Desert Solitude

Desert Solitude

chalk pastel on paper

11 x 14 in.

2022

Ever since my senior exhibition, I have grown to love chalk pastel and all that is possible with the medium. Most if not all that I have done with chalk pastel has been on a very large scale; so when focusing on the smaller details in each image, it made it easier for me to accurately and effectively draw those details in my work.

The down side with working that big though is that it takes a lot longer to finish a piece to the level that I am wanting it to be at. So with this specific drawing, I wanted to try and use it as kind of an experiment to test if I can work with chalk pastel in a smaller composition and scale, while still being able to accurately display the smaller details I want to show in these pieces.

The image I chose to work with for this experiment was of a photo I took when recently traveling to Joshua Tree National Park. The contrasts of the lone tree to the desert background as well as the various plants and shrubs made for an interesting composition I thought, while also including some things that could test the level of detail I can fit in with this medium on this smaller scale.

Overall, I am very pleased with the results and am excited to see that the details still translated well even in a smaller scale. I haven’t really done too many desert landscapes recently either, so that is something I would definitely like to explore ad create more of in the future possibly.