 Hello and welcome to Monet Cafe. I'm artist Susan Jenkins. I'm glad you're here to continue this duckling painting This is part two. I'll have a link for part one in the description of this video It's on unsanded paper and I am specifically sharing in this video how you can really get some great results on the unsanded papers Which are actually a lot less expensive than sanded papers So in this video, you will see me using Canson unsanded gray tones paper. This is a pad of it's called mittance. It's a French name It's not sanded. It has a little bit of a texture to one side. The other side's a little bit more smooth I worked on the textured side, which is actually the first page in the pad You'll also see me using some tools that you can probably just find in your house some q-tips and a little piece of Shammy cloth that works great for blending. Also, I'm working in my kitchen here I really need to put those dishes away, but I'm actually not even in my home right now many of you may be aware that my mother passed away about a week and a half ago and I That's why I could not get part two uploaded Pretty quickly after part one. So I better quit talking about that so I can actually continue with this voice over Anyway, so if you go back to part one in the link, you'll see a lot more information But I'm using a photo from pixabay.com this cute little ducky I covered up my iPad so that the pastel dust wouldn't get on my keyboard and One thing I did strive to do in this painting was to use one set of pastels primarily I do use a few Prismacolor new pastels, but this is the Sennelier Set of 40 half sticks and for all for the real soft pastels This is all I use the colors I used are standing up in the box here So yes, you can create a whole painting with just one set of pastels now I did also use Prismacolor new pastels. These are harder pastels. I love these pastels They're not that expensive, but I use them more for some of the finer detail like the little Parts on the beak, you know that had some outline and the little teeny hairs that you'll see me create So we're gonna get started. I'm going to do some real time at the beginning Oh, I definitely I need a cup of coffee right now I know this is a voice-over, but I think I'll grab a cup of coffee and we'll finish now We ended in part one where I was starting to work on the eye I showed you a neat little sharpener that I think is the best sharpener for pastel pencils So go back and watch that video and I'm just getting in the dark area of the eye I'm using now. That was a Terry Ludwig dark And I am speeding up the eye portion because it got a little tedious and often my hand got in the way anyway so I noticed a little bit of a blue highlight in the reflection and Of course, there's gonna be that little white highlight So once again this part is sped up because the big old chunky pastels get in the way You can't really see what I'm doing, but getting the eye correct Well the anatomy of any animal or person is very important All right trees are a little more forgiving if you get a leaf or a branch a little bit off But when you do an eye you want to get that accurate. I do believe in video one, too I also did a little sketch. I recently started using a site called coffee. It may be kofi It's k-o-fi.com. I have a page there where you can follow me Sometimes I just started doing this. I'll provide the sketch you can buy it for like two dollars or whatever if you wanted to do the sketch and Reproduce the sketch to do the painting from in part one of this video I actually show you a really easy way to do that and because I'm working from a flat surface on my little kitchen bar area If you choose to do that you will occasionally you'll see me like I just did go take my pastel board and knock it off Whether outside over trash cans somewhere Just to be able to remove that extra pastel that just kind of lays there That's why I often work from an easel because the pastels fall Rather than laying there. So it's a good habit to get up and knock it off Okay, you can see I added a little bit of that red and now am I contemplating using that one? I think I go back and use a Sennelier. Oh, no, I'm cleaning this new pastel. It was a little dirty Oh, and I'm checking colors. So you can see I choose which one do I choose? I got choose that last one and what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna kind of soften that a little bit of red and Typically we can work by going darker in value to lighter. We can layer We also can go bolder in color and then neutralize it So if you're working with a set of pastels and you're like, wow, I don't have that muted red You can use a bright red and then come over it with just a little bit of scumbling or layering And you can neutralize it kind of how I've done here Also, I stressed in the first video about focal point If you were looking at this duck from a photograph a lot of things are in focus typically when we look at photographs the camera Purposely tries to focus everything unless you know how to play with the aperture and the shutter speed and all of that good stuff but as artists we can break out our artistic license and create a painting that has more of a focal point that is Centralized to a certain area and what would you think that would be in this case? Well, of course, it would be the sweet little duckies face and head and eye And so I will be having more detail and contrast in the face Those are I have a video actually on I think it's five ways to create a focal point And I highly recommend that maybe I can put that at the tail end of this video Because that's one of the things that's really going to make a difference in your artwork We have a tendency at earliest artist to just Reproduce what we