A very close second and, in some ways, also my first choice is Waterford Watercolor, Rough

After that; anything with plenty of 'tooth' to hold the pastels - and strong enough to withstand some scraping and a lot of water and fixatives. (Rather than buying pre-coloured pastel papers, I tend to make a watercolor wash using pastels and a wet paint brush to create my initial background colors, layout and color scheme... after that, I always go over the top with fixatives - except in the final layer where I never use them.)

Canson Me Tientes pastel papers are readily available in the Philippines, where I live - but I find that they are not really strong enough to withstand the kind of rough-handling that my style of painting demands. However, because they come in a wide variety of colors, they are great for when I want to really force myself to go easy on the application of pastel and to try and keep to a more traditional style of pastel painting with at least a bit of the original paper color showing through.

At the age of Forty I decided to leave the business life I was leading and I tried doing some watercolors.

First I copied many paintings, because you have to learn different techniques.

I soon understand that I would be limited, if I didn't learn to draw. So I took drawing lessons.

After that, one of the best-known painters in Belgium, who lives nearby, advised me to paint with oil. I looked at him painting for hours and what I mostly learned is "don't be afraid to put color on to the white canvas you have before your eyes. You'll run all those colors later."

The most important thing is to acquire you personal way of painting, people have to recognize you without being obliged to look at your signature.

From that moment on, you'll start selling your paintings.

Best wishes to everybody

I have just tried papyrus paper for the first time. It's not bad.

I've also tried watercolor paper but the best is Downer Rowney pastel paper, in my opinion.

At sunrise and sunset, the color of the light is changing very quickly. For even very ambitious plein air painters who manage to set up their easels at the crack of dawn, it's nearly impossible to finish the painting and capture the lighting effects on the landscape before it changes. And it's hard to remember exactly how it looked when you got the inspiration for your creation.

Rod Cameron, travels with other artists all the way from his home on the Big Island in Hawaii to central Europe and the Czech and Slovak Republics, to paint in Prague. Knowing how to handle the shadows in certain colored light can be very helpful when painting en plein air, and the time and the light is moving too fast.

Rod Cameron tells his students, "The magical light of Prague this early in the morning had a cool predominate cast, which brings the shadows to the warmer hues of the palate. Cool light equals warm shadows, or warm light gives cool shadows. This is the general rule."

Even experienced plein air painting artists can benefit from this little reminder, especially when it's early, and you're in the moment. You want to capture the look and feel of cool, early morning, before the sun is up, and a few good rules of thumb can help take the guesswork out!

"The incredible buildings of the city create an interesting sky line across the horizon and I used the tall statue on the left, which had a natural gaze into the scene and the focal points of the painting," said Rod Cameron while describing his painting titled, Charles Bridge. This Rod Cameron painting of the Charles bridge in Prague can be found on the web.

Go ahead! Travel halfway around the world. Get up at the crack of dawn, and capture in your paintings the beautiful places that you travel to with confidence! The light may be changing too quickly, but the architecture, skylines and statues aren't. Create great value and color harmony with complimentary colors, then nudge the color in the shadows either warm or cool. Notice that it gives your shadows a "real presence" . Painting Tip, Plein Air Painting in Europe, Expert advise on Painting, Painting Shadows, Painting workshop, Rod Cameron Art,

The great news is that, as proved by 'Yours Truly', anyone can draw!!

I didn't actually realize this until I read The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. If you can get hold of a copy and work through the book, I can virtually guarantee that it will give you the confidence to get you started - and you'll be amazed at your own results!

by Margaret Stanton

An artist, inspired to paint the Gothic and Florentine architecture outdoors in Prague, must choose between an almost limitless range of subtle colors to use. In this medieval city, there are cooler hued buildings of stone with grayed lavenders, greens and blue browns. There are also warmer toned surfaces with ochre, yellows and oranges. Add to this an eclectic, no-rules range of color on many of the building's newly renovated surfaces, and you have a genuine, full palate field day! An artist needs to decide how to achieve color harmony in the shapes and nuances depicting these historic treasures if their next best painting is going to be a success.

