I’m excited to introduce our first Ambassador for Pastel Today – Carolyn Hancock! (Want to know more about our Ambassador programme? Here you go!
Carolyn Hancock, who lives in Richmond, Texas, USA, considers herself a pastel-only artist. She’s pulled to paint figures. “My first ever accidental art class was in portraits and pastels and I fell in love with both.” From there, she added waterscapes, specifically the ocean.
The artist sees the ocean as creating its own moods and waves with individual characteristics, from a furious splash to one that’s calm and gentle.
“It’s a bit of magic when you can see through the wave and watch all the slivers of foam falling in slow motion. We can only get that with a beach video or freeze-frame snapshot. I wanted to paint this wave in a stop-action moment: its base in shadow, the top curl and the forward fall, the translucency, all visible and real.”
The colours and culture of travel influence Carolyn’s love of painting people.
“After a model session, I felt this pose was so intriguing I wanted to put more into his personality. I added a few more hours in the studio to bring it to a finish, keeping it loose. The dreadlocks and beard defined this young man but the intent look and his expression felt like he was about to say something.”
“An errant wind blows across the crest of this long wave, sending spray backward, opposite to the movement of the wave. It was inspired by scuba diving trips in many oceans and an old-time song by Frankie Laine. As I painted, the purple shadows of the falling water pulled me away from the original focal point and demanded their own attention.”
“My reference photo from a live model session had dark, moody lighting. I wanted to transform that into the fresh, young look that the model actually had. I used short, small strokes of muted pastel colours to melt the skin tones into light and shadow. A perfect delight to paint this way.”
Carolyn Hancock is an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America and a member of the American Women Artists and American Impressionist Society. Solo exhibitions in Texas and juried exhibitions throughout the USA, Saudi Arabia, and Japan insured her niche as a portrait and waterscapes artist. Her paintings are found in collections both in the USA and internationally. See more of Carolyn’s work here.
Thanks Carolyn!
Interested in having the opportunity to have your work featured in Pastel Today? Then why not become an Ambassador!
That’s it for this time,
Gail
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Kathleen Newman Wins Outstanding Pastel Award
Congratulations to Kathleen Newman whose painting “Tender Service” was awarded Outstanding Pastel in the May 2022 BoldBrush Art Contest & Exhibit. Love the warm/cool combo and that evening light on water!
“Inspired by the turn of the century Impressionists and Tonalists, Kathleen paints in the plein air tradition, creating small studies on location and then working on larger paintings in her studio. She strives to capture the certain mood of the moment and bring that subtle nuance to the painting, the colour, light and shapes that help create a sense of place.”
You can see more of Kathleen’s work here.
