We get back into the swing of things with this podcast, it's been a little while and we hope to be doing more of them more frequently for you all!

In this episode we talk about the newest projects, working with Pastelmat, using polychromos pictures, watercolour paper weight and what lighting works best for working in the evenings.

Listen to our previous episodes: https://www.colinbradleyart.com/home/podcast/

It’s been a while and in this podcast we have a good catch up and then answer some questions such as drawing larger pastel pencil pictures and is there such a thing as too much pastel?

Previous podcast (Manet Demo Reveal): https://goo.gl/PDhVTk

We’re so excited to reveal that the 3rd Demonstration picture is “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” by Édouard Manet!

Listen to us discuss the picture and how you too can learn how to draw masterpiece with pastel pencils.

Read the transcription and see the picture here: https://goo.gl/JNggf9

In this mini podcast Dad shares his knowledge of running art workshops and offers advice to those that wish to do the same.

We talk about the return of the starter packs and also answer a bunch of questions from you. Points included in the podcast:

Getting Bored with Pastel Pencils (4:00)

Using White Pastel Board with undercoating (8:00)

Different Coloured Papers (9:55)

Sharpening Cretacolor Pencils (12:50)

Sue’s Feedback and Feeling like a Fraud (15:00)

Connie’s Inspirational Journey (18:55)

Were any parts of Colin’s career stressful (23:45)

In this Episode we are thrilled to announce the next Demonstration available to ALL IN Members - The Letter by Vittorio Reggianini!

Watch this stunning 7 demonstration on our website. Available to ALL IN members. To learn more about our membership click here: https://goo.gl/U2WS4N

Transcription of the episode:

Stephen Bradley: Hello and welcome to Colin Bradley art cast, I’m Stephen Bradley.

Colin Bradley: And I’m Colin Bradley.

Stephen Bradley: Welcome everyone to this special introduction episode as with every new demonstration that we reveal, we’re going to record a special edition of the podcast introducing you to the subject telling you a bit about it and this one is no different. It went down very well with the Constable, so we’re doing it for the next one which we are really pleased to finally announce is Vittorio…

Colin Bradley: Vittorio.

Stephen Bradley: Reggianini.

Colin Bradley: Reggianini yes.

Stephen Bradley: It took us a while to get to say that name, didn’t it? But we got there. This is an incredible picture so let’s kick off, the first question is, why did you choose this one as a demonstration? This picture.

Colin Bradley: Right, well he’s prolific if you go onto the Internet and bring the images up you’ll see there are…how he got time to do them all I don’t know, they are so many and they’re so detailed Steve and there’s a lot to them. What I wanted to do is to minimise the amount of content because the problem otherwise it would take forever. First of all to demonstrate and to do much as I would have loved to have done it, it didn’t seem very practical. So I looked through and it’s mostly beautiful women I’ve got to say and there are a few men scattered about but mostly its women and I thought well what I really want to do is combine this with the portrait techniques, as well as the dresses…the satin dresses which is lovely and the decor was spectacular.

Stephen Bradley: Very much of a ‘period’.

Colin Bradley: Oh yeah, interesting the thing is it’s all 18th-century designs but he was born in the late Vic…in the Victorian era that was weird. So he’s doing what I’m doing the other way around, I like… I like going back to the Victorian era a hundred plus years ago while he went hundred plus years ago when he was…it was quite amazing and we’ve got all the photographic reference in the Victorian times but he didn’t have that, so where he got it from I don’t know. Anyway he was a very clever man and his pictures were exquisite, they are very popular they sell throughout the auction houses, big auction houses in the world and they sell for a lot of money and you can understand it too. So this was the idea, now I’d already done one before if you remember which everybody liked but I never dreamed that I could ever do one for the member site. It would have been too hard.

Stephen Bradley: You picked a section before for the member site of a satin dress to demonstrate a technique of a satin dress, and I’ve got the picture that you did or a section of the picture because you’d cut it down.

