Eye Catchers: December 2025

Thank you to Stephen Fuller for asking me to choose the eye catchers for December from the Unison Colour Soft Pastelling Community Facebook group. There was a lot of beautiful work to choose from and as always, a huge variety of styles, subjects and artistic abilities ranging from new artists to the medium through to professionals. I noticed there were many posts from the same artists, and I wonder if I might be able to encourage a few of you who haven’t posted your first paintings yet to do so as a fresh challenge for 2026. It would be lovely to see many more of you posting your pastel paintings and projects.

This painting caught my eye for its lively mark making which looks spontaneous and considered but not overworked. Dave has cleverly captured the sparkle of the Christmas tree with such ease and minimal but energetic pastel strokes, a stunning use of this medium.

Karen illustrates a high level of skill in the way she has painted this sky scene particularly with this striking palette of colours. This is the perfect balance between blending and leaving areas of pastel unblended to create such fabulous cloud textures and movement as if we are really standing there in the painting with her, witnessing the clouds rolling over our heads.

I’ve been mesmerised by Emma‘s painting of the reindeer decoration. It is such an incredible use of pastel layers, colour and careful pointillist mark making to create the sparkle and glitter on this little object that looks so real I feel I could reach into the painting and take it off the tree. Photo realism at its very best.

I was really drawn to the colour palette and subject of this landscape by Jocelyn. There is so much to enjoy here, the warmth, the tonal balance the light and the pastel textures…. Just lovely.

There is a lot to admire in this beautiful portrait starting with the composition and the angle of the pose which is so well thought out. The subject looks naturally real as if she really has blood running through her veins and it’s like she’s just about to speak. She is so alive and animated.

I really enjoyed coming across this lovely, lively little study of a cat by Mary. I get a sense of the volume of the cat, I feel like I can reach out and stroke her and feel her warmth. The spontaneous and liberated marks give this cat so much life and movement. Also, something often forgotten when painting cats and dogs is context and Mary has included the cat’s surroundings, I can imagine her comfortably lying on a window sill perhaps and almost hear her purring.

For me, as I look at this painting there is not an area of water anywhere within it which is not moving. It is amazing how careful use of tones and temperature alongside a gentle and patient hand can create the sound of the water swilling and crashing on the rocks moving through full sun and into the shade in seconds. Stunning and so convincing.

Vera’s work is always a delight to see, and this painting shows off her knowledge and experience of everything relating to pastel dust and how it works! The use of pan pastel in the feint suggestion of foliage to form the background and the crisp unblended stick pastel marks for petals and details. The use of colour and tone to create depth and dimension is so well judged.

This painting stopped me in my tracks when I was scrolling through the group. It stood out for its liberated, confident marks. I love an expressive, original and clever use of technique with pastel above all as I like to see this medium’s potential and versatility to jump off the paper. I am reminded of the bold lines and colour of Frank Auerbach in this work, albeit without the impasto.

The first thing that captured me in this painting is the colour palette. The warmth of the cloud in contrast to the cold of the sky and water cleverly gives a feeling of space and air in between land and sky. The reflections of the horizon in the water are gently portrayed which works well. I enjoyed letting my eye wander around the many elements of the sky.

Conclusion

I have chosen the above pieces of work as examples of the versatility of styles, subject and techniques as well as being totally original. I would like to encourage you all to try out lots of different pastel techniques and above all experiments. Find the perfect surface that you personally like to work with. Study your subject, don’t just copy a photo but look beyond, how can you redefine your subject? How can you give it new life? How can you excite the viewer with a different perspective of your chosen subject? I urge you to look beyond the obvious and see if you can put your personal originality into your work. If you are studying an animal or a human remember to give it context and life. If it’s still life then how can you elevate ordinary objects into something special and lastly with landscape remember that clouds are moving all the time, trees and leaves blow in the wind and the lighting changes every second. Have fun, experiment and put the hours in to really see your work develop.