see from a photograph or even from what we see from our eyes in nature But if you consider how our eyes really work if you were to look at this duckies face and just keep staring at it the rest of everything will Radiate out and gradually get less detailed So that's something to keep in mind whether you're painting an animal a portrait or even a landscape and Often I find that what should get the focal point is what drew you to that image in the first place All right, so you can see I'm gradually just adding little strokes I think I decide that that color might be a little too light. I can't remember. Maybe I use just a little bit of it I'm actually giving a little bit more of a highlight to the eye right there The soft pastels just so you know, especially when you work on harder paper Oh, no, I did it to just the the highlight almost like eye shadow You know how women put that highlight up under their brow and make sure I look a little bit bigger I guess. I don't know. I'm not real good with makeup, but Often when we use the soft pastels They are the ones that will give you the punch harder pastels It's a little bit harder to get that brighter color But also keep in mind that with soft pastels you really get less layering if you if you just Continue to layer you'll find that it will get muddied after a while if you over layer soft pastels So all of this it sounds like oh a lot of notes I've got to practice this and and remember that but really these things just come with practice That's why I say do small fun little studies rather than going I'm going to create a serious painting especially when you're just beginning So get you some small pieces of whether unsanded or sanded paper Just find some little simple subject matter and start painting with the goal that I'm just learning and and it's okay To throw it away if you're not happy with it. Actually, I got a video coming up soon You know we can repurpose a lot of pastel papers So don't be so afraid to get started because I'm going to share a video soon where I'll show you three different pastel surfaces That you literally can reuse repurpose and reuse if you didn't like your final painting So now I'm actually going to be Using some of the the blues and the areas that are around his beak in his head They will have probably a little bit more color than some of the rest of the areas once again That's another focal point strategy a little bit brighter color now watch how I'm using this q-tip here the q-tip works to just kind of blend things in and You don't have to use your finger or try to get in little crevices that q-tip is like really small and This painting is way more tedious than a lot of my other paintings, but I I was actually oh, I remember I Was my husband and I had been through so much With rescuing my mother-in-law. She has terminal cancer She is currently living at our home and my husband is taking care of her right now under hospice care And I had to leave and come back home because my mother passed away now There's a beautiful side to this as sad as all of this is I know exactly where my mother is I could tear up if I start getting too detailed about everything but I Got a week with my mom after she had a major stroke that was such a beautiful week all of the grandchildren got to visit her and I just felt it was the Lord's blessing rather than something happening to her and us not having that extra time So I am now even though I painted this painting at my house I am with my father and I'm gonna stay with him as long as it takes for life to get a bit less Painful, I don't know if it'll ever get that way but until we can develop what life looks like now and Fortunately, they have a basement in their home and I'm able to set up my traveling art studio which I've had to do so many times in my life and Just stay with my daddy. So that's where I am right now and I really can't even remember why I brought that up But you know, it's good information for you guys to know that That's where I am things are still gonna be functioning here on Monet cafe and with my Precious patrons from my patreon page. Oh my goodness the love and support from you guys has been overwhelming I've read many of your messages to my dad It's you guys are helping in the healing process and I'm so so grateful I'm so grateful too that you guys are hanging there hanging in there with me through this This time where it's been really hard to focus on anything other than All of the details that come with this and and all of the grieving so God bless you all Thank you so much now notice how I'm using this harder pastel what I'm doing even though I had some of that black and yes, I did use black in this duck. I don't often use black But with this particular set I am using black because it's the only dark available in the set I think I might have mentioned before something about using a terry Ludwig dark. I didn't it was the black from the set I forgot. This is the only set that I used But I can soften that black by using some of the more neutral colors So that's the beautiful thing about pastels They say with soft pastels you can't mix colors But you actually have a little bit of a degree of color mixing by either blending the colors a little bit or even just laying colors just to pose them next to each other and it creates the Illusion of a new color so it's a lot of fun And if you're curious about different pastel markmaking strategies, I have another video on I think it's something like 12 Mark making methods of soft pastels something like that So lots of lots of information especially for the beginner in soft pastels I share often why I fell in love with pastels. I think they are the brightest in color and just so beautiful And vibrant over some of the other