Tuesday, 8 November 2011

08/11: SHONA - UPDATE (PASTELS ON PASTELMAT)

Some more progress on Shona's portrait today.    I've decided I DO like the colour background 'as is' but obviously the final decision will rest with my client.

I'm having a little trouble with the brighter highlighted areas of her face as the pale pink and white pastels seem to disappear into the fabric of the pastelmat after a couple of hours (I'm sure its not my imagination)!!  I believe pastelmat is a ground cork surface so perhaps it really does absorb the pastel ??

Has anybody else experienced this?   Would a light spray of fixative help do you think?


I'm out for the day tomorrow (my Pilgrims Hospice eBay Office 'job') so won't be drawing ....
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5 comments:

  1. Unknown9 November 2011 at 00:53

    Looking great Sue. I am not yet into pastel so not able to be of help there. Love those eyes, they talk.

    Great work. Looking forward to the next update.

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  2. Jan9 November 2011 at 11:04

    This is really, really looking great! I'm not sure what you mean about the pastelmat but I do know it takes a lot of layers to get the desired result sometimes. Fixative will "melt" light colors and they really will disappear then. But, eventually, the color will build up and remain.

    I know it's difficult getting the right color in pastel unless you own every stick ever made, but the girl's bangs look a lot different in color than the rest of her hair. I'm sure you'll adjust as you go along though.

    To me, the background color is perfect!

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  3. Sue Clinker9 November 2011 at 14:03

    Thanks for commenting Dors and Jan. I'm not a fan of pastel fixative (I prefer to 'steam' the pictures which doesn't seem to alter the colours as much.
    I know what you mean about the 'bangs' Jan (or the fringe as we'd call it here) - there's a big difference in colour in the ref but I do plan to adjust the colours so the difference isn't so pronounced.

    Its interesting that I'm using a different computer/monitor (taking a break from my Hospice eBay 'job' and the colours are much brighter on this one. My screen at home is about 5 years old so maybe I should think about upgrading soon.

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  4. Unknown9 November 2011 at 18:54

    I think this is looking great...although, I hear what you say about pastelmat melting. It does this for me in coloured pencil too. I would be very careful using fixative...I have never tried that one but with zest-it...it was a horrible reaction which I will never repeat if I am working on a commission. I might try it for myself as an experimental thing when I get some spare time..you have captured a great look, she is beautiful.

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  5. Erik van Elven10 November 2011 at 09:54

    I can't help you with the pastel advice since I'm mainly an oil painter but the painting is coming along great Sue.

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