Portrait of Sasha
 

Hello everyone! I figured now is as good as anytime to jump in and get some advice on some recent pastel work.

This is a portrait I have recently completed. I look forward to hearing from anyone who might be able to lend me a word of advice. I apologize for the image; I shot it with a digital camera, I haven't had time to get a slide scanned yet.

Thanks

Hi Anthony,

Welcome to the Forum! I'm not a painter, so I prefer to leave technical comments to those who do, but I find your work appealing. I'm sure the experts will be along to comment as soon as they can get to it.

Do you have a facial closeup you could post also?

Hello Anthony,

I will offer my overall impressions. There is much more to like than dislike in this portrait. I love the background and the little girl seems well done.

Two things that you might consider: The bench seems a little too high toned (and monotoned). I think if you brought it down a couple of notches it would not compete with the subject quite so much. Especially the area just to our left of her head. The beads seem to have too much of a sameness to them. I would try and create some variation with shadow and light.

As I said, these are nits to a very nice work.

Greetings to Hinckley, from a Stillwater area resident (when I

Mike and Steven,

Thank you for your kind words. It is nice to hear compliments but quite another thing to receive them from your peers.

I am in agreement as to the bench, I think if I key it back it may help, It's nice to have a fresh perspective. Pastels have been a new interest. I have worked exclusively in oils, but I like the freedom pastels provide. This was 16" x 20" on sanded pastel board.

Thanks again for the comments and I look forward to hearing more from you guys in the future.