Having an arty chat with the brilliant painter and Landscape Artist Of the Year judge Tai-Shan Schierenberg was such a great takeaway from the day. He delved immediately into colour, and the reason behind my palette.

Colour is such an expressive part of my process. I like to play with what I see and bring in other colours to react with what’s already there.

My palette started with cool purples and earthy grey greens but changed to warmer oranges and lime greens as the sun came out and everywhere glowed in bright afternoon sunshine. I made three finished drawings showing the changing light on the same view of the line of trees by the lakes edge and enjoyed letting myself get lost in the process. Putting complimentary colours side by side or overlapping them and not pulling things back…what might a soft grey feel next to an ice cream pink or a soft purple with a spot of crimson and a smudge of acid yellow?

Working in soft pastels your colours are ready-mixed, but how you overlap them and place them against another colour is how to get something different and interesting.
Despite the fact it was a competition I felt quite liberated having a whole day to delve into pastel drawing - it is still a fairly new medium for me…. this was my first time working on pastel board, so loved learning as I went along.

if you get a chance to watch you will see all the different artwork produced that day and that another talented pastel artist was the wildcard winner. What is fascinating is how artists all have a different way of seeing the same landscape… and that’s the best bit, because whether you win or lose, having your own artists voice is what really matters.