Summer Evening, Keswick

Stage 1 after blending with water.

I thought I would get the Pastels out, I used ' Fisher 400 paper,' Taped it down onto a board then roughly laid down some colour. Then blended it with water, smells horrible!! Gave it a blast with the hairdryer making sure all the paper was dry before I laid on any pastel.

WHY you might ask do I blend the pastel with water

I like a complementary colour underpainting and using this paper and technique, non of the undercolour pastel blends into my next layer, so I will hopefully get clean colours and not too much smudging. It's not so daunting starting a painting with most of the paper covered.

Stage 2 starting to build up the back and middle ground.

Summer Evening, Keswick  Painted in Pastel by Jane Ward