first self portrait in pastel

[Linda Brandon]

Hi April,

Good for you for drawing a self portrait from life! I really admire that. I'm not an expert in pastel but I do have a few thoughts about this work.

You've set it up so that you don't have a strong shadow pattern to work with on the face. When I squint it looks like there is not much difference in value between the lit side and the shadow side, so you are having to do close modeling using color. It would have been easier to show form if you had a slightly darker value on your shadow.

Another alternative would have been to set this up with not much shadow at all on your face. Lots of portraits are done this way, especially in paintings of women and children - they are set up with less dramatic shadow as well as less shadow area.

You did a nice job foreshortening on the three-quarter face angle, not easy to do. I also like the way you've put the highlights in the hair which helps to show the shape of the head as it faces the light.

I think the eastern nostril looks incomplete. I think if you really model the nose - find the cast shadow, the underplanes of the nose, the warm darkness of the nostrils, the terminator line of the shadow where the nose turns, the color of the nose bulb and the highlight - that does a lot to establish the solidity of the face.

I usually leave out or de-emphasize the neck muscles in women which is I guess an aesthetic decision not shared by everybody.

I hope the show goes well and let us know how it goes for you. Again, I'm proud of you for putting this in a show!

[Mischa Milosevic]

April, well done. I find self portraits quite difficult to do. I also find that pastel work is not as simple as it looks but I do love working in pastel.

There is just a few things that I would suggest you think on regarding your portrait. First, the space from the eye to the ear could be a touch to wide. Next, the iris of the eye in shadow, I would consider moving away from the corner just a hair. The light part under the iris, the lid, seems to light for the shadow side. I also think the orange on the shadow side is to high chroma maybe aliz or purplish red with a hint of cad red mite look better, even on the chin. I would think on introducing more light on the tip of the nose which would suggest the nose to move more towards us which would be good. Lips, the softest part of the face and so there should be no sharp, hard edges. Here form is achieved by value or temperature. One more thing. The design of the black robe on the shadow side, the cut does not compliment the other side.

I hope I was able to give you some constructive suggestions.

All the best at the show

[Alexandra Tyng]

April,

It's is exciting to see you working in color, though I also love your monochromatic paintings. To me the color seems very pleasing and interesting. You've put in variations without breaking apart the vlue massing. I would agree with most of the above comments, except I do like that your sweater is draped unevenly on you shoulders. (I like the way you've indicated the light and shadow on your sweater, too.) The one thing that stands out for me is the nose; the bottom plane seems to be on a different angle than the head (tilted up from L to R), so that we see no nostril, whereas one would see some of both nostrils if the nose were tilted the same way as the head (down from L to R).