How to Draw Sheep in Pasture in Pastel

Skill Level : 1 Beginner

Medium : Pastel Painting

Subject : Landscapes

Tutor : Dennis Clark

Class Length : 1 hours 21 minutes

Avg Rating :

Silver Level or Higher Class

Class Description

Pastural scenes are always restful and refreshing. There just seems to be something about sheep grazing in the fields. I suppose it is because they are such docile creatures.

In this lesson you will learn:

1.  How to produce the distant haziness
2.  How to simplify the background trees
3.  How to emphasize the sunlit field
4. How to paint the tree in silhouette
5.  How to add sparkle to the bushes on the left
6.  How to Paint the flowers in the foreground.
7.  How to add life to the scene - adding sheep

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Short Class Video

Class Tutorial

Paint the meadow background

We are going to paint a lovely pastoral scene in Pastels.  Take a large sheet of White pastel paper and plot out the light green field you see in the reference photograph.
Block in a very Light Green between the lines and add some Yellow to the top part for bright sunlight.
With some purple block in the tree mass and the sky with light Blue.

Paint the sky

Now with the fingers blend the sky.  Then blend the trees on the left and on the right.
These are just the underpainting.

Paint the foreground underpainting

Block in the foreground with a dark Green/Gray and blend with a medium Green block in the distant trees in the sunshine.
Take some of the foreground colour and add it to the dark trees.

Paint the sky detail

With some soft White add the hints of some clouds and add some shadow under the clouds.  With soft White touch in some highlights on the clouds.

Paint the background detail

Add some Yellow highlights to the distant trees and some shadow colour lower down.  With Phthalo Blue add some vertical stripes and gently blend to give the impression of lots of treetrunks.
With light Green add some patches and blend into the shadow mass.  Blend some Burnt Sienna near the ground level.

Edge off the skyline to show loose branches and leaves. Do the same to the right hand side.  We have backlighting in this scene.  Bring the Purple in and smudge it into the Green.

With a light Green begin bringing in some highlights into the tree mass.

With a dark Brown add the very deep shadows down at ground level and smudge in. Now add the strong sunlight at the far end of the meadow.

Paint the bushes

Begin the large bush with some Purple and Brown pastel.  Use some light Yellow/Green for the highlights on the bushes.  Do the same on the right hand side.

Paint the tree

With dark Brown add the trunk and branches of the nearby tree. Start blocking in the leaves with dark Green.  Add some Brown over them for the deep shadows.  The tree is in silhouette.

Gently blend but still allowing some lighter spots to reveal the light coming through the tree.  Add a few highlights on the edges.

Paint the detail to the meadow

Add a few markings in the meadow for texture.

Paint detail to the foreground

Stroke an Olive Green colour on the top edge of the shadow and then lay in a nice Purple for the base of the flowers.. Smudge some Brown into it for the deep shadow.  Make it darker at the lower edge.

Paint the flowers in the foreground

With a soft Violet pastel stick begin blocking in the mass of flowers and a few touches in the distance.

Add some Green in between.  Add a few loose flowers .  Now start working some vertical strokes to show the form of the plants.

With White, touch, or dab, some very small highlights to the flowers.  See how it is starting to sparkel.  Dot in some Orange and Red.

Paint the detail of the flowers

With a darker Blue/Violet add some shadow areas to the flowers.

With a dark Green touch in some small grasses in the area between the tree and the flowers.  Add some Brown and then some gentle blending to indicate the shadow of the tree.

Paint the sheep

Add a few more highlights to the flower and begin blocking in the silhouette of the sheep.

Spread them unevenly around the meadow and making them smaller into the distance.  With a White pencil add the reflection on top of the bodies. Ground them with a shadow.

Final painting

About Dennis Clark


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