Rod Cameron reveals the secrets behind his choices of color in the painting titled, "St. Michelos Cathedral - Prague". Notice how he breaks down color into groups of "warm" and "cool".

He tells students, "I saw the two towers in the sun as "warmer" mixtures: the thinner, taller steeple a mixture of cerulean blue and burnt sienna with white, and the main domed building a mixture of yellow ochre and burnt sienna with white."

Using these warm hues as a reference point, Cameron uses a split complementary, which indicated blues, lavenders with touches of viridian green for the shadows and in the street buildings on either side. These cooler shadow colors frame the scene and provide exact compliments to the warm Hues of the Cathedral in the sunlight.

To further enhance the warm atmosphere in the sunny part of this painting, the artist mixed cerulean blue into the sky. Cerulean blue, being the "warmer blue", supported the warm, sunny part of the composition and harmonized with the cerulean mixtures in the architecture.

To see how easy it is to find and select complementary, split complementary and other color combinations, Rod Cameron suggests to artists to make or get a hold of a simple color wheel, found at any art supplier, and just dial up a color. In the case of Rod Cameron's painting of St. Michelos in Prague, he pointed to orange on the color wheel as his initial reference point, for the sunny surfaces of the Cathedral. The compliment of orange is ultramarine blue, but Cameron chooses the split complimentary; the colors that you find on either side of blue. The color wheel beautifully illustrates, lavenders on one side, and blues with a touch of viridian green on the other side; the split complimentary colors that Rod Cameron uses in the painting.

Touches of your warm mixtures in your cool colors, and visa versa, will slightly gray things down, and go further to create great color harmony in your painting. The use of split complementary colors adds a greater range of color and more variety in your painting without sacrificing harmony.

Color wheels are inexpensive and give the artist a better understanding of the color families and how they relate to each other. Even after you've memorized all the color combinations, it still fun to refer to now and then, plus, the wheel just looks cool hanging on the wall. Every studio should have one!

Tip: Instead of drawing, for example, a man's arm with his hand resting on his hip - look at the space between his arm and his body.

Do not look at his arm and do not look at his body.

Look only at the space in between his arm and his body... Then draw draw that space!

The same thing applies to drawing the outside edge of the man's arm...

Look at the nearest object to his arm and draw the space between that object and the man's arm!

That way, you overcome the tendency of the left-side of your brain to make you draw things in the simplified symbol images with which that part of your brain rationalizes the world around you. Then, having overcome this annoying tendency of the left-side of your brain to continually butt-in and interfere with your art - (which is, essentially, a job for the right-side of the brain) - you end up easily being able to draw what is actually there - rather than what the left-side of your brain would very much like you to draw...!!

If you want to make a drawing from a photograph, just turn the photo upside-down and then copy exactly what you see.

Try it. This sounds really stupid but it actually works!

The idea here is to confuse the left (rational) side of your brain and prevent it from taking-over your drawing process and making you draw things as the symbols that it sees in. If you leave the drawing or photograph the right way up, the left side of your brain will dive in there and say "Ah! An eye! I know what an eye looks like...!" and then you end up drawing an eye or a face or whatever as you think it should look - rather than the way that it actually looks...

There is really nothing very difficult about drawing. Almost anyone with a functioning hand and reasonable eyesight, fingers, paper and a pencil can do it! No special fingers are needed - ordinary ones will do just fine!!!!! And the only skill you need to master is the ability to condition your mind into drawing what is there and not the symbols that the left side of your brain rationalizes in.

Just go ahead and give it a try... You'll be amazed at the results! Once you have done this a few times and you start to build your confidence, you'll find that you are able to just copy exactly what you see - (rather than what the left side of your brain thinks you are seeing.) Once you have conditioned yourself in this way, you will find that you no longer need to turn your subject upside down...

Ha ha! The drawing on the right-hand side of the below, shows the results of my first attempt at upside-down drawing...

I learned a lot by copying the work of Degas.

