Let There Be Light - Pastel Artwork 2021

Inspired by the resilience and courage of my children as they navigate the effects of the pandemic on their lives, ‘Let There Be Light’ captures their childlike innocence and optimism.

Warm light illuminates the girl’s face as she stares, mesmerised by the bright light within her grasp. And even as she stands in the darkness amid the gentle rain, we find glimpses of hope in the glistening droplets as they fall around her.

It makes me wonder at the courage and determination needed to stand within the darkness and embrace the light. What would that light symbolise for you?

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

How Let There Be Light was created

The materials:

Faber-Castell pitt pastel pencils
Rembrandt soft pastels
PanPastels
Clairefontaine Pastelmat Paper
Blue painter’s tape

The Process:

The focus of this piece was to create the illusion of a bright white light using only white paper. To ensure I would not contaminate the white light with pastel dust, I taped this section off with blue painter’s tape. This tape is great for art as it is easily removed without damaging the paper or leaving behind a sticky residue.

I knew in order to achieve the bright light effect I needed the rest of the piece to be very dark. Unfortunately, Clairefontaine Pastelmat does not come in black. The darkest colour is their range is “Anthracite” which is more like a dark grey than a true black. Plus I also only had access to the white paper at the time. So I used my black and grey PanPastels to block out most of the negative white space.

I used warm colours such as yellows, oranges and reds for bright reflections on her face. Purples, blues and greens were used for the shadows. I then finished off this piece with expressive abstract pastel strokes to add energy and a dreamy feel to the artwork.