mediums I also love that I'm holding the color in my hand rather than putting it on a brush I also love how they don't dry up. They lay there patiently waiting for you to get started again There are some advantage or disadvantages that you know, you do have to protect them when you're done By the way, I don't ever spray my pastel painting at the end I that's one of the most popular questions I get. What do you do to protect it? Well, I either put it in a clear plastic bag What that I get from clearbags.com just to protect it to ship it to display it or If I was keeping it, I often don't frame my paintings myself But you put it under glass and there's you know simple little things any frame or usually knows of what to do to frame a pastel painting but I don't spray it at the end because the fixative will darken the entire painting and I don't want to do that when I'm finished with the panic Sometimes I'll use it during the work and working process to purposely darken an area But it also adds a little bit of texture So if you've kind of got an area you want to do another little glaze of color over you can spray a little fixative on it to do That so hopefully that'll kind of answer that question if any of you had that So you just see me gradually working here. I do apologize that a lot of my markmaking is hard to see when my hand gets in the way and But one of the goals I had to was this duck was like really fuzzy and that was just part of his cuteness So I'm the black that you see right now is dark, but you'll see me at the end I'm not going to do a voiceover obviously for this whole video I'm probably gonna just speed it up in just a minute and add some music But I'm giving you some things to look for but I know that I'm going to soften up those little feathers I'm just getting these first layers down now and towards the end I'll start using some of those Prismacolor new pastels to create those little wispy hairs Coming off of his head so but back to the point of this video you see this is unsanded paper you can really see the texture in the blue water to the right of his beak and That texture can be softened kind of like you see above his head with a chamois cloth I don't think I've done that over to the right side I might even have it that texture to the end because it creates more of a focal point But you can use these little tools like the chamois cloth You can use the q-tips and it not only softens the texture But it knocks the pastel off a little bit to get a little bit more layering Also, even though I'm going to speed up the remaining part of this keep in mind that part one Has a lot of commentary so that should be very beneficial I think one of the things I cover in part one is also about just have reflections work in general I think if not, let me say it again here Reflections are interesting Things above the water that are dark like his head and some of the dark areas in his body When they're reflected in the water, they're going to be just a tad of a value shade lighter Things that are light in the subject matter such as the light on his face are going to be just a tad Darker so really things just get a little bit more muted out and doled out in general in a reflection And that's just a good little tip to keep in mind I also wanted to make him really look like he was sitting in that water and you'll notice at the end I start to give a little bit of a darker Area right around where the water meets his body or his body meets the water and then I add some little Lines to indicate like the water Edge kind of wrapping around him. So you'll notice those things. So again This was a longer more tedious painting than I normally do But I really just wanted to kind of on what my point was way back on one of the tangents talking about my mother-in-law is That I kind of needed some time just to sit and paint and whatever and so I that's why I sat at my kitchen counter I just put a little temporary holder for my camera phone up and I just started painting It was very therapeutic to kind of work on something with a little bit more detail So that was kind of my method of operation there. All right guys I'm gonna speed this up a little bit if you'd like to become a patron of mine You get a little extra content. There's lots of videos on my patreon page that have more content More commentary and we have some special little other things we do on my patreon page It's only five dollars a month. You can cancel it anytime. It supports this channel It has truly blessed me and helped me with your support during some rough financial times in our world today And I'm just so grateful. Oh, also I get to see your work as a patron We have a homework album where you can share your work We have a private Facebook page for my patrons fun things like that and it's also a great group Everybody kind of helps and talks to each other. So it's really cool so anyway, all right, here we go speeding this up and Just enjoy and I can't wait to paint again. I've got some great ideas I definitely have some great reference material out here at my parents home. Oh my goodness It's gorgeous out here. So we're gonna have some fun and I'll be back soon and here you can see how I'm using the harder pastel just to kind of glaze over some of the water to give it that feeling of flatness and reflection and it just kind of Blurs things out blends things in a little bit glazing it a little bit over the reflection of the duck So I hope you learned a lot through that if you're a patron of mine I'd love to see what you recreate in our homework album And I have a lot more coming because I have a lot of pre-recorded material But I'm painting soon and I can't wait to be back and share more here in Monet cafe. God bless and happy painting