Italy in Spring

by Cindy
(Bloomington, Indiana USA)

My sister lived in Italy for a while as her husband (now deceased) was a military nurse. She always talked about how beautiful it was there and how the houses and hills looked in the summer.

I have seen many pictures of that part of the world so I conjured up what I'd picture an Italian home among the hills would look like...

I drew this with pastel pencils. They're very much like colored charcoal. In fact I'm not sure what the difference is between pastels and charcoal. They seem very much the same to me...and possibly are the same. Maybe Kerry can tell us! Hope you like it!
Your friend,
Cindy


***Note from Kerry:
Hi Cindy,
I was just thinking about you so by sending this in you've proven I'm a little bit psychic! heh.

I am so involved with graphite that I have to plead ignorance when it comes to the differences in colored mediums. I think charcoal is derived from burnt wood. I think pastel is similar to chalk. However, I wouldn't like to be quoted on that.

My sister also loves Italy and the scenery there. She described it to me and your piece is exactly how I imagined it would be. That makes it kinda special in my eyes. I am always in awe of any artist who can create something from imagination so you have my utmost respect!

This would make a terrific gift to your sister.

Added for more info...

Differences....
by: Michael Betz
To make charcoal, wood is slowly heated with no oxygen, which leaves you with a black coal-like substance. It is almost all carbon, while the remaining bits are chemicals and ash.
For pastels, pastel sticks or crayons consist of powdered pigment and a binder is used to combine them.

Pastels come in all ranges of hardness with softer ones wrapped in paper.

Plethora of knowledge
by: Cindy
Hi Michael-you are correct sir...you are a plethora of knowledge! Your artwork shows this too! You are right in that a person can just about educate onesself on just about anything by using the computer..I though, was a bit on the lazy side the day I uploaded this to Kerry's site! After I did I looked up pastels and you were absolutely correct in what you said!! I'm having so much fun using all these different mediums! For many years I was a graphite artist exclusively but once I started up again I became very interested in using color. That's where I'm at for now and it feels really good. I imagine I'll get back to graphite again someday soon but for now I feel like I'm in a groove with color! As I was drawing Italy in Spring I too told myself I'd like to move right in and make myself at home! Aaahhhhh! Thanks so much for the compliment!! I'm really glad you liked it!