Colin Bradley: Yeah

Stephen Bradley: –Of the lace makers.

Colin Bradley: That’s right

Stephen Bradley: I’ve always been amazed by it, it was always a really incredible picture. So you had been familiar with his work before?

Colin Bradley: Yes and you gave me the idea anyway if you remember when you were talking about whose pictures should I represent and demonstration set up, Monet and there’s about…I think it’s about 9 I have actually done now. It might even be 10, yes it is 10, the last one I would just stand and so there are 10 spread out, it’s going to spread out over the next couple of year’s folks you ain’t going to get them all at once. And then we…you said to me well, why don’t you do a Reggianini and I thought oh that’s a good idea, but I would have been put off because I thought people wouldn’t be able to copy it, it’s really hard. But as I’m doing the demonstra(continued)

"Impressionism is like a statement that you make without a structure."

In this podcast Colin describes the work he's doing with impressionism and how best to describe how it feels "alive" comparing it to photography. What's the secret behind it? We discuss in the podcast.

We also read your emails and and answer your questions. Colin gives some tips for working with Pen & Ink and watercolour paper he uses. We talk about the reaction to the Constable Demonstration and also reminisce on the days where Colin would run in person workshops travelling around the country.

If you haven't already seen the Constable demonstration click here to learn more: https://www.colinbradleyart.com/home/unveiling-pastel-pencil-demonstrations/

Read a transcription of the episode below:

Stephen Bradley: hello and welcome to Colin Bradley art cast, I'm Stephen Bradley

Colin Bradley: and I'm Colin Bradley

Stephen Bradley: how is it going?

Colin Bradley: well, it's going well Steve I am having a ball at the moment.

Stephen Bradley: well, since revealing these demonstrations and people loving them, loving the pictures you've done, it's kind of, I mean, you were doing loads of other pictures anyway but it's kind of injected some more enthusiasm into doing all of them, hasn’t it?

Colin Bradley: Well, funny you should say that but you’re absolutely right of course since I've been doing them and I have clocked up about 6 now. The…I've interspersed them with some ingres…normal class pictures.

Stephen Bradley: yeah

Colin Bradley: and they have affected those class pictures…

Stephen Bradley: really?

Colin Bradley: Slightly and yes I have found that I am…because I had to loosen up especially with some of them with the demonstrations.

Stephen Bradley: very impressionistic

Colin Bradley: and I’m going, I’m moving into the…people will see it eventually, they will see it and I think that's lovely to do that to…to gain some kind of insight.

Stephen Bradley: what you said before about doing more impressionism stuff is good, because it relaxes you, it loosens up your style and you're forced to think in a different way, and so I suppose, I mean, you did do that anyway with some slightly impressionistic pictures but the ones that you're doing in these demonstrations are SO impressionist.

Colin Bradley: yes

Stephen Bradley: …that it's really challenging your realism approach, it's got to be good, right?

Colin Bradley: absolutely, oh yes absolutely. Well, I've said for years and years and years and I've expanded on it so many times on demonstrations and workshops and classes, that impressionism is actually the…it's like a statement that you make without a structure.

I don’t know if I can describe any better than that, I mean, you have in your mind a structure, you see a structure then you create that same structure but with an impressionistic viewpoint which in…it makes it more, it makes it more alive really rather than copying exactly what you see by putting an impression there and inclined towards you kind of get a movement really, it's…I tell you what it just all suddenly reminded me of you, when you get a slight…when you get a movement on a camera sometimes you take a photograph and you get it slightly bit jarring because people move or something.

Stephen Bradley: yeah

Colin Bradley: and that signifies that there's a movement

Stephen Bradley: Yeah

Colin Bradley: where as everybody sort of stands absolutely still, stuck still and you take a picture is freezes them.

