. . . And Now It's Watercolor!

 After a long Covid Pause ...

Pastel painting (yes, they call it "painting" even though I think it is really drawing) is tricky and dirty. And the powder emanating from putting chalk to paper is not healthy for your lungs. Also, it's a pain in the neck to frame. But I in spite of all that, I still love it. The way the pastel glides across the paper, immediately releasing brilliant color in the process, and no smelly chemicals, drying time or surprise colors as what you see is what you get (unless you mixed the powders).  And it's great for portraiture.

The following quick intro to painting a portrait in pastel should be enough information to get you started, or at least interested in starting, so read on and Enjoy!

INSTRUCCTIONS ~

Supplies: You can start with a minimal of a set of 12 or so pastels, but you will have to mix colors right on the paper, which is actually fun.  Most pastel artists have boxes and boxes of pastel colors to choose from. So messy and confusing and takes up so much space.  I'd rather mix, but I do have what I consider a nice variety of colors.

So if you want to really jump in, it's nice to have pastel pencils, medium pastel sticks (like Nupastel brand), and soft pastels which come in many brands.  When a piece will be important, I start with pencils and block in, overlay with Nupastels, and make dramatic highlights and accents with soft pastels.  For this portrait I have used a minimum of colors as an experiment: A black charcoal pencil for the smallest of dark spots, a white charcoal pencil for the smallest of white spots, and Nupastels in white, yellow, orange, red, blue, green brown and black.

Paper - Pastel paper is always recommended, although it's usually kind of flimsy and you have to be careful not to create a bend or fold. Paper should have some "tooth" to grab the pastel. I like mat board as I know I won't damage it while painting or framing.  Colored paper is nice because you aren't faced with bright white, and skipped-over flecks of paper do not readily show through.  If you choose a tan or buff color, then your mid-tones may be taken care of. I also like a light seafoam green, and whatever color you choose may make a nice background too.

A paper stump for blending and softening edges is good. Kneadable erasure to lift out mistakes (use sparingly), black charcoal pencils for pupils and specific small deep black places.

A rule of thumb with pastel is: light over dark.  You start with the darkest pastels first (with black only being used when absolutely necessary, as it smudges easily and muddies other colors when smudged into it). Overlay dark values gradually with lighter values, saving the highest highlights for use with soft white pastels.

The following photograph of "Gypsy" unfortunately is not a high-resolution image, therefore there is no highly-detailed information in the shadowed eye or the headdress and hair area.  Much of my painting in color of those areas has been guesswork.

Photograph of "Gypsy"

Make a tracing of the photo.

Color the backside with raw umber pastel (dark brown).

Using a pencil, transfer the image onto pastel paper.

Draw over the traced lines with raw umber pastel.

Look for shadows on photo and color the shadow shapes with raw umber.

Lightly cover all skin areas with a medium shade of green.

Now cover all skin areas with a light layer of medium red.

Then a light covering of yellow

Identify the lightest areas of the Gypsy's face, and using a white pastel stick blend them together with a circular motion, not pressing too hard, but just blending and lightening the areas that catch the light.

Blend the rest of the skin areas being careful not to lighten shadows.

Adjust skin as needed, adding more red or green or yellow - whatever is needed to make the skin color more natural.

Using white Nupastel or pastel pencil, indicate reflection outlining left side of face. Using black pastel, sketch in hair to the left of the highlight, enhancing the highlight.

Color the rest of the portrait, 

Clothing - For the white blouse I used a scant layer of green, red and brown, and overlaid it with white Nupastel, then heavy strokes of soft white pastel at the highlights.  For the dark vest part I put down a layer of black and overlaid a coat of blue, then highlighted that where necessary with a light touch of white.

The jewelry was painted with strokes of green, orange, yellow and red.

I hope you enjoyed this little lesson, and if you would like to see a video demonstration of me painting a pastel portrait, please Google Judy Burgarella and find my painting of "Noah."  It is a one-hour demonstration.

Enjoy!

Judy Burgarella

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