07/11: LABRADOR IN PASTELS ON FISHER 400 (FINISHED)

I heard back from my client this morning that he thinks the likeness is perfect and there's nothing to change.   So I added the final touches - a few whiskers etc., and finished the paving stones in the foreground and here he is:

I photographed the portrait with a double mount laid loosely on top to give an idea how the finished portrait will look - the mount is white with a black inner

but then I found another double mount which is ivory with a plum coloured inner and I think this works better as it picks up the pink tones in the paving slabs (apologies if you can't see the pink tones ... joys of technology I'm afraid)!

so now, on to the first of the human commissions ....

When I first started portraying 2 legged subjects I worked in graphite only and then gradually moved onto to coloured pencils (but only if the references were very clear). 

For some reason I never wanted to try pastels for human subjects ... until now that is.    I decided to use some of the pastelmat I've had sitting around for ages as it is quite brightly coloured (and looks even more so in artificial light).    I figured that I can easily put  in a simple pastel background and cover the original paper colour if I think its too bright later on - in my reference photo the background is mottled blue/grey.    

I'm using Sienna coloured pastelmat and I selected it as I thought it would provide a good base colour for my subject's beautiful hair/skin colouring.    And, so far so good (fingers firmly crossed)  ... I'm even thinking I may leave the paper colour 'as is' ... early days yet but this is where I got to this afternoon:

I had to give up as the light is so poor this evening .. I have 2 daylight bulb/lamps but still struggle with colours.   I've outlined another 'human' who is to be completed in graphite so in theory I can work on it in the evening light - but not tonight