By Osman Mia

My "client", who is actually my niece, asked me for a pastel coloured painting. My earlier attempt, Psychedelic Beach, did not meet her requirements. She showed me a sample palette of pastel colours: Psychedelic does not equal pastel.

If pure white is a light value of zero and pure black is a light value of ten, pastel colours all share the same light value of one. I considered that I could get away with some two's. With very little light value difference, I would have to rely on colours for contrast. I chose azo yellow medium, naphtol red medium and pthalo blue. I applied the first three layers as light washes, ie. acrylics diluted with much water. After the third layer, I had to add titanium white to the colours to maintain the lightness; and since titanium white is opaque, I mixed in glazing medium to keep the colours transparent. Six layers total and a final layer of white, mixed slightly with yellow.

So here it is. A pleasant calming semi-abstract landscape with a beach. The beach is because my niece had said she liked it.