Landscapes - hit and miss

I have a love-hate relationship with landscapes. Sometimes, they're fun to do, but more often than not, they're frustrating because they're still very much trial and error with me. Take this most recent one that I painted two days ago:

It was done on Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper, which has got to be one of the most exasperating surfaces to work on. It's waxy, the pastels went on patchy and the dust created could match a sandstorm. If I had sneezed, my table would have been covered in purple and orange pastel dust.

I wanted to try it as I thought the clouds were really pretty, but getting any sort of definition or blend was a struggle. In the end, I gave up and called it a day.

Yet, it got more likes on Instagram than another recent attempt at a landscape, which I actually prefered. This is of a photo I took at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay.

I did this on Velour paper and I love the soft, dreamy effect, even though the water lilies look more like matcha fortune cookies😄

This is one based on a photo challenge from a Facebook art group. I changed up the colours, of course, because pink/purple > green. I do think the marshes ended up being too symmetrical though, which spoils the effect somewhat.

And here are three I did in oil pastels as I felt like doing quick, mindless pieces. Oil pastels are great for scribbling - no need to care too much about accuracy or neatness. It's pretty cathartic.