The jury's out
 

Hi! I could use some help. This is the first pastel I've done since 1984, and I wasn't proud of that one either.

I've heard that pastels reproduce nicely as gicl

Here's the picture with the reference.

Here's a detail (top).

And here's another detail (bottom).

Cathleen,

Are you looking for a smooth blended look? The pencils don't seem to blend the way the sticks do.

Catherine, I love the way you've handled the cloth of her dress and the way the feet and arms are coming out. Lovely color and texture. Your technique and use of the pastels is fine, in my opinion. My concerns are more subject and model-related. Right now her nose is too sharp, her head seems too pale and the features aren't sufficiently delineated, although I realize that this is a work in progress. But I also keep asking myself what the story of the painting is: why is she there against that background and in that position? Because of the colors you've used for the various components she doesn't really seem to fit into the world you've created for her. Perhaps that's the impression you're looking for, though.

I like the drama and mystery of the deeply shaded interior space you have in the original source photo. I would go with that. Nice job on the fabric!

Michele and Leslie,

Thanks for your comments! To be honest, I tried to make up a "scene" to put the figure in, and it looks made up, doesn't it? Now, to get to a nice deep, say, velvety background, should I erase or try to scrape off the dumb background or cover it up directly, or then again, start over?

I'm at home with oil and graphite, so I'd know when I made a dud or when I could fix it with those two media; I suspect it'll take a lot of elbow grease to repair this one. Or is this when a soft pastel applied hard comes to the rescue?

What you're describing sounds like a waste of time to me. It may also damage the paper. I'd say keep what you've done for reference and start something new. You can do it differently. A new medium takes practice.

I don't work enough with pastel to know if that background could be covered up. That's one of the reasons I work with oils: it's very forgiving of changes and it takes the same amount of time as working in other mediums. (Oh, and people will pay more for an oil painting!)

Pastels aren't my medium either, but I would think you could make adjustments by using soft pastels. The pastel artists I know seem to work hard to soft, as oil painters work lean to fat. And I wouldn't ditch the painting; it's really nice and you've got so many interesting elements in it that I think it's a keeper.

Dear Cathy,

In my experience, Wallis paper is about the only commercially available paper you could rework to the extent that you have in mind. The Stonehenge, and most other papers I have tried, just don't have a sturdy enough tooth to take aggressive reworking.

Congratulations of your beautiful new website! Your work is absolutely lovely.

I think this is beautiful! A great find on the ref photo too! I love what you did with the fabric of the dress.

I like the figure a lot, but I would indeed, change the background. I don't like the bright blue there and I would darken it with green. Maybe you can make the shapes in the background a bit more vague. Just try with softer pastels and see how much you can still cover. It all depends if the tooth of the paper (I don't know that paper myself) is filled up yet.

I like the fact that the whole is not too smooth and one is still able to see the strokes. It makes it alive.

Hi Cathy,

The thing that interests me the most about this work is how very different it is from your oil portraits on your website. You have quite a range!

I think that one of the hardest things to do when an artist changes backgrounds is to come up with believable shadows.

By the way, that hand on the viewer's right side is especially lovely.

The blues
 

Whether oil or pastel the background needs to be integrated with the foreground. Those strong chromatic blues in the shadows and mountains seem very isolated from the figure and I don't feel any atmosphere. The drawing is the strongest part but the relationships need to be rethought.

Hope this helps.

Cathy,

As you've shown it to us, the work does have an appeal for the eye. It seems to be an expression of emotion rather than a formal portrait. The pencil marks could be a significant part of that expression. Maybe you would like to do more works of a similar theme.

How's this?
 

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I think the changes are an improvement!

I agree!
 

It looks like a totally different painting. Very dramatic now.

Jean

Yes! That does it. Sometimes less is more; the dark background doesn't compete with the figure either in color or in content, and the picture now reads as a cohesive whole. Very nice!