Enzie and Chris, thank you for the kind words and your comments on the hair. Those curls take some turns, don't they? I spent many years and some money trying to get my hair to do something like that with no luck. It also feels like I spent years drawing the curls on this little girl. It made me happy that most of my client's have children with fine straight hair.

I know there is nothing I could teach either of you when it comes to painting, but your comments are most appreciated. One day, should I achieve any level of satisfaction in my work, I might feel comfortable with a little step-by-step. Until then I am going to take your compliments and run as fast as I can so no one can steal them back. Thanks.

Ardith, thank you as well! I cannot sing the praises of Ampersand's Pastelbord enough. It is just incredible. As I understand it, it is made with marble dust which provides a fine texture similar but not as painful on the fingers as Wallis. It is superb at holding pastels and beats the potential wrinkling, waving and fragility of any paper. It holds its tooth forever allowing many layers to be applies without losing the surface. It takes a little adjusting to if you are coming from paper like Canson, but I highly recommend giving it a try. Go look at the difference I believe it made in Jenni Nolen's beautiful "Something about Genevieve" thread recently in Pastel Critiques. You may have seen it already. She started with Canson and switched to Pastelbord and I think it improved her already impressive painting. I love the stuff. can you tell? Thank you again.

Lisa,
Let me add . . . BEAUTIFUL ! ! ! and WOW ! ! ! This is so much more polished than anything I've seen of yours to this point. I think the lighting without the flash is the key!! Mike knows his stuff when it comes to photography.

You go Girl!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

All I can think of is "wow!"

Lisa, this is so beautiful, and I am really enjoying your flawless technique. The color is fresh and subtle as well. Beautifully done! I have to ask you how many hours it took to draw those curls.

Just lovely.

Hi Lisa,

I'm gone for a day and come to back to another one of your exquisite pastels! Did you use pastel pencils on this one too? If so, what brand do you prefer, and how are you sharpening them? Her mouth is just precious.

Jean

Patricia, thank you for the enthusiastic compliment. I do think this is a bit more polished looking but I'm not sure why. I think you are so right about the photography helping. Eliminating the flash really does make a difference and yes, Mike knows his stuff for sure.

Michelle, receiving a "wow" from you means so much to me. I admire your work and knowledge very much and I have learned a lot from many of your posts.

Kimberly, thank you so much!

Thank you, Linda. I don't know about flawless, but I'm not complaining about the use of the word of course. This one took me about 2 hours total. I bet the curls took up a large chunk of that 2 hours. Yes, I work very quickly which has been a flaw over the years. I think I get bored easily or perhaps when I sit down to work I am so intense I don't realize my frenzied pace. I'm almost afraid to answer the question though for fear my clients will see and start dividing cost by time. Most of my pastel vignettes run between 2 and 4 hours. It takes longer for me now that I have to put a background in as I am working on Ampersand's Pastelbord. On Canson, they took less time because I didn't need to put in the background most of the time.


Jean, you are so kind! Thank you. For this one I combined my pastel sticks which are mostly Rembrandt and Nu-pastels with the pencils for the details. Since this board eats pastels a bit more, the pencils just won't work. I will still be working on the first layer if I hadn't used the sticks. I have quite a combination of pencils. I use mainly the Faber-Castells but I also have Conte, Cretacolor, Stabilo, and Bruynzeel. Really, they all have about the same qualities. It's just that the colors vary. Sharpening is a nightmare! A nightmare! I have a really old electric sharpener that seems to do the best job (still with issues). When all else fails I use a utility knife. Do you have any sharpening tips?

Thank you to all of you for your nice words. I must have had a stroke of luck with this portrait. We'll see what happens with the next one in the critique forum but for now you have put a smile on my face...much needed this week.

Hi Lisa,
What beautiful work. I especially like the eyes.
Congratulations, :thumbsup:

Jerome

Even more "wow!"

Hi Lisa, I don't have any sharpening tips, just an x-acto knife and sandpaper. I only have about 10 pencils and they don't fit in the sharpener so I rarely use them. Therefore my pastels have very little detail work. Now that I'm working on boards I probably won't get any more and just stay with a looser style.

I love what you do on paper though and may play around. I was hoping you had a magic method. Indecision reigns!

Jean