Lots of Locks
 

Hi! Here is a recent pastel commission. It had been a while since I had to paint such curly hair. What a bear (but boy am I jealous). When I took photos of the little girl she was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt without a collar so I invented a dress which is a bit more timeless and more feminine for such a sweet face. Pastels on Ampersand Pastelbord. 16" X 20". Thank you for peeking.

Edit: I notice the photo of the portrait looks a bit orange but when I color corrrected for that everything else went haywire. Use your imagination and desaturate the face a bit in your mind if possible.

WOW! This is great!. Well done.

Hi Lisa--
She's lovely. You've captured those weightless curls some kids have so well. Beautiful eyes.

Expertly done Lisa, with perfect lighting.

VERY nice Lisa! :thumbsup:

Nice job
 

Beautifully done, Lisa!

Ngaire, Terri, Mike, Mary, and Julie, thank you all so much! After I posted I thought, "What a chicken I am! I probably should have posted in the critique section." Next time I will do that. I've learned so much here so far.

Okay Mike, you have my heart now. This is one of very few portraits I have done with natural lighting-no flash. I think it has made a difference and I realized how important it was when I joined SOG.

Terri, yes those weightless curls. They are however quite a pain. It's amazing how where and how the curls fall affects the likeness in my opinion.

Thanks to all of you. In spite of the rain here I might actually have a great day!

Lisa, this turned out very nice. Do you give lessons in "how to paint locks"?

Lisa,

Beautiful job!

Next time you do such a head of hair, why don't you photograph the stepsalong the way to do a mini-demo? :)

Beautiful
 

Looks fantastic! I have some of that ampersand pastel board but have never used it. I'm anxious to try it. I heard that it really is nice to work on and the pastel adheres very well.

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

Garth, well when it comes to a compliment that one is my favorite to hear because eyes are the most fun for me. I save the finishing touches on them until the very last. That speeds me up for the other stuff so I can get to the eyes. It's like that old ketchup commercial--waiting with anticipation for the best part. So, thanks!

Michele, I "wow" you right back on all your work, so there! Seriously, thank you. My middle name is impatience so it's nice when it pays off with a "wow." Most would say, "Idiot, you are not living up to your potential."

Jean, you reminded me today about the sharpening issue so when I went to the art supply store to buy that pastel ground I tested a few sharpeners. I found on that just might work. If it really does, I will buy you one and send it to you because it would belong in Ripley's. I'll let you know. Otherwise I am back to your method. It's so annoying using a blade. As for playing around, if you did it I am sure it wouldn't be playing. You'd master it right off the bat. Do let me know if you give it a shot. Well, off to try the new ground I applied to a board thanks to you!

I did'nt read the other replies (not lazy, just tired) so I'm sorry if I'm repeating. This piece has a stunning classical quality to it, timeless. It's very beautiful.

Jimmie, what an incredibly flattering comment coming from an artist whose "Korrine" blew my mind and inspired me to try harder. You are an amazing talent. Thank you for taking the time to look at my painting. Hope you get some sleep.

You have a great skill at capturing the innocence in children, you'd never have to thank me for "taking my time", I find it a pleasure to look at one of your new works.

Sleep? Ha! I'm actually going to step out for a short drive. Gonna pick up some fruits and sugar-free snacks. Should be back by 2:30am. Take care.

You're up later than I am and I thought I was the insomniac! Why such healthy snacking? You're making me look bad. I just ate potato chips.

Just got in a little while ago. Kimberly's got us both beat with the insomnia.

I was told about a year ago to cut down on sugar, my triglycerides(sp?) were high. Doc said they were as high as an alcoholic's, which is bad because I don't drink at all. I used to drink juices all the time, never drank soda and ate a lot of sweets. A LOT.

During the sugar-free diet, I went from about 200lbs to 175lbs and don't want to put it back on. No sugar, fast food, or other high fat stuff.

I eat pizza and some sugar now, time to time because I slowly kept losing weight, so I'm just trying to maintain 175. Dieting stinks.

I can't believe this only took you 2 hours!!!! :exclamati I would be slaving over it for...20 times that!! OK: you have to make a video of you working on a pastel from start to finish. I'll buy it, put it in my video player, hit the super slo-mo button....and learn.

Awesome!! - that's all I can think of...

I should have checked the forum last night as I was up till the wee hours also, not painting though. I envy and scold you all!!

Lisa, I graciously accept your offer of a sharpener that actually works, I'm not holding my breath though, I have at least 10 different types that don't work. ;) Two hours is phenomenal, I'd like to be a fly on your wall to just watch the pastel dust fly by.

Jean

David, thank you very much.. I doubt I could give you any useful information. Your "Yulia" painting made me cry and yes, I admit I saved it on my computer as inspiration of what I would like to do one day (at least in my dreams). It should be obvious to you of all people that my speed doesn't equal quality. It's just speed at his point but I hope to apply myself better as time goes on. Still, thank you for the compliment as I think you are an amazing artist.

Jean, it's a deal then. I have new pastel pencils which came sharp so I haven't really gone to town with the sharpener yet. I'm afraid I am going to be disappointed and add it to my huge pile of sharpeners as well. Maybe we should just put our heads together and invent a sharpener that works. We'd make a mint! As for being a fly on my wall, you'd be so bored unless you like loud music in which case there would be a little entertainment I suppose. Hey, I'm starting a vignette on my homemade board tonight! I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for the information on that. I'm a bit nervous...

Lisa you certainly have a lovely piece here! Contgratulations.

I think I could have spent 2 hours on one of your lovely eyes.

Elizabeth, thank you so much. I was visiting your site and I think your sense of color is just beautiful. I love the painting entitled "Gwendolyn." It's just wonderful so I suspect that it wouldn't take you hardly any time to do gorgeous eyes as you have already done. I'm really having fun getting to know everyone here and seeing all the stunning work. Thank you again.

Lisa, This is lovely, and as stated before the hair and eyes are incredible. As far as sharpeners go I have a Dahle 155 which is great for pastel pencils. It adjusts to the different pencil sizes and you can also determine how sharp you want your pencil from 3/8-1/2 inch.

Jenni! I am so sorry I missed this post. Better late than never because the pencil sharpener I thought was gonig to work well turned out to be like all the others. Thank you first for the compliments on my little painting. Thank you also for the sharpener suggestion. I am going to go hunt that down and try it.

Again, sorry it has taken me so long to respond.