With pastels you have to build layers. For instance, with the Isle of Arran, the grass in the foreground only needed two layers of two different greens. I left some of the paper showing through and did not blend, in order to give a rough look.

With trees, I usually start with darks, followed with light on top. Buildings are done with light strokes, with some paper showing through - and blended...

All the commonly available art fixatives are much the same. If you can get away with it, don't fix your work... If, however, you are building layer upon layer, then you will need to fix between the layers - but not the last one. I have used hair lacquer in the past too but I found that it darkened the painting more than purpose made fixatives do.

So all it is, basically, is to build layers. When you think your work is getting a bit muddy, 'fix' it.

Once the fixative has dried, you can add another layer of pastel. I do not fix my final layer.

Although Rembrandts are generally classed as soft pastels - I'd put them at the very hard end of "soft."

However, when you look at the extremely high standard of Jennifer Blenkinsopp's work, you can tell that they obviously work for her!

Personally, I much prefer Schmingke and Senellier soft pastels. These are in a different class of softness - a bit like comparing glass with butter!!!

I can't find either Schmingke of Senellier pastels in the Philippines, so I buy them every chance I get when I am abroad.

Otherwise, I order these very soft pastels online from MisterArt.com - and have them delivered by FedEx.

(Mister Art's prices are very reasonable but I find that I get stung by the customs on delivery...)

It is a waste of time (and expensive art materials,) in trying to force yourself to paint when you are not in the mood.

Here's a few personal tips on getting oneself motivated and finding the time to do some art:

1. Have a source of income other than art, so that you can paint when you feel like it - not just when you need money for food, rent and beer!

2. Have a bit of space, (a spare room, well-lit garage - or even just a corner of the living room if you are not lucky enough to have your own studio,) where you can leave all of your gear out. That way, when the mood strikes, you will not have the bother of getting all your art materials and accoutrements out before you can even start. This is a great way of maximizing your precious painting time...

3. Unplug the computer!

4. Unplug the TV

5. Put on some nice music.

6. Take the dogs for a walk first. Get them tired-out - and then you can concentrate on your art!

7. Open a can of cold beer or a bottle of nice red wine.

8. Get some painting done before you fall asleep!

If you have any marketing tips I would love to hear them. In addition, if you have any feedback on my work from the sites above please let me know.

Feedback whether negative or positive is highly cherished.

This artwork focuses on the penguin as a symbol of resilience and adaptability. Depicted in its natural habitat, the penguin embodies the beauty of survival in harsh environments. The contrasting colors of its sleek black and white feathers against the icy landscape emphasize its uniqueness. Through this piece, I aim to evoke feelings of warmth and wonder, inviting viewers to appreciate not only the penguin’s charm but also the larger themes of community and perseverance in the face of challenges.

Sometimes, I only use soft pastel - sometimes hard, with soft on top.

I use Rembrant or Rowney soft pastels and Derwent pencils for mainly outlining and fine work.

The pencils, though, are not strictly necessary... you can always break a tiny bit from your soft pastels for fine work.

The first solution here is to use as little as you can get away with. Even the absolute best quality fixatives will tend to have a slight dulling effect on the colours and, if you use too much, you will make the surface "frosted" - or even shiny. (And it's quite difficult to apply pastels to a shiny surface!) I want the fixative to bind the pastel particles sufficiently to be able to add a subsequent layer - and nothing more. For this reason, I never use fixative on the final layer... This helps to maintain the vibrancy of the final layer of pastel on the painting. If you choose to follow this method, just be very careful with the painting until you can get it framed behind glass...

Building up a pastel painting with several layers - as long as you don't overdo the fixatives - can actually make the painting more vibrant. Unfortunately, though, it's quite hard to build your layers if you are not fixing between the layers...

My advice here is to simply go for the very highest quality product that you can lay your hands on... For one thing, the price of a very high-quality pastel fixative will put you off using too much of it!! And you will stand much less chance of getting any very undesirable "frosting" effects if you do accidentally use too much.

