Birds nest and eggs
Medium Chalk pastels on black paper.
Work from dark to light, starting with a brown to outline the nest and position the eggs so they will form the focal point.
Start building the nest with the dark browns introducing lighter colours and blending them, this can be done with the pastel stick or your finger. Make sure you decide on the direction of the light and add the lighter yellows and orange. It’s helpful to keep the colours you are using grouped together so you can keep going back adding and blending. Add the green leaves blending a little green reflections into the nest. Look for shapes of green and pick out details with yellow blending again. Use white to highlight the background creating a 3D effect.
Build up the layers and gradually add the lighter, whites and yellows to add the details. Using black to define the shapes of the twigs.
For the eggs, work dark to light again deciding where the light will fall.
Dark blue blending in light blue, white for the light, all blended. Use black to define the shape of the eggs and add black in amongst the browns to give depth and contrast.
Finally add the dark marks on the eggs following the shape, but not over working.
