"Sketch of the Thursday Model" - original quick soft pastel portrait drawing

 I don't know what this says about me, but I cannot remember if I ever posted this one or not.  What I do know is that she was a great model and could really hold a pose.  Artists do remember those things for sure!  I love drawing portraits on dark green supports, especially when there's a lot of red involved.  Soft pastel is a wonderful medium - one of the reasons I don't use it more than I do is that I always think - even when the piece should be considered finished - that somehow a few more lines here or a bit more color there will make the work absolutely perfect.  And I always, always ruin it.  Messing around is a little more difficult with oil pastel, so I guess that's why I use it more often.  If I did my "rearranging" while the model was still sitting before me, it could work, but making changes when I'm back in my studio will most likely lead - as least for me - to failure.

Even though the time for the drawing was short, I was happy with the result.  More time would have been great, but oh well, I love shorter poses, too.  Thanks for stopping by!

Julie - original pastel portrait drawing

Every now and then I get the urge to get out my pastel pencils and do some drawing.  I love them, especially my Caran d'Ache pencils, used in this case on the smooth side of Mi-Teintes.  Framing something so delicate is a problem for me, since I always do it myself.  I usually make a gutter for the loose pastel to fall into with acid-free foam core or use spacers that attach to the glass.  Either method stresses me no end, which is probably why I don't do soft pastel any more than I do, because I really really love to work in this incredible medium. And then the requirement in so many shows that plexiglass must be used.  I've heard that the anti-static spray works great for awhile, but must be reapplied.  How does one do that without unframing the artwork?  Bound to be solutions but I haven't come across any yet.😟 Thanks for stopping by and I would love to know if you have any answers!

 

On My Easel - Original Soft Pastel Portrait Painting in Progress

I was fooling around with soft pastel and although this portrait does look like the model, I'm not totally thrilled at this point.   It's about 18 x 15" or so, on Canson paper.  Sometimes if I just set something aside for several days, I'll suddenly realize what I need to do - hope that happens with this piece!  Thanks for looking.