Perfect!

Excuse me for a moment while I beat my head against the wall. There. I feel much better now.

David, this is so very beautiful! So many good things to love about this one, including the lavender nose shadow and the fur treatment. The expression is perfect. I think you had better post (in the relevant Forum topic) where you teach so that Forum readers in your area can have a chance to find out how, exactly, you create these pieces.

Absolutely breathtaking. Pastels like you-a lot!

Jean

Marvin hit it on the nail.

Whatever you did works beautifully. When a work of art want to be born, the obstacles are but bumps in the road.

Luminous.

David - Holy cow. There is nothing to say - except I wish I were you. Man.... this really took my breath away.

My audible response was heard across the hall here at my office! She is beautiful. The portrait is stunning!

This is STUNNING! Congratulations!

Thanks so much Chris. Yes, I really beat up on the background - little chunks of paper rolling off the surface - yikes! I just got my first order of coated paper, including some Wallis. I CAN'T WAIT to try them out. But I must. I'm in the middle of my second pastel on uncoated paper and I'm determined to delay the gratification - I'm afraid if I try out the Wallis now, I'll give up on the current one.

Thank you Julie, Rob, Michele. You praise means a LOT - pastels are still so new to me, I find my confidence comes and goes.

Linda, I beat my head against the wall several times, but I think for different reasons.

Jean, I like pastels. I can see how it can become addicting. It's a strange medium - so immediate and forgiving, but it also seems so temporary. At times, it felt like one step away from sand painting: One false move and I could lose a nose! I just wish that it would "dry" or somehow become more permanent - I did a sample test strip with fixative, but I didn't like the effect - it gave it kind of a mottled(?) look...I still need to experiment more with different fixatives.

Thanks Sharon. I feel like I did fairly decent rendering, and that was my only goal in this. I told myself it may end up being overworked (and I think it is a bit) but a decent rendering is a good start. Now my task is to figure out how to get a beautiful, rich, luxurious surface (like yours!) - something as important to me as the illusion being created. How do you do it? I take it you don't smudge that much? Is it like scumbling w/ the pastels? I can't wait to see your pastels in person. I'm so intrigued now. I know I'll figure it out for myself, and I know it'll take time.

No you don't. I have a lot of problems.

Thank you Patricia, Andrea. Your words are so encouraging to me. I really need it, too.

Anybody: Is it correct to call a pastel a "painting?" I've never heard that before coming on to the Forum. It still seems odd to me. I think of it as a drawing. But I do know pastels sure can be painterly...I just want to get right with the lingo!

Well - your skills as an artist is NOT one of them. I'll rephrase it (just in case your other problems are bigger than mine): When I grow up I want to draw like you. :)

David,

Scale has something to do with it. My heads are almost life sized and it is hard to get fussy when you are working on the scale I do.
I also use Goldens Acrylic Ground for Pastel which I tint and then airbrush with a matte liquid acrylic. The surface is VERY textured. I try not to smudge, and use a different color for each bit of skin.

You will get looser the more confidence you get and the pastel medium becomes more familiar.