is a member of the art collective, Peak District Artisans, and has contributed to SAA and The Artist magazines. Sandra is also an associate artist with Unison Colour, with her own sets of sky pastels. Sandra has a website, www.sandraorme.com, with online video tutorials. She is active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
