Challenge no. 5: landscape and pastels. A farm in Hertfordshire, seen from the train. My current guide, Edward, advises attending to - or leaving - space. He discourages over-working. I positioned my paper 'portrait' rather 'landscape' to free myself from conventional associations. I took things slowly, learning by the arc and pressure of my strokes what the medium would allow e.g. 9 pastel chalks over brown paper. The grey cloud mixed with the reflection in the window of the train wall and, beyond, the trees on the other side of the track. Two dark horizons and a rush of foreground. |