Sebastian

[Bruce Johnson]

Hi folks

I have been painting in pastel since the beginning of this year and have recently changed to oil. Last weekend I intended painting a portrait in oil but got dragged away to a BBQ. Rather than sit and listen to the ladies talking about summer sales and fashion, I got out my pastels again and painted our hosts son. This is Sebastian. he has an angelic face but his personality is quite mischievous. My goal was to capture this personality in his expression. I didn't finish the portrait in the time (about 3 hours) but I think i was well on the way. It was a very bright sunny day, and I posed Seb in the shade under an apple tree. Hopefully this weekend I will get another session with Seb , and finsh the portrait.
Nupastel on Mi Teintes 25 x 19. .

Incidentally this pic was taken in my studio with my new Nikon D80 camera, 18-135mm lens set on 70mm and under standard flouro lighting. The camera was set on auto with auto focus. THe colours are very accurate to the actual painting.

[Julie Deane]

Hi Bruce -

An impressive work for 3 hours! I like the the texture of the hair and the roughness of the background seems to compliment it.

Since this will be continued, I'd suggest that you look critically at the way the line of the mouth is following a different trajectory compared to the line of the eyes. The mouth seems to be tilted in a different direction.

Hope you post your continued progress.

[Bruce Johnson]

Hi Julie thanks for your comments... yes you're right about the angle of the mouth.. I had a large drawing board resting on my lap and it wasn't until I stood up that I noticed this.. its annoyed me every time I've looked at it since.. I'll fix it for sure
the backround will be a blurred mixture of greens, cool yellows and purples indicating foliage. The hair will be developed more in the front and gently blend into the background colours.. Thanks for stopping by...