I have some larger art projects in mind that I’ve been itching to get to, but I’m also trying to avoid burnout after wrapping up a colored-pencil drawing earlier in the week. I still wanted to do something this weekend as long as it didn’t eat up too much time.

Last night, I doodled a quick watercolor painting idea, but nothing really came of it. I’m still slowly learning that medium. So, I decided to switch back to soft pastels. After a successful first drawing with them, I scoured YouTube for more tutorials and landed on one for a walking path next to some colorful trees. It looked more complex than my first project but simple enough to attempt.

The following is the end result:

I had trouble with my limited palette of 12 colors and not really knowing how to mix soft pastels just right yet. There are some things I would have done differently, particularly with the tree tops. However, I’m generally happy with the end result considering this is only my second project with pastels.

I did switch over to my 9“x12“ Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Vellum Pad for this one. It picks up color better than my sketchpad, but I have ordered actual pastel paper for future projects.