Stephen Bradley: yeah

Colin Bradley: that's what you get in a way with the impression, you kind of get slight movement

Stephen Bradley: Yeah

Colin Bradley: …from the pictures

Stephen Bradley: it’s like its alive a little bit more

Colin Bradley: and this creates the impression when you look at it that it's real as opposed to an absolute copy with like frozen

Stephen Bradley: fine detail and like in foc(continued)

Announcing a brand new section to Colin Bradley Art: Demonstrations

Back when I would travel the country doing demonstrations at shows and art groups, I would show off just how good the pastel pencils can be. I loved this part of the job because of the audience reaction. The “oohs” and “aahs” were actually audible in the crowd, they were seeing magic.

When we choose projects for our students, we have to think about how the subject material will translate to a lesson. Would it make a good lesson and would the student be able to do it?

Well, with Demonstrations I am truly showing what the Pastel Pencils can do and more importantly, how far you can take them.

In truth, I have surprised myself with the work I have produced. I didn’t intend for people to follow them as a project as they are very difficult. It’s more to show you advanced techniques and the results you can achieve with the pencils.

If you have read my art story then you will know I am an avid fan of John Constable’s work. In this first demonstration I will show you how I did his picture of “The Cornfield” with pastel pencils.

If you would like to hear behind the scenes of why I chose Constable, the materials I used and what’s to come. Here is a transcription of the episode if you want to read the show

Stephen Bradley: Hello and welcome to Colin Bradley Art Cast, I’m Stephen Bradley

Colin Bradley: and I’m Colin Bradley

Stephen Bradley: this is a very special show, people don’t realise what’s coming up but this is something that we’ve been planning for a long time and it’s really exciting to be able to talk about it finally and reveal it.

Colin Bradley: I’ve been chomping at the bit as you know with the last podcast we’ve been doing.

Stephen Bradley: and we have been teasing…

Colin Bradley: hold back Colin

Stephen Bradley: we’ve been teasing people a little bit as well, haven’t we?

Colin Bradley: yeah

Stephen Bradley: throughout talking about PastelMat, talking about this and that, well finally we can reveal what it’s all about and what’s to come. So, we’re launching…we will talk about it in a moment throughout this podcast but in a brief summary we’re introducing a new section on the website for ALL IN members only called “demonstrations”, and these pictures are in one word stunning, it’s unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. No holding back, this is incredible to watch. So, let’s start because the first picture which people would have hopefully seen by now, it would be on the website, it will be on the Facebook page, you can check it out while you’re listening to this. We’re going to talk about the first demonstration which is “Constable’s -”, what’s the actual?

Colin Bradley: The Cornfield

Stephen Bradley: So why constable? Why did you choose this demonstration of the Cornfield from Constable and why him?

Colin Bradley: Well, first of all why constable, well as people would know if they’re regulars and have known me a while I’m a great Constable Fan and I started off in the National Gallery as people know from the art story, I saw his work there and was bowled by it and I remember thinking of myself at the time one day I would love to do that, not realising I was practical not realising I would never would be able to, but one day. So, it’s really come full circle…why Constable? he’s a great artist and there’s nothing about his work that you can look at and think yeah well that’s okay but, his skies were great, his trees were phenomenal, his characterisations were out of this world and one of the things I remember looking at his pictures in the National Gallery, I got as close as I possibly could to the picture and I didn’t understand how he can create a character with just splashes of a paintbrush, that’s all it was, twist here, twist there and he had a character. But I realised that that’s where the mastery is, that’s where the true artist comes from, it’s something that you having inside you(continued)

In this episode Colin answers your questions including "when do you call yourself an artist?"

Listen to his advice as we discuss this and other points including laying enough pastel to cover the paper and the 2 Ballet Dancers picture.

In this episode we talk about how Colin achieves a "harmony" throughout his pictures, using the Two Pretty Birds picture as an example. We also discuss how the colour of the paper can influence your pictures and Colin explains why dark grey PastelMat is becoming one of his favourite papers to use.

Other topics for this week include drawing tree leaves, Tiziano Ingres and off-white papers.