I Dream in Colour - Pastel Artwork 2021

Dream-like and mysterious, this expressive piece grabs you and keeps you mesmerised. Familiar, yet unfamiliar haunting blue eyes stare back at you. Thought-provoking and real.

She’s strong and sensual, inspiring confidence and hope. While the edges blur into a vibrant kaleidoscope of colours, keeping her identity from you in your semi-conscious state. It’s so easy to lose yourself in the deep wells of her eyes.

This colourful, semi-abstract portrait was created in response to the isolating reality of the global pandemic. ‘I Dream in Colour’ represents my inspiration towards finding beauty and hope in every day.

Pastels 2020

About the Artist

Stacey Bennett is an award-winning pastel and charcoal artist from Jimboomba, QLD, Australia. She immerses herself in the primal act of creating, using music to help her tap into the heart of her subject. Contrasting colours and tones, feature heavily in her work. Her portraits are bold, expressive and empowering while her landscapes are moody and uplifting.

Learn more about the artist

Exhibitions

Embracing Diversity 2023 – SOLD
Art Plus Beer exhibiting artist 2021
Gallery finalist in the Foot Square Exhibition at Aspire Gallery, 2020.

Click here to view the exhibition video.

How I Dream in Colour was created

The materials:

Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils
Rembrandt soft pastels
Mi-Tentes TEX paper

The process:

Pixabay is a great image library for reference photos for artists and the like. I use this resource to search for images if I haven’t been able to capture my own reference photo. It helps me lay down the basic foundations and line work. You can see how I used this reference photo by using the below image slider for “I Dream in Colour”. It was my guide only and you can see that the measurements are not exact. This piece was focused more on abstractism rather than achieving realism.

With all of my portraits, once the linework has been laid down I always start on the eyes first. In fact, many artists do. Why? I’m not sure of the exact answer. Is it because the eyes are the window to the soul? An expression of someone’s personality? Or is it because a viewer will naturally look at the eyes first? You decide.

Sketching out the line work and starting with the eyes

After the eyes were completed I decided that I wanted this piece to be colourful and not represent realistic skin. I experimented with cool colours for the shadows (blues, purples, greens) and warm colours for the highlights (yellows, reds and oranges) for the skin.

Once the face was completed, the abstract pastel strokes were an experiment. It was not originally planned and I was completely guided by instinct here.