Bebbanburg - (Bamburgh Castle)

The sky is great so is the picture no tips as I haven't tried pastel keep going you are a good artist

I think it looks impressive as it is but you are clearly dissatisfied with the sky. When mine come out with some unplanned mystical look I just call them semi-abstract 'cause I love semi-abstract. If I was trying to reduce the semi-abstract effect I would reshape the clouds to a more classical style and put some of your lemon yellow in the sky too. You have the reflections and everything brilliant Fiona. This is clever pastel work.

What on earth is the matter with it Fi? It looks pretty decent to me.

Good advice Mick but I would leave the sky, it's part of the beauty. Just because something isn't conventional Fi, doesn't mean it's rubbish! Besides, do you want it to look like all the others?

Here's a smashing photo by Mairead Maclennan, of the Old School on North Uist. I saved it today intending to base a painting on it. It would be a great subject for pastel. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36922524

I'm in awe even if you don't like it. I'm useless with pastels so I'd take this any day & proudly hang it on a wall.

Thank you Ruth, I've only just begun to use pastel so I'm very lost when it comes to tinkering with it once it's down. It will be the same as most mediums I suppose...trial and error. Make sure I don't repeat the mistake in future. lol I am Michael, the bit I've done is just stuck there, hanging in mid air, so to speak. I didn't want to do a full sky but I may have to take it all the way across some how and see if that looks any better. Hopefully I may get some tips. Just looked at that link for the picture....very nice subject matter, I'll have a go if you do! Lol...thanks Adele, I know what you mean but it doesn't look/feel right....that splodge of blue hung in mid air isn't doing anything, does that make more sense?lol Probably not! Thanks for your input, appreciate it.....and if you come up with any ideas, let me know!

That's very kind Brian thank you. It would seem I'm pretty useless at skies in pastels.....lol

I know what you mean Fiona, but I like it as when I do a sky I feel compelled to put in everything and that can get a bit uninteresting. To me it looks like a rain cloud coming over - quite in keeping.

I will try that photo soon Fiona. I need to get these figures out of my system and I think I'm nearly done now. I'm poor with pastels but the more you do the better you should get. And I waant to get better, like yourself.

Lovely work Fiona. You're really good at Pastel work. Well done.

Fiona you have suggested the water very well using the colour of the paper you could do the same with the sky the ground could be rain clouds for example I like the lords castle glowing with sunlight or perhaps..moonlight! overall lovely so far

Wow this is so beautiful Fiona

Great use of colours. I look forward to your next 'rubbish' pastel. I really like this, however, I don't know what was in your mine's eye!

Fiona, overall it's very good. I like the paper colour being part of the picture. The castle and land/beach catch the light very well against the grey. If I were to change anything, I would have made the cloud outline less definite, perhaps drag the colour across with the side of the pastel and also with a touch of yellow as Michael suggests. What brand of pastels?

Very effect use of the pastels medium Fiona. The sky is not so bad as you thing, it fits in with the whole image, which is suggestive, and works well with the other elements.

I can't say anything about pastels fiona, but I know as with most new materials you just at it..... I think it's good to leave the paper here and there it's nice effect.... Try a bit of orange lol......

I think it's super Fiona!

Thanks once again Adele. Give me a nudge when you want to have a go at that picture Michael.....we can improve together!

Many thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions, I'm going to have a little play about with it and see if I can redeem the sky somehow....maybe with a touch of yellow, or even orange, Alan! lol Marjorie, thanks for the tip. I bought Sennelier pastels and Canson paper, not sure if I've chosen wisely, they feel nice to use. I thought about you yesterday, not sure if you managed to visit Kirkcudbright when you did the spring fling but it's their arts and craft trail this weekend. Over eighty venues, I had a wonderful day! At the WASP studio's there is a lady called Margaret S Milligan, gorgeous work, reminded me of yours and I think she shares your passion for painting glass. Her website is: margaretsmilligan.co.uk

I think it is great, Fiona. Although I am not familiar with pastel, I think there is nothing wrong with it.

I did visit Kirkudbright Fiona and also the WASP studios and I saw Margaret Macmillan's work - yes, I liked it, took a few postcards back. It's a lovely town. Another artist I liked very much owned the Ochre Gallery , Richard Brinley. What a nice bloke he is and I love his paintings.

Sorry, Margaret Milligan! And Sennelier are lovely pastels - l have a small set and lots of Unison ( well, they are made in Northumberland).

Perhaps add a bridge?..LOL. Seriously though, it looks good to me!

Pastels are fun to use aren't they? I used to do a lot at one time. A teacher once recommended 'Moonstone' shade of Canson paper, which is a good mid tone for adding lights and darks to. He was keen on using the 'wrong', smoother side, which has a less intrusive texture. If you are not too happy with the sky, you could try smoothing the edges out with your finger or a paper stump. As you say it's all down to 'man or woman hours' when you are trying something new. Having great trouble with my ipad art at present! Sennelier are a very good brand of pastel. Canson is a good paper to use, you can also get pastel card which has a thicker body and which you can layer more than on Canson. There are also sandpaper like surfaces which have more texture, can take skin off your finger though if you are too enthusiastic! I am sure you will enjoy using pastel, remember to work from dark to light, as with oils.

I think the sky matches the rest of the painting very well Fiona but you could perhaps spread it a bit more to the left and add some yellow in the same way as on the right hand corner.

It's looks good to me Fiona, your reflections are great.

Beautiful Fiona, blending just just where needed.

Just noticed this one, Fiona - love the minimalist effect and the colours (especially on that grey background). I also like the rather abstract sky just as it is - it's nice and 'arty' and complements the rest of the painting really well.

Thanks ever so much everyone for your helpful advise, really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

Leave it Fiona. It's lovely as it is.

Well here's the advantage of being able to compare them the other way - I saw the most recent one first, not having seen this. I think your re-working is much better. This has charms of its own, but your second version has more impact, it's more exciting to look at, and I'd encourage you to do more in that vein. If you can find the pastel demonstrations by Arnold Lowrey, which I think are still on YouTube, I believe you'd find them helpful (if you haven't already).