Pastel portrait painting of a man with a white beard.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 18 inches

Tom was our subject again a few weeks ago at our figure drawing session. I’ve painted him 3 times in the last year, and I thought I’d show you all 3 pastel portraits in one post. I chose to work in black and white this time, for a change. Its kind of interesting to compare them. I think his beard is growing a bit longer…

The top artwork was created with:
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Steel Gray Paper
Medium: Black and White Rembrandt Pastels

Pastel portrait painting of a young woman

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

I’ve been so consumed with my show of pastel and watercolor paintings of Italy, I’ve been neglecting our figure drawing sessions. A couple of weeks ago, I finally got back in the groove. We had a beautiful model who really inspired me. In this pastel portrait I tried to capture a little of the magic she exuded. She seemed so calm on the outside but gave off an inner sparkle!

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Burgundy Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

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Pastel portrait of a man in sunlight.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

Monday we had a very different type of figure drawing session. Joe and his wife Millie hosted an outdoor class at their beautiful home near Whitmore Lake. We had two very attractive models, Paul and Linda, who were willing to sit for us outside. Paul braved the direct sun, sitting on a stone stairway while half of us captured his image.  I kicked into gear doing exactly the same type of pastel portrait I would have done if we were in the studio but with REAL light illuminating the model. I was happy with the outcome but wish I would have tried a full body pose, more integrated into the lovely surroundings. Oh, well, live and learn!

Afterwards we had a pizza party with home made gazpacho, cookies and ice cream. Now that’s the way to celebrate a fun day of creating art!

Another celebration to mention. I was just notified that my painting, Orchard 1 was given the Art Times Award at the Pastel Society of America Exhibition in New York City. I was so excited to be juried in–and overjoyed to be honored with an award!

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Steel Gray Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel portrait painting of a young blond teenager.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

We had a lovely young teenage girl pose for us last week at our figure drawing session. She is a neighbor of a wonderful pastel artist and teacher in our group, Janet Kohler. (some of Janet’s work can be seen here.) Sarah was dressed in purple and we set her up against a purple backdrop. Wow! With her blond hair and pale skin tones, the color just popped in my pastel portrait of her!

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Steel Gray Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels

Pastel portrait painting of a young girl reading.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

We’ve been painting alot of children and teenagers in our figure drawing sessions this summer. The kids are out of school and its a perfect time to capture them in pastel portraits.  This young lady is actually a daughter of one of our painters. She sat quietly and read for over 2 hours and barely moved! It was interesting to try and capture her likeness without seeing her eyes. Usually eyes are such a large (and difficult!) part of capturing someone’s likeness…

Pastel portrait of a woman in gardening gear.

Pastel painting 13 inches x 14 inches

I painted this pastel portrait the week before our trip out west. Carol came all decked out in garden wear so in my figure drawing of her, I envisioned her in a lovely, plant-filled location.

Pastel portrait painting of an African American woman

Pastel painting 12 inches x 17 inches

We were happy to have Marge as our model again at our figure drawing session on Monday. This is the third time I’ve painted her pastel portrait and I’ve loved it every time. She’s definitely one of my favorites. She has wonderful facial structure and lovely skin tones. I think this is the closest likeness I’ve captured of her.

I finally realized today that the way I create portraits is very much like creating a clay sculpture. I start with an almost skeletal sketch of the protruding and receding bone structure, cheeks, nose, chin, eye sockets, etc. Then I start adding skin and slowly build up the light areas that come forward. It was a bit of a revelation to me…

My other paintings of Marge are below.

Pastel portrait painting of a woman

Pastel painting 13 inches x 18 inches

Another fun day at our figure drawing session on Monday. Misty had modeled for pastel portrait painters before and had a great presence about her. Somehow she reminded me of a woman in the 1920s or 30s and I think I picked up a bit of that in my painting of her.

Pastel portrait painting of a a young woman

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

I did this pastel portrait of a pretty young woman at one of our figure drawing sessions about a month ago. I missed last week so am excited to get back this week. Practice, practice, practice…

Pastel portrait of an African American Woman

Pastel painting 11 inches x 16 inches

As much as I love the holidays, I have to admit I am happy to be back to my normal schedule. The studio is clean and  I’m back to attending my figure drawing sessions. Paint, paint, paint. Too much celebrating makes an artist lazy!

Marge, our model this week had never modeled before and is a Real Estate Agent in her real life. She has a wonderful, expressive face and made a great subject for a  pastel portrait. We’re hoping to have her back in the coming months! We are so thankful for the many people who are willing to sit for us.

Pastel portrait of a young woman in a straw hat.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 14 inches

We had the most wonderful model at our figure drawing session last week! She was a pretty young thing with a fresh, sweet look. She had a beautiful voice and sprinkled french phrases throughout her conversation.  She reminded me of a 17th century french lass and I wanted to capture that effect in my pastel portrait of her.

This piece was done on the pebbly Richeson paper that I have been struggling with lately. I was trying for a very classical look and I think the paper actually helped me in my quest!

Colorful pastel portrait of a young women in the Fauvist style.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 13 inches

A couple of weeks ago the Great Lakes Pastel Society held our first convention.  I was honored to be a presenter speaking about the business of being an artist. We had some high caliber artists who did demonstrations and workshops. Brenda Mattson held a landscape drawing workshop and brought along some new Richeson products for us to use. I decided to take advantage of the reduced convention price and purchased their new 12o hard pastel set. Its supposed to be light fast and has a lot more colors than NuPastel offers. God knows I don’t need more pastels…but I couldn’t help myself.

I brought the set to our figure drawing session last week and went crazy with color. Our model, Angela, is a beautiful young woman with classical features but I wanted to push the envelope with my pastel portrait of her. After I got home, it seemed to me that I might have been channeling the Fauvists of the early 1900s…