Pastel painitng of an artist at his easel.

Pastel painting 19 inches x 24 inches

Every once in a while, the model at our figure drawing session strikes a pose that I don’t want to draw. At our last class, the model folded herself into a little, compact ball, and I had a rear view. I’m sure better artists than I could have made it work, but from that view, she just looked like a potato to me. So I looked across the room and decide to paint a pastel portrait of a dedicated fellow artist, slaving away at his easel. I don’t think he had a clue that I was sketching him, and not the model. We only had 20 minutes, so it was a quick impression.

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

Pastel portrait painting of a bearded man with hat.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 16 inches

Ken was a new figure drawing model for me and I just loved his leather hat and coat. Top it off with his greying beard and he reminded all of us attending class of a Civil War general. I’m not an artist who loves to do pastel portraits of people in fancy costumes, but this model’s attire seemed to compliment his rugged features perfectly. Really fun to paint!

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

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

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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 of a young football player

Pastel painting 12 inches x 18 inches

All male testosterone in figure drawing session last week! This strapping young football player posed in his uniform for the class. In this pastel portrait I decided to take a step back from all the color I usually use, and work only in black and white pastel.

Maybe I was overloaded from the 5 hours it took me to completely revamp my pastel set-up in my studio. I’ve known for a long time that I really needed to take off the papers on each stick and arrange all of them by color and value–not by brand, the way I had for years. Everything I’ve read says that this is the best way to work. I finally bucked up and did it. I broke each pastel in half and put one half with the code number on it in a storage box. Now, when I run out of a color, I can go to my stock, get a new stick, and know which pastel to reorder at Dick Blick’s.  I usually use NuPastels and a variety of soft pastels. Here’s what my new set-up looks like:

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

Pastel painting 16 inches x 11 inches     SOLD

I just gave this pastel commission to my client and he loved it. His father was 47 when he was born and he’d never had a photo of the two of them together. When he was a boy in the 1940s, his dad, a train engineer, often took him to the rail yards to look at the mamouth machines. He provided me with 5 photos of himself when he was young, his only photo of his father (lounging on a sofa), a huge book of train photos and 2 railroad engineer caps. It was a daunting task to take all of that information and try to make it into a cohesive composition.

I felt like I was really creating an historical illustration, as opposed to a fine art pastel portrait. But I enjoyed the challenge and am looking forward to creating another commissioned painting of his wife and her father!

Pastel portrait painting of a bearded man

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

Another pastel portrait of Tom! By now, some of you must feel that you know our models intimately. Its nice to be able to paint people a couple of times. You always learn something new with each attempt. One of our artists is setting up a 9-hour figure drawing session, divided into 3 days. I soooo wanted to be a part of it, but my Montana trip will interfere. I have never participated in a session that lasted more than a couple of hours and its been on my artist “bucket list” for a while now. Maybe I can make the next one…

Pastel portrait of an African American man with hat in profile.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 16 inches

If you have ever attended a figure drawing or portrait session in Ann Arbor, you have probably drawn George at some time or another. He has been a model for years in this area. He has a wonderful presence and facial structure and endless patience. I did this pastel portrait of him a couple of months ago in our nude drawing class. It was just a 20 minute sketch but I think I caught a little bit of his personality…

I am framing like crazy this week. My gallery in Harbor Springs, Michigan, Tvedten Fine Art, asked me to bring up 15 paintings when I visit this spring. I am so pleased that they have faith in my work and can’t wait to deliver a whole new batch of art to them!

And River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan has honored me with an exhibit of my Italian paintings in November and December! I have been consistently working on a new body of pastel works which will be shown along side the plein air watercolors I painted at LaRomita School of Art in Umbria last year. I have not posted any of them because I want to keep them under wraps until the show opens…

Nothing like being busy!!!

Pastel portrait of a seated man.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

Carmen has been kind enough to pose for us quite a few times at our figure drawing sessions. I always feel that my pastel portraits make him look stern but he really is a wonderfully warm man who is always a pleasure to talk to.  Click here to see a previous pastel painting I did of Carmen last year.

Pastel portrait painting of a middle aged man with a white beard

Pastel painting 11 inches x 18 inches

This is my new favorite pastel portrait. OK, I know it seems like every work I post is my favorite, but when I am working on a new painting, it HAS to be my favorite. I have to give it my all and paint like there will never be another chance to create. In our figure drawing sessions, we only have about 2-2 1/2 hours to capture a likeness, so it is very intense. The model and artists take breaks every 20 minutes or so, and then it is back at it!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There is nothing like working from life to improve your drawing and painting skills. You simply can’t learn to capture the form, color, light, and other nuances working from photographs. I’ve got a lot to learn and look forward to every chance I have to paint from life or en plein air!

Pastel portrait of a Scottish gentleman

Pastel portrait painting    12 inches x 17 inches

Yea! I made it to my portrait drawing class today — even in blizzard like conditions! This model has posed for us in the past. He always comes in full Scottish garb and his interesting face that makes for a wonderful pastel portrait.

I used my set of Terry Ludwig pastels for the first time and I really like them. They are extremely soft, but their wide, square shapes make it easier to loosen up and work in a more painterly fashion. Plus, it was enlightening to be forced to use a palette that I wasn’t familiar with. Thank you to the Pastel Society of North Florida for giving them to me as an award!

Pastel portrait of an older man.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 18 inches

I really don’t know how I feel about this figure drawing from one of our recent portrait sessions. I think it is a pretty decent physical likeness but it doesn’t seem to capture our model’s personality. He was not a stern or gruff man at all, and yet this pastel portrait gives that effect. I always try to capture both the external and internal spirit of a model, so I feel I may have been a bit off the mark on this one. Ahhhhh…..so much to learn….