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Purple Patch

Cathy McFarland

Well, this was a day! A little while ago I decided I wanted to try one of my maidens on a larger scale. I had an old A2 sheet of pastel paper that would do the job. Normally I don't concern myself with the background for these paintings, but with this one I decided to do a background first and then the image. If I am to be totally honest, I had done a rough sketch of the figure and then felt I wasn't in the right mindset to do a good job of drawing in the detail. To give myself something to do to progress the piece I made the decision to colour in the background in blended colours that complimented the colours I intended to use for the figure.


Originally I had great plans of doing a really loose, sketchy style I had seen while trawling Google. Sadly, as soon as I tried the style on a rough piece of paper I found that it wasn't something I could do. Not with pastel anyway. I would think of revisiting the idea in colour pencil on a different piece. Anyway, despite having a pallet all picked out for this I once again found myself opting for complimentary colours and once again blue was the base colour. (This would prove quite funny as I put the completed image on Instagram. The next day I went kayaking and also uploaded a photo from my kayak. The colour scheme in my pastel painting was almost exactly like that from the picture of my kayak on the lough. I do love the subconscious at work).

The paper, complete with blended background and figure silhouette had sat in my art room for what felt like weeks. Finally last Saturday I decided I'd had enough and I was just going to start. I went in telling myself that if it turned into an unholy nightmare I could just turn the page over and start again. I must have spent seven hours in that art room. I don't think I have been that focused on art since I was a teenager. Every time I felt doubt rising and wanted to stop some part of me pushed on. And wow, was it worth it. I put the finished piece on my easel and couldn't believe I had done it. Both the size and the background made it look somehow more legitimate. Real art. Seeing it there taking up my easel made me feel like a real artist. At the same time I couldn't believe I'd done it.


I'm not sure if it is the paper I use but |I struggled to blend with cotton this time. It was fingertips or nothing. This made my choice of size really fortuitous. As small as my fingertips are I still struggled to keep neat and make edges nice and clean. A good note to self in future. Test the pastel on the paper being used before you decide what size you want to work in.


Another wee victory was the hair. As usual, my reference image didn't have the long hair I like to draw. Again I intended to do luscious locks but once I started they became really fine, heavy looking curls. Maybe even a little damp? I love the effect. An accidental shadow effect across the neck really made it come to life.


Anyway, I very long day that left me feeling more legitimate as an artist than I have in decades!

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