So This Is Christmas

Merry Christmas is such an infectious feeling I like to feel that way all year around.

So if you are visiting just before Christmas, just after Christmas or even here on Christmas day I am sure you will find something of interest for you and in the spirit of Christmas.

It may be said that Christmas is no longer a celebration but this must be spoken by people that have never had trouble closing their eyes on Christmas Eve in an expectation of what maybe left for them on the carpet under the tree.

I continue to look forward to the surprise on my Grandchild's faces to this day at Christmas events.

Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas

Saturday, June 20, 2009

How To Erase And Alter Pastel Paintings!...

By Anna Meenaghan

Maybe you are new to pastels and do not know how to go about changing your paintings if things go wrong. Other people think they cannot be dealt with! It can be very annoying when unwanted marks will not vanish like they would with pencil marks, but help is at hand. Here are a few things to help you along the way.

Normal rubber erasers do not work. They can ruin it for you. They are damaging as they remove your paper surface. What can you do?

First most of the actual pigment has to be removed, leaving you with just a very feint line. How can you achieve this successfully? Personally, I would say to use a plastic rubber and on your surface itself, just dab it.

It is possible you have all you already need, if you have a fresh, white loaf in the house. This will serve you well if it is rolled into a small ball, but if you only have little mistakes to correct I would just try rubbing my finger over them on soft pastels.

If using the finger method, you need to run your finger both forwards and backwards, as you do not want to disturb the surface if you can help it. If you find you still have unwanted marks, a stiff brush can then be used.

Should disaster strike, you have had enough and decided that you want to give up on your picture, this is what you can do! Just don't screw your paper up. Make sure that you have some acrylic paint to hand, take a brush and apply a wash so that it completely covers your work.

You now can achieve an admirable, tinted paper. The result being made by the acrylic and pastel coming together as long as you are using strong watercolour paper.

Something is to be said for oil pastels. If you make errors with these, you can adjust them fairly easily. No rubber is actually needed. All you need is some cotton wool and a supply of mineral spirits. I roll the cotton wool into a ball, dampen it with the spirit and simply wipe off the colour.

You just need to try this way for yourself. Your painting should be okay as the spirits are fast evaporating. Now would you like to have an image transferred? A soft pastel already well worked would be ideal for this.

You need to soak a clean piece of paper with water and remove excess. Place the drained sheet over your painting, ensuring that it will not move. Take a sponge and go across it or use a strong hand.

If you then carefully raise the paper off, you should have reversed and transferred your image on to the new sheet of paper. Really, it needs to be left to dry, so adhere it to a board so that the paper will not wrinkle. Now you can start all over again.

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