Girl with Tablet - original oil pastel portrait

I just colored over the notan I did in the previous post and realized, too, that I had not included some shadows in the original.  Oh well, a learning process and a really great guide for further work.  Years ago, I took a portrait class in pastel in which we did something similar - the underpainting wasn't black and white, but color values instead.  This coming week, I'll be concentrating on that way of working.  Thanks for stopping by!

Laurie - original oil portrait painting

Laurie was painted on 10 x 10" Gessobord.  Thanks for looking!

Geisha with a Parasol - original oil pastel portrait painting

This is just so totally outside of what I usually do that once I started, I just couldn't stop - like forbidden territory.  The geisha life has always been fascinating to me - beautiful, but a little sad - and sometimes I simply have to dress a model as much like a geisha as I can.  This painting is on 12 x 12" Pastelbord, using lots of juicy Sennelier oil pastels.  Thanks for stopping by!

Lee's Daughter - original oil pastel portrait drawing

This study of a young woman who posed ever so briefly was done on 7 x 5" carton board from Judson Art Outfitters or Amazon.  I love working on this stuff - give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by!

Lindy's Curls - original charcoal portrait drawing

A compressed charcoal drawing on Yupo is probably the craziest thing, but that's all I had at the time, so I went with it.  This model's hair has a life of its own and I had to draw it right that minute! There's a lot of "texture" in the negative area that came from the charcoal that found its way there by accident and was impossible to erase, so I've learned to love it.  The compressed charcoal is very deliberate and once a mark was down, I could do little about it.  Yupo is forgiving with watercolor, but not too much with something like compressed charcoal - actually, the compressed kind of charcoal is hard to get rid of on any surface.  Anyway, I enjoyed doing the drawing and am pleased with how it turned out.  It's about 8 x 8".  Thanks for stopping by!

Devie - original oil pastel portrait painting

Here's another portrait on the orangey Mi-Teintes paper, 9 x 12".  This young woman was such a pleasure to paint.  As I'm sure I've said before, the textured side of this paper is wonderful for helping me keep the piece from getting too tight.   Although I really layer the oil pastel on her face, the rest is fairly loose.  Thanks for stopping by!

On My Easel- Portrait of Cynthia - original oil pastel portrait painting

Here's what I was working on today - not really through with it, though.  It's on 7 x 5" Pastelbord - will finish it sometime this week.  Thanks for looking!

The Girl in the Red Coat - original oil pastel portrait painting

Finally back from vacation - hope everyone had a great New Year's - and ate their blackeyed peas!  At least, that's what we eat in the South on the first day of the year and I wouldn't dare do otherwise.  Who knows what could happen!  This painting is really a memory painting of a young woman leaving a café where I was in late December and she seemed in a reflective mood.  Maybe she was thinking of her resolutions for the new year.  Or maybe nothing that dramatic, but I did love the scene and couldn't wait to record it when I got back to my studio.  It's on dark green Pastelbord, 5 x 7".  Thanks for stopping by - Happy New Year!

ACEO - Over Her Shoulder - original oil pastel portrait painting

I love to do these little ACEOs - they're only 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, but they can contain a lot of information and emotion.  This one is on Art Spectrum Colourfix in light blue.  The Colourfix has a white (unsanded) border all around, which I think gives a nice framed effect.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sketch of Kristi - original oil pastel portrait sketch

This sketch was done from a sketch from life - so, a sketch from a sketch, I guess.  My joy in doing this was that I used carton paper (about 12 x 9") from Judson's Guerilla Painter - so wonderful and so like that used by the impressionists.  I have always loved that look - as if it were done on cardboard, but I could never find anything like they used, without actually having to resort to cardboard.  Which I would love to do, but I know it's a no-no. 
Check out my oil pastel blog to see my latest flamenco dancer.  I usually like to post oil paintings or drawings on Hackberry Street Studio and use most of my oil pastels for my oil pastel blog, but
I am currently going crazy trying to get some oil paintings finished and some of them just won't cooperate.  Oh well.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

On My Easel - oil pastel portrait sketch of Cindy in progress

 I don't know if I'll "finish" this one, or if it's already finished, but I'm just not inclined to work on it any further - will begin something else, instead.  The lines please me and I don't want to cover them up.  I'm having lots of company right now, so I'll probably concentrate on drawings for another week or so.  It's just so easy to pick up where you left off with a drawing - no messiness to it.  Unless you count the charcoal that I somehow get all over my face.  This piece is oil pastel on Mi-Teintes board, 11 x 12".  Thanks for looking!

