"My Friend Susan"12" x 16"
Pastel
Susan is a dear friend that I met through my Monday morning drawing class about three years ago. Today Susan was a little tired and didn't feel like drawing our ice skate still life, so she offered to pose for us. I had fun drawing her, but then I was a bit timid with the color. Bob showed me to use more chroma, and he quickly pulled some color across the planes of the face in a raw sienna for the lights and burnt sienna for the mid-tone values on the face. Who would have thought. So after I got that help I was able to continue developing the piece. Pastel is all so new for me. Great fun with friends!
9 comments:
Hi Mary, I am particularly taken by how wonderful the drawing is! Nicely done.
Only after reading your post about the added colours did I realize how very intense the colour is -- it really worked beautifully, didn't it? Well done!
If this is your start in pastel, I am really looking forward to a couple more pieces under your belt. Love the highlight and shading of her hair, like the structure of her face.
Peggy, thanks so much. The drawing class is a wonderful way for me to improve my art.
Charlene, I am happy to hear that about the colors. I didn't see the colors that intense, and Bob is a classical artist. It's interesting to me how he achieves a sense of realism, but is actually very creative in how he does it. I've learned a lot.
Sheila, you are so suppotive. Susan has wonderful bone structure and I felt good about how I captured her looks.
To To 文章 (Composition)
I put your words through a translator and assumed Japanese to English. (I am embarassed to say I am not certain I identified your language correctly). The translator says:
"It is pleasant 樂 right 你 與 raw 俱 來 mark 權 power, 它 non- 應 said arrangement 於 你 completion 什 麼."
Thank you for your comments.
Mary- your friend Susan must be very pleased with your rendition! The colors are wonderful and her expression to me captures her personality- even though I've never met her. I think she must be a very interesting person.
Pam, I admire your insight very much. Susan is a very interesting person and I am honored to call her a friend. She has a tremendous breadth of knowledge, with years of experience in the very large, highly respected library system in our area. She has had some real personal challenges in the past couple years and has carried on with determination and dignity. We consider our art class on Monday morning part therapy!
Mary,
This is a very effective portrait. No one would ever guess that you are fairly new to pastels. The colors do work well indeed. Well done!
Thanks, Christiane, for your encouragement.
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