Mallards

Val, I really love this. I think the water looks positively wet. It's not easy to do in pastel. We are our own worst critics. Ducks are excellent. Just going to post a pastel myself with water. Very well done.

Thanks for your comments Val, I use Bockingdford 250lb/535gsm NOT. I use it for all media except oil of course. It doesn't cockle. Pastel adheres very well after the first washes of watercolour. I have used nothing else but Bockingford for around four years now. cannot sing it's praises enough.

This is lovely. As Jeannette says, we are our own worst critics. I think it is great. Many thanks for your comments about my last pics., it helps such a lot.

Hi Val, Great painting mate. As for my 2 pennith of C an C.....not sure that the green bit of shadow in the water coming down to the bottom of the pic fits the object. A little too long maybe. Just being picky really. Lovely work. Ta for ya comments too. Chris

Hi Val. I returned to this today, having gone away and thought about this painting. I like the colours and the subject. The water looks good to me. Q? is the lower shadow too bold? And thank you for your support in my gallery.

Nice pasteling, i think you have painted the water particularly well, i always find water difficult in my harbour scenes,anyway, in response to your question for my landscapes i always use Fisher 400 paper as it has a nice tooth for creating textures, the clairefontaine i am new to using and must admit for pet portraits i found it superior as i could create the soft effect of fur, you can not build up as many layers as on Fisher 400 which i will stay with for my landscapes but for pets clairefontaine pastel mat is now definately the paper for me, i forgot to mention it is also 360 gram which is a nice thickness, i also could not get on with velour paper at all although i have seen many fine pet portraits created on it.Thanks Mark.

Thank-you for your comment on Swan and Signets, I was delighted to find this pastel in your gallery! Very well done with the water, and I particularly like the strong perspective in the line created by the birds.