Adding More Pastel Pencil to Backgrounds

Alice has sent me her painting of the Three Tulips and asked for my advice, Alice asked:

"Please let me know how I can improve on this. Seems I wasn't able to get enough pastel in the background no matter how much I put down. It's as though the pastel just won't stay on the paper."

I have never come across the problem of the pastel not adhering to the Ingres pastel paper so there must something that Alice is doing that causes this. To start the background on this picture a generous application of light grey was applied, it may be that Alice over did this to the extent that the paper was crushed and if that happens then future pastel would not be able to be applied successfully.Although it is sometimes a good idea to develop you our proportions care should be taken not to change the balance of a subject of mine. The flowers on Alice’s painting are really too short for the vase and although this could not be corrected now it is something to bear in mind in the future. Another problem is the angles of the vase are not right, see black arrows, I know this is not easy to get right but it does make a difference to the final effect.Alice joined as a member to learn more about using pastel pencils and getting feedback is one of the bonuses to joining! To see our membership options click here.