"36 Heads", portrait #6

August 30, 2011, Heidi

Unison soft pastels on Sennelier La Carte

12"x16"

Heidi sat for us wearing the same clothing pose that she did last week.  Again, a 3 hour indoor session with breaks every 20 minutes.  I decided to stand in roughly the same place as last week to see what would happen.  This time I used Unison pastels- having recently received the 63 half stick set, and some additional open stock colors (love that Blue Violet 4!).  Unisons are softer and richer in color than the Rembrandt soft pastels that I had used in the beginning of the project, but not quite as soft to me as the Terry Ludwigs used in some of the other portraits.  Using a slighty firmer pastel really influenced the way I painted this week compared to last week- this portrait is not as loose and painterly as with the Ludwigs last week- one reason I don't like this painting as much as last week's.  I do love the Unison colors though- these pastels seems to "sparkle" on the page.  This session I was tired and another reason for the difference compared to last week.  Last week's painting is a better likeness to Heidi than this one- this actually looks more like a friend of mine named Judy!   Since I wasn't acheiving a likeness, I decided to finish the face up earlier in the session and spent more time on the clothing.   I'm not really happy with this portrait, but next week will be a new head to paint...

"36 Heads", portrait #5

August 22, 2011, Heidi

Terry Ludwig Pastels on Sennelier LaCarte paper

12"x16"

This portrait was fun to paint.  This is my second time painting Heidi since the project began, this time, inside.  Heidi is a great model to paint from- she holds the pose well and keeps her eyes quite still (not shifiting around), and always gets back into position without issue- she also has great skin tones, and both times has worn fun clothing (although I don't paint the whole figure, her clothing choices seem to be good for portrait sessions).  Again, the usual 3 hour session, with breaks every 20 minutes.  I painted with Ludwig pastels for this one- I'm enjoying the painterly strokes I get with these softer pastels- this painting is much looser than the first one of Heidi on July 26. There are some issues with proportions here, the eyes are bit off and the nose is pointing more straight ahead than it should be, but overall, I'm pleased with the results.  I'm not sure why, but necks are giving me a challenge- and seem to be unable to get the correct shadows on the neck- I can see them during the model session, but can't seem to translate the form to paper.  In this painting, I decided to bring a bit of the skin tone into the background, and think it works okay.  Looking back, I don't think the backgrounds on my paintings have been working- they aren't colors used in the painting anywhere except the background, and don't have harmony. 

"36 Heads", portrait #4

Crop detail: 4 1/2" square of painting to the left   

August 16, 2011, Farrah and daughter

Soft pastels on Sennelier La Carte

12"x16"

Okay, remember I said at the beginning of the blog that some portraits in the project would work, many would not?  This is one of those that I hesitated including because I do not like it- but it is part of the project so feel comitted to include it despite my disppointment.  Several things during the session led to decisions that I made as an artist that did not work out in the end.  I have no experience in painting young childeren in person but was excited to have the chance!  Mistake number one:  deciding to include both models in the pose- it wasn't until I had started into the session that the composition of the pose from my vantage point wasn't working- the young girl's head is straight below her mother's head, and it would be more pleasing to see them off centered from each other to keep the eye moving around the page.  If I had to do this again, I would have just left the girl out and focused on Farrah's portrait.  Mistake number two:  deciding to paint the adult first (which is more in my comfort zone), and waiting to paint the young girl towards the end of the session.  In the second half of the session, the young girl had trouble sitting still for the required time- of course I should have realized that someone her age would have problems keeping still, but I forged ahead without thinking. She never sat still long enough for me to finish her.  Had I worked in the reverse, I may have made better progress on her and would have been able to finish Farrah in the second half of the session.  Mistake number three:  painting in the orange lamp during the last 10 minutes of the pose.  Just because something interesting is in frame does not mean it needs to be included!   Although this painting disappoints me, I did enjoy using the Terry Ludwig soft pastels on LaCarte (blue color)- the two work very well together.  I also used a few Unison pastels, but the majority of the painting is from the Terry Ludwig 60 stick Maggie Price Values set.  I'm finding this set to be very versatile- and suprisingly good for portraits!   The face of Farrah I am quite pleased with, although it is quite small- I'm including a cropped close up- I like the way the pastels responded to the paper, the choice of colors, and the proportions in this one aren't bad.  Working this small on features was a challenge, especially with the chunky, square Ludwig pastels, and I will be going back to my standard sized "heads" in the next one!  One nice thing about this 36 heads project is after the 3 hours, I go home and photograph the work and put the painting away in a portfolio. The 36 heads project paintings are not touched up after getting home and are done, and don't hang over my head waiting to move forward like some of the other work waiting in my art room...



