Pam Pastel’s

Ooops, was that a typo? Not really, this lovely medium is called Pan Pastel’s. I just love them so much I call them Pam’s Pastel’s:-) They are lovely, ultra soft, artist pastels that come in little cakes or pans. I often use them with other mediums, for a soft touch to

backgrounds or for quick coloring in my journal.

What I had not done before is to create a portrait using only the pastel’s, no paint. It gives a totally different feel to the work. Very soft looking, slightly out of focus. Lovely. And so fast you won’t believe it! Perfect for journal work. So this morning I decided to do a little video tutorial for you! It took a total of 23 minutes from start to finish for this portrait, and that includes fiddling with the camera, so you can see it is fast. There is no dry time, no mess, and quick coverage.

This is the portrait at the end of the video

This is the finished portrait. I used a little charcoal and some water soluble crayon on the background, the face is done only with the pastels and graphite pencil.

You can view the video here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zx5CfNLpI8

available in my etsy shop

Art at the Speed of Life

One of the questions I get asked most is, ‘How long does it take you to paint a portrait’? I really had no idea. All of my work is done is small increments of time, as I squeeze my art life around my family life. A layer here, a load of laundry there, some paint, pick up kids, you get the idea. I’m sure most of you can relate. So today I thought it would be fun to do a 9×12 portrait, and record the whole process. Everytime I could get to the studio for a few minutes, I taped while I worked. In the end it took 1 hour and 11 minutes. I then made a little video in fast forward mode to share the process from start to finish.

Here is the video, enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuqNCf5T23s

This was done on a 9×12 hot press watercolor block using Golden Fluid Acrylics, ephemera, charcoal, water soluble crayon and graphite.


available in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27326537

More Inspiration

Talk about inspiring, I saw this on Face Book (Gabriela Avila’s page) and I had to share it with you.

Listen, look, and be inspired.

by Philip Scott Johnson 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western ArtMusic: Bach’s Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo MaNominated as Most Creative Video2nd Annual YouTube AwardsFor a complete list of artists and paintings visit http://www.maysstuff.com/womenid.htm