For my final piece I used both acrylic paint and soft pastels on an A0 canvas.
I wanted to depict a sleeping fawn, as they are often associated with the innocence of childhood.
I chose to use an unnatural colour palette because I wanted it to feel almost dreamlike.
I wanted to use the pastels as I believe they bring a softness that the paint alone cannot achieve, or at least not in the same way. I also think that they aid in creating interesting lighting within a piece, which is what I was inspired to do after viewing Bauer’s work.
I decided to keep the details on the fairies very minimal, as I didn’t want them to be the focal point of the piece.
This is my biggest piece to date, and it was very daunting to begin working on, but I think it has improved my confidence in creating larger pieces, so perhaps I’ll do more in the future.
One of the things I noticed was at times the canvas was grating down the pastels quite rapidly, which was rather wasteful. I saved the majority of the shavings so I can find a way to use them in future work.