A Pastel Work in Progress??

"Ol' What's His Name"

(on a boat on Blue Mesa Reservoir, CO.)

6 3/4" x 9"

pastel on blue Canson paper

Surprised by the title?  This is a pastel, 

that I felt done with...when showed to the person of who it is... 

DH of course, he tells me it's not him.

Well, as far as I see it - IT IS!!

If you know him, maybe you can leave a message 

below of what YOU see as

the issue.  He says his nose is wrong..I say it isn't.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - but

I guess I see the beauty differently.  

I see the purple is reading wrong around the ear, 

so I will fix that by toning it down - muting it some.  

Photos can be so truthful in some cases.

I love painting BRIGHT sun photos with pastel, 

there are so many good choices on color matching.  

So if it never makes it to the approval mode, 

I am OK with that - 

it was a 'portraiture in pastel' lesson

for ME.

A Pastel Portrait of Scarlett Day 1

Scarlett is my grandaughter who lives Fort Collins, Colorado with her mom (my daughter) and dad.  I have this great photo of her, which shows her sweet character and playfulness which reminds me of when my daughter was that age.  What child doesn't love crawling in their toybox and playing with their toys? 

I am working from the photo below..

I took artistic license to move the animals around a little and make a few changes to make certain all the pieces read right for this pastel piece.  I am working on Art Spectrum sanded pastel surface in Aubergine color - LOVE IT!!!  I bought three pieces in KC and I am treating it like GOLD!

Please check back for the progress on this one from the heart - we think Scarlett is the smartest, sweetest and the cutest little button around!

Pastel Portrait on Velour Paper

"White Dress"

pastel on velour

8" x 10"

using photos today...I have so many new ones, captured or borrowed..

A Pastel Portrait for Today

"Granny Gray"

pastel on a 12" x 16" Ampersand pastelbord

I may have a few tiny tweaks on this one, but will let it sit around for awhile, while I look at it.  Done from a FLASH photo - which creates these dark shadows...where they wouldn't normally be.  Then it makes it hard to read where the edges of the figure are but I think, knowing my Granny Gray, it is correct.  She passed away many years ago.  A tiny lady, she often talked and expressed herself with her hands.  Miss you ♥Granny. 

A Mini-Portrait for Today

"Cherokee Maiden"

6" x 6" pastel on Canson

Pastel Portrait of Kayce

"Kayce"

haven't measured it, it's about 12" x 16" or so

pastel on Canson paper

My relatives know that they are fair target for portrait practice. This is my cousin, Kayce. She is one of those people who make it through adolescence without blemishes. Her skin tone is so china-like and I was thrilled when my cousin Debbie posted a photo of her on Facebook that I, in turn, used tonight for a pastel. What a lovely face she has!

One of those, you can't wait to do her portrait

and portraits are my ABSOLUTE favorite thing to do!

Another Portrait for Today

"Deep Thought"

9" x 14" soft pastel and pastel pencil on Canson paper

Again, I used a b & w photo and challenged myself to see the colors in the face, mainly the lights and darks, I made up the skintone...it was very fair in the photo, you could tell, lots of white. Most interesting in the photo were her eyes - very thoughtful and sort of lucid. Looking for the darkest darks, it was her eyebrows, surprisingly enough. The angle at which the photo was shot was interesting too, from above - looking down. The 3/4 face turn is difficult for me. Another reason to choose this pose. I see a little area under the chin that I need to rework, otherwise it's done. I imagined this person to be having a private conversation in her head - maybe trying to figure out what to do next.

Lucky number 13 of 15 - almost there!

A Portrait for Today

"Dressed in Red"

9" x 12" pastel on Canson paper

If you are like me, you gather resource material from far and wide. Some photos leave you thinking about what could be...this one was the case. It was a fairly obscure- non-descript black and white photo. I imagined it in color - I love red!

Number 12 of 15 in the month of January.

Pastel on Velour Paper

As I came across some velour paper on Sunday in my studio, I quickly got a piece, sat down and got back in tune with it's qualities. Talk about creating soft pastels that look like butter! Years ago, I did many animal pastels using it, as it really lends itself to 'fur'. I was reminded of how little 'dusting' occurred while working with your pastels. One thing you can't do is erase, blend, or over scumble an area, it ruins the surface. As far as it's archival quality, I recently acquired a "returned" velour surface artpiece I did probably 25 years ago. It was interesting to note that the pastel was still on the surface as if I had just finished it. Even though it had been out of it's frame and laid around in different spots, it was not smeared...the only thing I noticed was a tiny bit of yellowing to the reverse side of the paper, which means to me that it isn't completely 'acid-free', however, I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the piece. Nothing says enough to me about a paper, other than my own test of time. I have had a black and white 'kindergarten' photo of my husband, just crying to be drawn in color. He was just as cute then as he is now! LOL.

Where I Stand Sunday

Sorry- this is a little late, slept in today and got everything out of whack! As a diversion, or perhaps a good excuse to be doing art at this time of year, here I stand in my studio. With the cold, snow and ice, it seems there is nothing else to do, ha! Never thought I would be saying that! Lately I have had lots of studio time, then I see people who do a phenomenal amount of (practice and other) work and think, I am only touching the tip of the iceberg, and I am retired from a full time job! They must have no commitments other than art..no laundry, no dishes, no meals to cook, no family, nothing to do but paint or create.
I continue to experiment with different mediums. I still come back to my old favorite, pastel.
Below is another portrait of my daughter (I think I do her portrait so much because she and I look a lot alike, commensurate with time of life and age, I think about her a lot of the time). I loved this photo, as her hair was sooo long. She now has short hair with the new baby, who she says is grabbing her hair now! Doing a portrait with 'teeth' showing is difficult, I try to choose source material without teeth, but it's time to tackle the TEETH! I may have to work a little more on that part, but the size of the piece doesn't lend itself to do much more, especially because the surface - Canson paper - doesn't take much more pastel at a certain point and I don't use spray "fixative" anymore (not good for breathing, which can be difficult at times for me).

Jessica, pastel on Canson paper, 12 x 14

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you'd like to join me by posting a photo on Sunday of places you've been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on this post telling me where I can find you/your photo and I'll add a link to my sidebar so others can find you and I will also let Fibra Artysta know, so she can you on her web sidebar if you'd like.

Miss Kay

I finished this 12 x 16 pastel today. It is from a photo I took at my family's reunion last 4th of July. It looks better if you click on it to enlarge it. Kay, my cousin, lives in Florida. She is with her dog, Destiny. Storm repair this weekend includes a new bathroom window. It rained a little this afternoon, made us look carefully at the sky. The sun was actually shining while it rained. Hmmm.