My choice of Pastels When I first started using pastels I was playing around with a children’s set. A cheap little pack of oil pastels and I quite liked the fact that you could just pick them up have a go and there was no mess or smell as you get with oil paints. Though it was fun using them, the pigment intensity was not great. My husband then bought me a mega size oil pastel set for Christmas by Sennellier. These were another level of colour density which not experienced before. They were so much better quality. These actually allow you to draw but they have the quality of an oil painting when blended together. They allow you to smooth and blend them together like you would with mixing paint. then I was bought a pastel set by Windsor and Newton. I found these to be very hard and the chalk like sticks were very compacted on some colours and very soft on others. They were not very consistent in grade and they grated on my spine a bit. Remembering how chalk on a blackboard felt and how makes your hair on the back of your arms stand up and shiver. I persevered and find they are right for some things and wrong for other techniques. My dear friend Ingrid then bought me a box of Sennelier soft pastels ….. Oh my goodness they are a joy to use. All soft and crumbly with fantastic density of colour. So, these have become my favourite pastel of choice at the moment…. But, I know there’s lots more out there to try still so Ill keep an open mind about them. You just have to try then out to see which suits you. Had I not picked up that child’s set I may not have got into pastels at all. I’m glad I did as I get so much pleasure from pastelling. So does my cat who for some reason loves to sit on them when I’m working!

After patiently waiting all weekend, the footfall voting was counted and Sue was voted the peoples artist by a huge majority.. at the Binfield , Warfield & Winkfield Arts week Exhibition. sue displayed seven of her most recent pastel works covering a range of subjects, This diversity seemed to really it the mark with the voting public Sue said "It's always nice to stand close by and hear the comments people make about my work. It helps me gauge the sort of compositions people like and prefer. Generally all the comments are very favourable, which is good to hear It feels like winning a local election".. The exhibition happens annually and attracts some fifty artists, so competition is fierce but always friendly

Once a year our Local Brownlow community Hall , Warfield, get together to exhibit their arts and crafts. ONYAWALL art and photography will be taking part. Come and say hello and see what we've been up too. refreshments are available to purchase on site. we look forward to seeing you. Exhibition is open to the public 1st - 3rd November 10 - 4 o'clock..

I received a phone call from my neighbour Gordon who said Suzie you must come and have a look at what’s in my garden, I don’t know what to do with it! So I popped in and there she was …a magnificent Peahen. She was hungry. So we sat with her feeding her bread and peas, drinking water from the low bird bath. She then flew high onto the roof and then over to the big Oak tree for the night. The Oak tree became her safe place to sleep each night. She very quickly decided to spend the days on my flat roof shed where she was safe from my cats, and she could sunbathe and feed on her favourite food, tomatoes and mealworms and lots of other things besides. I had even named her Rahnah (Good natured and friendly. Sing aloud). The cats seem to accept that as she was bigger than them, they wouldn’t take her on as possible prey for their dinner. Though on occasion they did charge at her, she would fly up quickly and honk like mad at her displeasure. The honking very early in the morning soon became rather annoying to many of the neighbours. Then as fast as she came, she moved on somewhere else. So In memory of the few weeks she stayed, I have created this picture you can see here. This is a pastel drawing… like using chalks on paper. I use Sennelier pastels mainly, with some colours from the Windsor and Newton range. To capture the shiny feathers I have added a foil effect. To Render this I apply some small areas of oil pastels to the paper. Its quite difficult to get it to stick on top of chalk pastels and then apply the foil colours which are loose sheets made by Gault from a children’s foiling kit. I press them onto the oil pastels hard then pull the sheet away to leave the foil in place. I think they capture the fantastic colours on her trunk area where the light hits nicely. It’s quite a dark and moody picture. Rather like a taxidermy subject or a Victorian studio picture. But I wanted it to look as though she had come out from the shadows. I wonder if she will come back again one day…I hope so.