Today’s task at my drawing class was to paint a portrait. I started doing a few initial, very soft pencil strokes, just to get the main features arranged correctly on the paper and then I went on with the soft pastels. Soft pastels are fun! And I never knew these worked with water too. The reference photo I was working from today was black/white, so adding color to this one was completely up to me.
When I had the face, hat and shirt done, I wanted to try be more free and relaxed doing the background. So I added color there in black and green shades and then went over it with brush and water. It turned out a big mess. I learned that soft pastels are already very rich in color on their own, but that is greatly enhanced with water added.
When the painting had dried, I tried to level out the mess a bit – by layering more white and yellow pastels over the really dark parts and black pastel over the very green parts. Some parts I smeared out with my fingers to create contrasts to have his face stand out from the background. It all did fix the mess a bit. Considering it is the first time I play with a pastel and water combination, and the first time I got likeness fairly well in first try, I very much like the finished piece. I love the color palette.
The reference photo for this painting was in an old booklet, which my drawing teacher had collected and given to my class for inspiration in school in the late 80’ies. The same booklet held the reference photo for the lady I drew in ink not that long ago.
