Tuesday, February 19, 2013

"Taking It All In" Pastel 8" X 11"

                                                                             
This little girl is committed wholeheartedly to giving her instructor her full attention. With that approach I bet she'll be very successful!

14 comments:

  1. First of all ...she's gorgeous!!! I love the pink/lavender and how you darkened the bottom of the "tutu"...a beautiful piece, Carol!!

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  2. Your portraits of children are always so sweet. And it does look like she is paying attention to something or someone out of the frame. Very nicely done:)

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  3. This is truly beautiful, the little girl really seems to give someone all her attention. Gorgeous colors and light. How do you keep the colors on a pastel ? I am so ignorant on the subject, just wondered because when I once tried pastel like in another century LOL, I remember that the colors just 'fell' everywhere.

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Jane. The surfaces they have nowadays for pastel are marvelous and usually hold a lot. With the grittier papers a LOT of pastel can be applied. When I'm finished with the painting I give it several slaps on the back to knock off any loose pastel dust. Than, I wrap it in glassine paper until it's framed. Pastel can be messy to work with, but when it's finished you can minimize the loose dust.

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  4. Very pretty. I love the colors and the background makes the figure of the girl just pop forward. Another technical question: Do you use a fixative at all?

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    1. Thank you, Melanie. I only use fixative during the painting process - never at the end. I use it occasionally as it allows me to put additional pastel on after the tooth of the paper starts to fill. It does alter colors though, so that's why I never use it at the end. In the middle of the process it doesn't matter so much as you can adjust it.

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  5. You have portrayed this little girl so beautifully, love the colours and the light on her hair.

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  6. Carol, don't know how I missed this precious little girl, what an excellent mood you captured with the color and the light. You just want to hug her.

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    1. Thanks so much, Jean. She does look so eager, doesn't she? Reminds me of some of my former students the first day of school. :)

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  7. She looks very focused. Reminds me when I used to teach karate to kids her age. The girls always seemed more intent than the guys lol. Nice pastel painting.

    ~Randall

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    1. Thank you very much, Randall. There's nothing like that focus you mention if you're a teacher of something. Their hearts are really in it!

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