# New to forum and to painting



## Stever

Hello all my name is Steve. Just happen to stumble across this forum. I am new to drawing and painting. Actually I never tried painting anything with any types of paints to date. My start to drawing and painting began using soft pastels on May 14th 2016

For years I would watch Bill Alexander and Bob Ross on public television paint 30 minute landscapes. They made it look so easy. After years of watching them I decided to give it a try. I have zero experience never tried to paint or draw before and decided to try using soft pastels instead of paint.

So far the only learning instruction has come from free online videos and step by step images of how to paint. About a month ago I joined a virtual art class which I'm learning from. I'm hoping I could get some constructive critiquing and suggestions of what I have painted using soft pastels. I will post my finished paintings for all to look at. I will start out with my last soft pastel painting of a Bluebird which I use that reference photo to create. The reference photo is the darker bluebird

Thanks for reading and happy I found this forum and looking forward to some feedback
Steve


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## TerryCurley

Your painting is very good especially for being so new to painting. Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here.


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## Stever

TerryCurley said:


> Your painting is very good especially for being so new to painting. Welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it here.


Hi Terry
Nice of you to give a look so quick.
I appreciate your feedback and kind words.
I have been putting in hours of practice. That poor Bluebird had so much reconstructive surgery you can't imagine.
Steve
PS: I'll post some more of what I have done with the photo references to compare to appreciate you looking thank you. I'm sure I'll enjoy it in the forum and learned quite a bit from all these great artists posting


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## Susan Mulno

Welcome to the forum Steve!

I have seen your paintings and I like them! You are doing a great job for being so new to painting! Just keep at it, improvement comes with persistence.


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## Stever

Susan Mulno said:


> Welcome to the forum Steve!
> 
> I have seen your paintings and I like them! You are doing a great job for being so new to painting! Just keep at it, improvement comes with persistence.


Hi Susan,
Thank you for looking and your comments. Much appreciated
Stever


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## dickhutchings

I agree with the above and will add that I think you definitely have got a talent for painting. I think you'll be posting some extraordinary work if you keep at it.

Oh and I must add that generally, we paint the entire background first and then paint the foreground over that to avoid the glow.


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## Stever

Hi Dick,
Thank you so much for looking at my soft pastel paintings. I truly appreciate you taking the time of critiquing my bluebird painting. Suggestions just like you gave regarding the background is things I'm looking for on how to improve. Happy I found this forum and appreciate all the quick responses from other artists in the forum. I have been looking through many of the threads and I've been looking at some very impressive paintings from all the other members
Stever


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## dickhutchings

I'm not sure that the advice I gave is appropriate for pastels. I've never used them and don't know if you can actually layer them like paint. I'm sure there must be a similar technique and hopefully one our resident pastelers will give you the proper advice.


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## Stever

Hi Dick

Yes you are able to layer and actually blend them to create other colors
Stever


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## Stever

E


dickhutchings said:


> I agree with the above and will add that I think you definitely have got a talent for painting. I think you'll be posting some extraordinary work if you keep at it.
> 
> Oh and I must add that generally, we paint the entire background first and then paint the foreground over that to avoid the glow.


Hello all painters,

I went back over my bluebird and got rid of the Halo or the glow as some call it around the bird I also did a little bit more touch up on the actual bird think it looks a lot better now what do you guys and gals think?
Stever


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## abt2k15

getting better and better. i would love to see a gradient background. bit darker blue from bottom to the light blue on the top but its also great as it is. do you plan on fixing the tree trunk?


/cheers


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## Stever

abt2k15 said:


> getting better and better. i would love to see a gradient background. bit darker blue from bottom to the light blue on the top but its also great as it is. do you plan on fixing the tree trunk?
> 
> 
> /cheers


Hi Abt,
Thanks for looking and comments. I'll try that idea of fading colors of background on my next bird I paint.
Regarding tree truck, yes I fixed it. Under title" Something new, not really in pastel thread
Thanks again
Stever


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## abt2k15

i was refering to the tree trunk the branch goes of where the bird is sitting on


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## Stever

abt2k15 said:


> i was refering to the tree trunk the branch goes of where the bird is sitting on


Hi Abt,
Yes uploaded revised painting, title is "Peaceful Landscape" Looking forward to your comments.
Thanks for looking
Stever


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## abt2k15

no thats a different picture?! i attached an image to show


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## Stever

abt2k15 said:


> no thats a different picture?! i attached an image to show


Hi Abt,
I had no clue what you were talking about until your posted this, I had thought you were referring to two other paintings. Actually that's not part of the tree trunk that was supposed to be a small branch and I guess I kind of got carried away with it. If you look at the original photo you'll see it's just a twig off of a branch, not the actual tree trunk. So I guess yes that could be redone to look like a twig similar to the photo reference. Now looking at the original photo the branch that the bird is sitting on should be extended to the left as well along with making the minor adjustments of the actual vertical branch.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Stever


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## abt2k15

hehe. maybe dont redo the twig and just continue the branch the bird is sitting on through the twig. its hard to notice but when you do you cannot "unsee" it haha. 

/cheers


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## Stever

abt2k15 said:


> hehe. maybe dont redo the twig and just continue the branch the bird is sitting on through the twig. its hard to notice but when you do you cannot "unsee" it haha.
> 
> /cheers


I decided to go back over my bluebird and fix what ABT point that out regarding the branches
Stever


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## cprimo

Hi Stever! Great job with this so far; It's great that you've continued to work at it.
Just a couple quick thoughts - adding in some more of that bright orange / yellow for contrast like in the photo would look nice; you could even put some into the branches to pull it through the image. I would darker up some shading, especially around the eyes to give a more dimensial look. Finally, the curvature of the branch seems somewhat unrealistic; most branches don't have round curves like that, and are more angular as they branch off and out. Also, they usually branch upward or horizontally, and not so steeply downward. That angle may also be hard for the bird to balance on. Just some things to think about!


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## picassolite

You might find this little technique useful. You can crush your pastels into a powder. Mix with alcohol ... enables you to apply your color like watercolor. 

Gives a lustrous look. 

Also ... you might mix 3 blues when doing the bird. Consider using turquoise as one of the blues. 

The background ... will work if you go slightly alizarin ... not too much ... as alizarin tends to over take a painting. 

What you have here is the 'play' or interaction between orange and blue. A bright bolt of orange on the bird ... will cause all your blues and the background alizarin ... to 'pop.' 

Also ... a bird's head tends to round as it goes over the eye ... not flat. 

Just a few observations that you might find useful.

One reason your source image works ... is the 'unifying' wash of orange that that peaks through the blue of the background. 

The alcohol technique will allow you apply such a wash with your pastels.


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