-
GaryNorthants
- Male
- Northampton
- United Kingdom
- Blog Posts (8)
- Discussions (12)
- Groups (1)
- Artwork (115)
- Artwork Albums (2)
- Art Videos (3)
GaryNorthants's Page
Latest Activity
Tiger
Tiger
Profile Information
- Country (no abbreviations please)
- England
- City (no abbreviations please)
- Northampton
- What's your favorite media?
- Acrylics, Charcoal, Graphite, Oils, Pastels, Watercolors
- How long have you been drawing or painting?
- More than 3 years
- Tell us a bit about yourself:
- Pastel artist who enjoys portraiture, animals and whatever else presents a challenge and interesting image. I was a full time musician/entertainer for many years and turned to painting as a creative outlet when I finally managed to retire from gigging and writing. I like to have a good laugh although I do tend to take the things I do rather seriously and studiously. I have a website and have just added an online shop. I do a few portrait and pet portrait commissions and the site helps to promote that and in turn the commissions pay for the site and materials.
www.garyregnier.co.uk and please feel free to drop me a line with any comments or just to say hello.
I was left a little money via a relative in 2007 and decided it would be money well spent if invested in art materials so that in some small way I could extend their legacy to the world through my artwork. As such I have quite a stash of various mediums which I like to try every now and then.
Pastels have always been my first love though and I had a brief dabble around 12 years ago. At that time I had no internet, no local classes as such, no access to different papers or even brands of pastels. This time around I have the internet and all it's fantastic resources and it has opened my eyes to a whole new world. I have learned so much for free and I have a few projects up my sleeve to add some help for new starters, as I was, where I found gaps in the help available. I believe it is important to try and put something back into the learning pool where we can and it appeared to me that those that do via their books and videos have often overlooked the most basic stuff we all need. I have spent the last couple of years trying to learn how to paint a few subjects effectively and more importantly trying different brands of pastels and surfaces to find out what they can do best and which ones suit me the most. Along the way I discovered a little of colour theory and composition which I had never understood or really considered before. It really is a whole new world for me with a language of it's own and infinite variations. I really enjoy seeing other artists work. I think it is a brave step for anyone to share their work, especially on the internet, as it contains a personal element and viewpoint or reaction to something or just a statement of affinity or dislike with a subject.
For pastellists that might be interested I started with a set of Inscribe soft pastels, added a set of Mungyo semi hard pastels and then a whole bunch of Rowneys which I thought would end my purchasing. I soon became a little disenchanted by the fact that some sticks were soft, others very hard, some easy to predict, others where the merest dab took over a whole painting etc. The next addition has proved indispensable, a full set of Faber Castell hard pastels. Then a few Sennelier sets, a Rembrandt landscape set and two sets of Terry Ludwigs (Portrait and Darks 1). It was Terry who suggested I try Unisons which I duly did when I purchased a small portrait set to go with Terrys larger one. Since then Unisons have become my favourites with Terrys for final touches and I have recently bought 60 or so sticks that fit in with fur and flesh tones. I also use pastel pencils and started off with an almost full set of Derwents. I then added a few dozen Rowneys, a full set of Fabers and Giocondas. I Like the Carbothellos but find them wasteful to sharpen. The Faber pencils are by far the most consistant and work well with their hard pastels and anything you want to throw over the top of that.
As for papers I have settled upon Royal Sovereign/ La Carte for people and pets although Fisher is great for portraits. Fisher and Wallis work well for painterly work and I also like Ingres for pastel pencils especially. I have also had some success with Canson, Murano, Colourfix, Velour, Derwatt and various home primed surfaces mountboard board, watercolour paper, MDF etc.
Gary
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Pastel pencil portrait demo
Initial drawing done using a centre line to measure to and from, working sight size from PC screen. After I took this pic I moved the eyes a little as they're too close together here. I have also allowed for the head to become wider as I work so that I can keep the edges cleaner and use the paper as the background.
…
ContinuePosted on July 22, 2011 at 3:44pm — 6 Comments
Wolf demo
Posted on June 15, 2010 at 2:52am — 4 Comments
Pastel Guild of Europe
http://www.pastelguild.eu/default.asp
Enjoy
Gary
Posted on February 11, 2010 at 1:01am — 1 Comment
New site is up and running although still a lot to do
Please take a look and drop me a line with any comments or critiques
www.garyregnier.co.uk
Thanks, Gary
Posted on December 3, 2009 at 3:34am — 2 Comments
What a busy time
Gary
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 4:33am
Comment Wall (426 comments)
- At 7:02am on March 1, 2012,
kevin harrison said…
hi Gary
i have just browsed your gallery and it has blown me away ,your pastel work is just overwhelming and what i aspire to i have recently taken up working with pastel pencils and bought myself a set of 24 FABER CASTEL(PITT) pencils and have started out doing a couple of protraits and some practice pieces , iwas wondering how you feel on using Pastelmat as this was recomended to me and so far ihave had (as i feel)good results i am going to check out your website as you have stated that you have lots of dog photos that you have given permission to use , if you get the time please check out my attempts with this medium as your input would be greatly appreciated
ps adding you as a friend as i would like to follow your work and be inspired at the same time
best regards
kev
:>))
- At 2:07am on January 17, 2012,
Damaclese said… hey Gary how is it going i haven't heard from you in ages i saw you on Dugs page so i thought i would say hi and i wanted to ask you if you get the notes i send out pretty regularly
im thinking that i am not getting but maybe 20 peoples emails out of the 200 fiends i have that seems like all i ever hear from any way write me back and let me know
Paul
- At 9:40am on January 15, 2012,
Blossom Hackett said… Hi Gary,
Thanks for giving your precious time, I appreciate it, as well as letting us know that you have used oil paint/detailed with brush & not oil pastels. Regards, Blossom
- At 12:00am on January 9, 2012,
Kerry Heffernan said… - Thankyou Gary for the compliment,I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that big cat though, I will have to work out how to paint animal fur first. if you, or anybody else has some advice it would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers Kerry
- At 11:49pm on January 8, 2012,
Dorothy Wilson said… Thank you Gary. Your work is brilliant. Might have to call on you for a few tips on some problems I encounter!
- At 12:42am on December 27, 2011,
Jan said…
Hi Gary
I have just been on you website and you are a brillant artist.
- At 11:45am on July 26, 2011,
Lucie Beauchesne said… - Hello Gary, I thank you for this beautiful encouragement that you gave me on "Low tide". I appreciate much that you have accepted my invitation on this painting and for taking the time to say what you like about this work. I wish you a wonderful week my dear friend and thanks for your words of support for my health, because it gives me a good energy for boost my morale. Love Lucie bye
- At 1:42am on July 23, 2011,
Brenda Morgado said… - THANKS AGAIN LOL LOL Gary really honor your compliments =D
- At 4:52pm on July 22, 2011,
snoball said… - Thanks Gary for the nice comment. Like you, I haven't had a lot of time to spend on this site but thought I should do an update. ;-)
- At 4:04pm on July 22, 2011, Brenda Morgado said…
- thanks again Gary ,I have one more watercolor portrait to play with of two !!! little sisters wish me luck ...and I will be looking at the pastel demo thanks
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