By Lucia Hames and Tricia Hodges©Copyright 2013, Southern Hodgepodge

www.southernhodgepodge.com

With a nod toward spring time sports and also painting a pastel that would be appreciated by boys and girls alike, my students and I have enjoyed working on a baseball and bat pastel! This is very simple and can be completed in about 15-20 minutes.

I used a stick of charcoal to draw the shape of the bat and ball. If you have a dark brown or black pastel, you may use that. First draw a long (about 6-8 inch) curved line that flows into the circular handle end of the bat. When you draw the bottom of the bat, do not draw the whole line, but skip over

4-5 inches to place the baseball rolled up against the bat. The baseball is rather large, almost looks like a softball, but you are the artist, so make your baseball as large as you like!

The bat is a well-used one; place a line of dark brown from end to end, then take your finger and smudge the brown as much as you can to fill in the bat. Pick a golden yellow or dark yellow pastel and use it to make a highlight on the bat and smudge it also. Use a dark red or crimson pastel to make the “laces” or stitching on the ball…it does not have to be exact. Take your finger and smudge a bit of shadow on the right side of the ball, you can just use the dark pastel that you drew the ball with or add some if you like to emphasize the roundness of the ball.

I put a bit of dark purple under the bat and ball for shadow also.

That is it…now go play ball…with your pastels!

Art for All Ages: A Simple Start in Chalk Pastels ebook – convenience of our tutorials all in one spot. Just add chalk pastels and paper.

Enjoy!

• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons (50 free lessons now) are all contained in the post Pastels plus links to tutorials. A simple set is very affordable. Nana also teaches acrylic lessons.

• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

• Encouragement: How to Start Art with Little Ones and How to Add in the Joy of Art.

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