Richard,

I like this piece very much. It has a lot of life to it. The color is fresh and not overworked. Do more from life! Don't worry about composition and background so much. Pastel is tricky to manage at first and this shows how much your mastery of a difficult medium has come along.

I was talking to a friend of mine, a well known pastellist, she says that you have to get aquainted with the pastel colors. So you know , say, that, Sennelier mummy # 110, is just the right highlight color. It is somewhat like learning the placement of letters on a typewriter. You kind of have familiarize yourself with the countless colors and values. After a while it comes almost automatically. That is until you buy another set of pastels!

Dragoon your relatives and friends. I would but they refuse to wear tutus!

Sincerely,

Thank you, Sharon, your comments mean very much to me. Mr. DeMille emphasizes a loose, fresh feeling in his portrait teachings.

I agree in that I should work more from life. I think I may just drag in some friends/family to model for me. However, there are a few of them that neither you or I would want to see in a tutu!

Sincerely,

Richard,

I know how difficult it is to work from a model in pastel and keep it fresh. I can't imagine doing it in somebody elses studio where I don't have all my pastels at hand. Dragging along a limted amount of colors to a workshop and coming up with such a wonderful result is something to be proud of.

I will await your next live portrait.

Sincerely,