"36 Heads", portrait #3

August 9, 2011, Farrah

Soft pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes

12"x16"

Third pose outdoors.  I was in the sun for the first half of the pose and was not as comfortable as the previous two weeks.  However, painting this one was a completely different experience because just a few days before, I received a 60 piece Terry Ludwig pastel set.  These pastels are much softer than the Rembrandts I was using.  Although not impossible, I found them a bit difficult to work with on the Canson Mi-teintes paper, I'm curious how they would respond on sanded paper.  The model that day was moving, I think because of the hat- eyes went from exposed to covered by the hat- and back to exposed- so I captured what I saw in one moment.  Wish I had more time to devlop the eyes, but left them undefined since I couldn't get a good view for a long enough period.  I found her mouth difficult to capture, and the hair was a black mass under the hat that was difficult to define well in this painting.  Need to work on those things, but think her neck is one of the better ones I've done, and love that Unison BV4 on this.  Still struggling with clothing.  This one was painted with Terry Ludwig pastels (the 60 piece Maggie Price Values set), about a half dozen Unison pastels and the rough side of Canson Mi-tientes, felt gray color.   I'm in a broken color phase right now and enjoying the rough side of Canson for that reason.

"36 Heads", portrait #2

August 2, 2011

Soft pastels on Canson Mi-teintes

12"x16"

Worked again outside, 3 hour model session with breaks every 20 minutes.  The sunlight shifted drastically across the model's body over 3 hours, and this is one aspect that makes painting outside so much different than in a studio where the lighting is more constant.  I painted the pattern of lights and darks in this pose about 30 minutes into the session, and although the sunlight continued to shift, I kept working as if the lighting hadn't changed.  This was a challenge as I'm so used to painting what is in front of me without change in lighting, and being able to keep with the values on this over the remaining 2 1/2 hours is a personal breakthrough.  This painting used Rembrandt soft pastels on the rough side of Canson Mi-tientes, felt gray color.   4 new Unison pastels added, which I enjoyed working with more than the Rembrandts, especially the color BV4 in the shadow areas on the skin.  Unfortunately I forgot to get the model's name. 

"36 Heads", portrait #1

      July 26, 2011, Heidi

      Soft Pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes

      12"x16"

 

First portrait session in the "36 Heads" project.  Heidi posed for us in the sun and the lighting changed over the 3 hour session.  There were breaks every 20 minutes for the model and artists, total painting time just over 2 hours. This was the first time I've painted a posed model outdoors, and the changing light made for an interesting painting experience.   I am returning to soft pastels after a 2 year break- and realized how much I have missed them.  This is also my first clothed model session in a couple of years, and quite a change after spending the past 3 1/2 years on and off focusing on the human form and attending nude model sessions.   I worked in Rembrandt soft pastels on the smooth side of Canson Mi-Teintes Sky Blue for this portrait.  Realizing I need to invest in some softer pastels, although Rembrandts are good for Canson, a softer pastel would have been easier for me over the 2 hour period.  Think I painted a good likeness, but got home and realized the values are off.  Need to work on hair, clothing and neck, those were the hardest for me in this portrait.