My fixative of choice is the one made for pastels by Senellier. (Senellier also do a very similar fixative which has been formulated especially for charcoal drawings. I find that it also works very well with pastels but it does seem to be a bit lighter - and so you really need to use more of it when working with pastels...)

I can not get hold of Senellier fixative in the Philippines but I find that the museum grade varnish, satin, produced by "Golden" suits my purposes quite well. The only real problem that I have with the Golden varnish is that it takes quite a while to dry.

But then again, that usually gives me a good excuse to go out for a beer!

I buy my Golden varnish at Diovir in Santa Cruz, Manila

I wouldn't touch any of the other so-called fixatives that you can buy in National Bookstore, with a bargepole!!

The drawing upside-down and the white space tips both came from of Betty Edwards, in her book: The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

And here is a link to her website, purely by way of a big thank you!

https://www.drawright.com/

OK, so you have finally plucked-up the courage to get that sketch pad out that you were given for your 8th birthday - (you are now 28!) - and you really want to have a go at drawing.

A good place to start is just copying a photograph of anything that takes your fancy. Ideally, you want to work from a printed photograph or a cut-out from a magazine - or even a comic, if that is what you are into.

Now, first things first... TURN YOUR PHOTO OR PRINT-OUT UPSIDE-DOWN! If you are working from your laptop, rotate the image through 180 degrees.

Now. If you are trying to copy a photo of a person, don't even attempt to draw the person. Draw the "white space" around them. So, if for example, they are standing against a door, then draw the door and the edges of the bits of the door that you can't see because of the person who is standing in front of it. What you end-up with is, of course, the outline of a person. But the important thing is that what you have been drawing is the door - not the person.

It's exactly the same procedure if it is just the head part. Instead of trying to draw the head, you draw everything around the head. So everything EXCEPT the head. What is left in the middle will actually be the outline of the head - but that is not what you are looking at when you draw it.

Same thing if it's the arms, hands, body, whatever. You DON'T draw the hand. You draw the space around it. So, if the guy is resting his hand on a table, you draw the table - not the hand. Then the bit of the table that is missing is, of course, where his hand is resting.

'Same thing if it is a cow in a field. A kettle on a stove. A car. A horse and cart. Whatever. You name it!!

When you come to draw in the details, keep the photo that you are copying upside-down and just draw what you see - in the correct location, relative to the outline.

• So DO NOT try to draw a face. DO NOT try to draw a hand.
• Turn the photo upside-down!!
• Draw in the "white space" first.
• Fill-in the details as you see them.
• Erase from your mind any conception of what you think a hand, face, head, someone's neck, a horse or a dog should look like.
• And just draw what you see!!

It may take a few attempts but you will very soon get used to drawing exactly what you see - not what you think you are seeing. Or what you think a hand or a face should look like. As soon as you are confident in your ability to just draw what you see - how it actually is - not how you think it should be - you can then work with all of your photos the right way up.

And please DON'T practice to much. All that will do is to spoil your creativity and all your stuff will look very boring and technical.

Just get on with it and enjoy the process. Once you get going - if you just let yourself go - you will very soon develop your own style.

Your drawings DON'T have to be perfect. They just have to be natural and you have to have fun doing them... You don't have to spend hours and hours of drudgery practicing to try and make your drawings look like something out of a text book. Let your own style develop by itself.

Last one... If ever you want to try your hand at drawing a live model - obviously, you can't turn them upside-down!! What you have to do is to draw all the "white space" around them first. Get the basic outline of their body. Then fill in the details exactly as you see them. When it comes to eyes - and, especially hands - you really need to just draw what you see. Don't think of these things as eyes or hands. Just think of them as random lines that you have to copy.

I really can't understand why so many beginners have so much trouble drawing hands!! They almost always seem to draw them about half the size they should be. If you are having trouble with hands, don't try to draw hands. Just draw the white space around them. It's that easy!!

Just give it a go!

Don't practice.

And have fun!

Then upload your results here at artfreaks.com. Don't be ashamed. This site was specifically designed for beginners and amateurs. We used to have loads of beginners when the site first started, back in 2005 and it would be lovely to see some more absolute beginners back on the site!