Sam's Asters and my Zinnias

Sam's Asters and My Zinnias, pastel on paper 28 x 27 cm

I have had a pad of Sennelier Pastel Card since Christmas 2015 and never used it. I'm not sure why I decided to do the next version of this Maine/UK still life using it, I've been meaning to try it but the colour of the ground has always put me off.  I like my bright pastel grounds.   Maybe I didn't think this still life would work, and that it might be the occasion to try something new. 

I cut the pastel card down to 30 x 30 and gessoed around the edge.  Then I moved the tape to the gessoed area once it had dried.  It was a naples yellow ground. You can't erase the way I have grown accustomed to erasing, but the pastel seems to stick to it amazingly and it takes many layers easily.

I did many things differently for this drawing. I began by printing a photo of the current set up and turned it upside down, chose some pastels and with my back to the still life, I blocked in underpainting colours. 

I set up my table easel near to the still life but also had my bouquet sketchbook with my drawing from Maine opened. You can see how I edited, moved things around and substituted from the original drawing. For example, the bouquet on the left is a mixture of the bouquet Sam gave my mother in Maine and a bouquet I created yesterday - the blue rose is an aster and there is a yellow echinacea! Bob's painting is behind the bouquets instead of the paper I had tacked up. The mug is a pewter mug with the handle from the agate wear mug. I found that the drawing just needed all of those changes.