I was playing with pastel and trying to just draw a facial still life. I was struggling with the pastel in small areas and my 45 year old eyes were struggling to see, so I decided to draw really big. She’s 18 × 24″. I put the drawing in a black frame with a white border and now she looks like a nun. funny.
Beautiful job Robin. Love the way you’ve achieved the shadow areas using warm tones, and that little curve of red on the tip of the nose is fabulous! The eyes are wonderful too. Hmmmmmm – I am really LIKING your work so far! What colour paper did you use?
Now that’s a critique, positive is a bonus! It’s only my 3rd pastel, so I used white paper. Nannette was the 4th pastel, but the first on brown paper. I’m discovering the color of the paper can save you some pastel. Any pointers on that? Thank you.
I think your white paper worked exceptionally well. I never use white anymore, because you are right, the colour of the paper can make a big difference, and you can let bits of colour show through letting the paper do a lot of the work for you. I use a brand called Colourfix by Art Spectrum (Australian company) so I don’t know if that is available to you. It has a sanded surface which holds the pastel well, and the colour I like for portraiture is burgundy. Whatever suits you though. I use a colour called terracotta quite a lot too.
Comments
Beautiful job Robin. Love the way you’ve achieved the shadow areas using warm tones, and that little curve of red on the tip of the nose is fabulous! The eyes are wonderful too. Hmmmmmm – I am really LIKING your work so far! What colour paper did you use?
Now that’s a critique, positive is a bonus!
It’s only my 3rd pastel, so I used white paper. Nannette was the 4th pastel, but the first on brown paper. I’m discovering the color of the paper can save you some pastel. Any pointers on that?
Thank you.
– baxfly
I think your white paper worked exceptionally well. I never use white anymore, because you are right, the colour of the paper can make a big difference, and you can let bits of colour show through letting the paper do a lot of the work for you. I use a brand called Colourfix by Art Spectrum (Australian company) so I don’t know if that is available to you. It has a sanded surface which holds the pastel well, and the colour I like for portraiture is burgundy. Whatever suits you though. I use a colour called terracotta quite a lot too.