Uncle Herman
 

Hi

This is a pastel portrait study I made yesterday from picture. This man is my uncle; my mother's brother. I used Rembrandt and Schminke soft pastels.
Dimensions are +/- 40x30 cm
It's done on an old music sheet wich I first painted or toned with some pastel layers.

I managed to paint the hair with some vibrant green and blue, but I wonder what kind of colors I can use to flourish the face.
Any advice or suggestions?

Best regards
Kris

I have no suggestions at first glance, but wanted to say what an interesting idea to paint on that music sheet.

I am curious if there are any worries about this lasting, considering the old music sheet.

Chris,

Kimberly has brought up an interesting point concerning the archivability of the paper you are using. There is a spray that you can use to reduce or control the acidity of paper that is not designed for art. That paper is usually not "buffered" ie. made acid free or made from an acid free source like rag (cotton linters or in the past old cotton rags) or linen. If the paper is not treated or acid free, it will turn more yellow or "fox" ( become brittle). You can notice this effect in old newspapers.

As to the picture, I like the use of the music paper background. In the future, you could probably go to a graphic arts house, where they could transfer anything you want to a suitable drawing paper for you to work over. You, for example, could have photocopied the sheet music and then have it tranferred to something better.

It is really hard to second guess, at least it is for me, what color should be added to a face. It all depends on what it was photographed against. It would have been useful for you to have had the photo of the head against the planned color of the background. Then you would have had more information to go on. Also, you could do a quick study from life of the person or someone of similar age and coloration. Generally speaking, I find that if the background is ochre, that color will influence the skin-tones. It will also call for it's complement in the form of some kind of purple or violet.