Pastel painting

This is a pastel painting I did a year ago. It's not a great photo, I just gave up on getting a good one. I'm no photographer.

The pastel itself is nothing to brag about. So far I've only dug out my pastels once a year to enter my county fair. I painted three this year, but I had them behind glass before I remembered I was going to take pictures of them.

They're sitting on display at the fair right now. I got first place on all of them... but there were no other entries in my categories. Kind of a shallow victory that way.

Pastel is a lovely medium to work in. I fell in love with it, but when I finish my entries for the fair, I've always tucked my pastels away again. I'd like to improve my skills, so I'm leaving them out where I have easy access.

Pastels are so versatile. They lend themselves to loose, colorful pieces like this. Or detailed, nearly photographic quality like this. I envy both styles and can only dream of coming close to the level of talent those artists have.