Hartlip Church In Soft Pastel

Another of my paintings was sold at the Rose & Crown the other day, so I thought I’d better do another local landscape. This is a painting of Hartlip Church, something I’ve not painted since July 2023 unless you count the dash and splash painting of a small detail in May 2024. It’s in soft pastel, the medium that I plan on using in my submissions to Landscape Artist Of The Year this year and to use on the programme if I make it that far.

There’s not much to say about the process for paintings like this. I just work from the back to the front using whatever colours feel right at the time. Every now and then I’ll blend the colours with a colour shaper or a finger but then end up adding more colours on top. There are so many different colours in those gravestones. Once I’d finished this one I took a step back and thought about what I’d done and whether it could be improved. Today I added yellow highlights on the church, dark shadows on the flagpole and cross at the top of the tower and smudged both benches which were otherwise looking too in focus.

It’s a decent painting. I’ve gone for a warm colour scheme again and, for the second time in a row, included a really bright horizontal line of bright, warm yellow. This yellow flash may well become a common feature in my soft pastel landscapes. So this is up for sale (price here) and has been framed, ready for display at the Rose & Crown the next time one is sold. Having said that, it my not make it that far because once this one becomes public knowledge in the village I expect it to sell quickly, what with all those colours and the popular subject matter.