Waiting - original oil pastel portrait painting

This painting is oil pastel on 7 x 5" Pastelbord.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Lila With a Cap - original oil pastel portrait painting

I love Lila's attitude when she poses.  She's been one of my favorite models for years.  This was a fairly quick pose - no noodling time at all, so some things are left undone.  It's oil pastel on taupe Strathmore  403 paper, which was mentioned in Kenneth Leslie's book as a barrier paper, meaning that no oil would get through the paper.  There seems to be this fear that somehow the oil in oil pastels will destroy the support, but a different oil is used in oil pastels from that in oil paint.  In my experience, there's never been a problem with the oil seeping through, but I also don't use as much pressure on a lighter paper as I would on say, Sennelier's oil pastel paper, Colourfix, Mi-Teintes BOARD (not paper) or Pastelbord.  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Letha - original oil pastel portrait drawing

I've sort of been away from my blog - wasting time doing paintings that didn't really succeed. But you have to try, right? Today it was so cold - okay, I know you folks up north think we're a bunch of sissies, but 15 degrees? That's cold for this part of the country! After I went to my Zumba class this morning, I came back home and then started to my studio, but it was still absolutely freezing. I just did a U-turn and walked right back to the house. So no oil paintings today. This oil pastel is from a drawing group in November. I loved the model's hair - it was expressive, if hair can be expressive. Although it wasn't a particularly remarkable pose, she was a good model and I really loved doing this drawing. I drew it on Sennelier Carte d'Art paper and is about 8 x 8".

Check out my blog at The Oil Pastel Review for an oil pastel painting that I'm working on - without a lot of success, I might add. Thanks for stopping by - stay warm!

The Spanish Dancer - original oil pastel portrait sketch by Connie Chadwell

She does flamenco dancing, and she looks like she could be from Spain, but the model - Laurie - is actually of Irish ancestry.  I hope Laurie sticks around; she's really a wonderful model and it's so hard to find good ones.

This quick little painting is oil pastel on Ampersand Pastelbord, 10 x 8", and was a pleasure to do.  The Pastelbord is so forgiving and after the oil pastel is dry, easy to frame, as well.  Oil pastel performs beautifully on so many surfaces and I love almost all, the exception being canvas.  Although many oil pastel painters like to work on canvas, I'm not one of them.  It just never works for me and there are so many wonderful papers, plus Pastelbord, that finding a great surface for oil pastel is easy.

I really could go on and on about the joys of oil pastel, but it's getting late, so I'll save that for another post.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Sold

Irish - original oil pastel portrait painting by Connie Chadwell

Since I've been away for a week and don't have anything completed yet, here's a painting that I did a few months ago and posted on Brushspace, but for some reason, never posted here. It's on Pastelbord and is 14 x 11".

Thanks for looking!

Hopeful - original oil pastel portrait by Connie Chadwell

SOLD

I loved doing this on Pastelbord. By now, you may have realized that I have lots of "favorites". I guess I just love the one I'm with.

The great thing about oil pastel on Pastelbord is that in most cases, it can be framed like an oil painting. Really, the oil pastel gets dry on this surface and then can be fixed and varnished. Wonderful!

Today I learned what I guess just about everybody else knows - how to link to individual pages in my blog (is that deep linking? -guess I'd better go back and study the lesson). I'm taking the blog improvement class from Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris and having a great time!

This piece is on 10 x 8" Pastelbord. Thanks so much for stopping by!