29.5 cm (w) x 27 cm (h), pastels on acid-free coloured-ground ‘Canson’ paper.
Date produced: 1988 - 1992

This colour study was done completely on-site, directly from the scene in one session of a couple of hours. I worked quickly, even though the light was more stable because it was overcast. The clouds still moved, and cars came and went from the parking spaces on the other side of the road.

I enjoyed using pastels to do colour studies outside, on-site. They allowed me to work a lot faster, than when I was using oil paints. I had a good range of pre-mixed coloured pastels that I got to know very well. I could work on good paper that was typically much smaller in area than the canvases I would want to use when I did paintings.

The big problem with using pastels on paper, was that they needed to framed under glass, to protect them from contact damage. I found that 'fixing' my pastel paintings (spraying them with a fixative that would bind the particles of pastel to the paper) was not something that I wanted to do, because I couldn't find a way of fixing them without changing the colours that I had meticulously managed to achieve. I found that fixing my pastel paintings made some colours darker, made some colours lighter, and some colours more transparent. From very early on, I found it best not to 'fix' my pastel paintings.