Welcome to Creating Loose Pastel Stag Artwork on Acrylic
Hey folkies! Welcome to this post about creating loose pastel stag artwork on acrylic. It’s been a while hasn’t it? My last blog post was back in November 2023 when I talked about character design ideas. Since then, I have been working hard (spoons allowing) on rebranding and focusing my site. It is now 3 sites as you may have noticed. I think it works a lot better but would love to hear your thoughts?
Anyway, between redesigning, building, and some coding behind the scenes, I have finally found some time to do some art journal experimentation. For a long while, I only had time to make pages that would work for courses I was running in the community so they don’t really reflect my style or personal growth (nor should they). I am super excited to bring this post to you as I really enjoyed making it and it is more my type of thing. Why I chose a stag I am not so sure but scrolling through some images on Pixabay I came across this fellow and the rest is his story…
Art Journal Setup
We set the folding table up in my lounge, gathered some supplies and settled down with a brew each. Opening my journal on a sunny afternoon, with my boyfriend also participating, I reached for some matt acrylic paint. It was important that it was matt. Greens and browns found their way to my hand as I merrily covered up the gessoed page.
Creating Texture and Base Layers
Still not sure where this was going, I grabbed a stencil and pallet knife and applied paint through the stencil. Sure, some of it smudged, as you’d expect with this method, but when it dried it produced a nice bit of raised texture on the page as well as the visual contrast. Following this process was relaxing and distracting from all the recent busy-ness.
The Pastel Stag Sketch
My mind felt freed when I saw the stag image I reached for my charcoal stick and made a very quick, loose sketch of him. I loved the velvety texture of the charcoal and decided, then, to use pastels for the rest of the piece. Pastels were viable purely because of the choice of matt acrylics which provided a limited but sufficient tooth for my small sketch.
Materials Used
- Americana matt acrylic paint
- Soft pastels
- Charcoal
- Gesso
- Stencil
- Pallet knife
Process Overview
Prepare your surface with acrylic gesso, keeping it thin for quicker drying. Drop some matt acrylic colours on your page, then spread and blend them. Use a stencil to add texture, then sketch your stag using charcoal. Block in basic areas with pastel, then add detailed layers. A fixative can be used between layers to enhance preservation.
Final Thoughts and Gallery
I am quite happy with the process of creating loose pastel stag artwork on acrylic. I have enjoyed working with pastels so much I shall continue my explorations, so stay tuned for further posts on this theme. I have one of a red panda in the works that includes some good discoveries that lead to a further improved future piece. It”s all about trying, making mistakes, learning and making improvements – basically, in a nutshell, that is art. That is the process.
I would love to hear your suggestions below for future mixed media experimentations…
Best wishes and hugs, Ceri xx
