Pastel Portrait

This is a pastel of our model, Jessica, completed in one session. I used Ampersand Gessoed paper in umber and Rembrandt and Nupastels for the most part.

16 x 12 pastel on Pastel Board

Colleen from our Portrait Group

Colleen posed for the Hyter Group yesterday. She wore a black blouse but I am not that fond of black so I changed the color to a violet. A great model who held her pose well and didn't complain. I have located my pastels so I decided to use them! The day was perfect except for the opera music playing loudly in the back of the room. Oh well.... can't have everything I guess.

14" x 18"

Pastel on Canson paper

Ashley from our Painting Group

Everyone at the Hyter Group was in love with Ashley's long wavy hair. I give the girl a lot of credit - she showed up dressed as a cowgirl or something. Straw hat, cowboy boots and cute denim vest. I brought my pastels with me so I could be sure to get done in one two hour session.

Not sure of the likeness but I like the slightly pensive look that came out of this.

18" x 19.5"

Pastels Again

I switch back and forth between pastels and oils for my portrait work. These are the two mediums I am most familiar with and I enjoy working with the most. Occasionally I'll do a charcoal or pencil drawing and I have been know to create murals with acrylics but I love these mediums the best. Pastels are a more delicate medium but I can get more done in a shorter period of time than if I used oil paint, which is helpful if you are working from the live model and you are not sure if you'll get another chance to see the person. That's the case here, where I attend a weekly portrait group and I am never sure if i will be able to show up the following week. I think it's important to work from life as often as possible, especially if you plan to work from photographs at any point. The life sessions will inform your view of color and help when you have to make it up from those flat photographs.

Anyway, we originally had a different guy scheduled but he didn't show so this is Jake, a young guy who showed up to draw with us but who was promptly hired as a new model for $15 an hour! He has a very nice sensitive face and he was a pleasure to draw, paint whatever!

Pastels are Great for Quick Portraits

I think pastels are ideal for quick portraits when you have 3 hours or less with the model. This guy posed for two hours at Common Space in Toledo, where I sometimes paint on Saturdays. He was an interesting guy; a little odd, but then aren't we all, when it really comes down to it? Everyone has their own little quirks and mannerisms and some can quietly drive another person crazy -- if we allow it. I tend to overlook a lot when it comes to people. Quirky can be good. It's almost never boring. He seemed to have a gentle soul and he was able to hold the pose very well, so the guy was a great model IMO.

I finished his jacket and the background at home and for some reason I wanted to name the piece Gypsy Joe. Gypsy Joe, in a black beret, waits quietly with his sketchbook.

19" x 24" pastel on gray Canson paper