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!
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Originally Posted by Linda Brandon
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 get draw those curls.
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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.
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Originally Posted by Jean Kelly
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.
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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.