Pastel Portrait_ Woman in Lemon Shawl

I saw this woman in Rishikesh on my last trip to India earlier this year.She was one among many who flock the banks of river Ganga, seeking peace and embracing spirituality. She was not beautiful in a traditional sense but I liked her weather beaten face and world weary expression.

Woman in Lemon Shawl

Pastel on Pastel Mat 48x34 cm

About a week and a lot of effort was spent on this portrait. I used layer upon layer of pastel pencils to create smooth skin textures. The goal was to create a life like portrait. It was a disappointing moment when I learned that it was rejected by Federation of British Artists for their upcoming Pastel Painters exhibition in London.I was in fact quite hopeful for it.
This is my second rejection from this body and now I don't feel like entering anymore.May be I don't have what they are looking for. A friend suggested that I visit the exhibition to see what kind of work gets selected; but I have my doubts - should I be painting what the judges like to see, or should I follow my heart? I don't know.

The Hermit _ Sold

18"x24"

Soft Pastels on Pastelmat

SOLD

I am happy to share this piece of news with you all.This Hermit from India is going to a UK household today.

Frankly speaking, I never thought it would...It is a very peculiar subject ;and not many people would buy portraits that are not their own/family.

But yesterday the CEO of my husband's firm asked to buy it when he saw it at 'FineArtAmerica' website.

So I think I sold my first portrait today which is not a commission! 

Little Girl Pastel Portrait

10"x14"

Pastels on Canson Me-Tientes paper

This morning I decided to paint something small.True, its 10"x 14"- still I am calling it 'small' because I did it entirely using the side of my soft pastel sticks, no use of pastel pencils.Its tough to let go the control of the pencil, but I managed some how :) The paper was red toned so I chose the subject with a dark skin tone. It took me about two hours.The piece is loose but presentable, what do you say?

Portrait of a Teenager

Soft Pastels on pastel mat

35x50 cm

Some of you may recognize him- this is my son who agreed to let me take his picture after much cajoling ( I had to pay him ,actually, for the 'photo session'!) Well I thinks it was worth the effort, as this portrait has turned out nicely ( I will still wait for his verdict when he comes home from school!).

As he sat, the sunlight came through the full window and  fell on one side of his face.I wanted to capture not only that light, but the shadow area too, that somehow 'glows' when you are sitting in direct sunlight. I would love to hear what do you think of this effort.

Pastel mat is now my favorite support as it does not need blending.I did not blend at all.For smooth and fine details I used pastel pencils.They work beautifully on this surface.

My Group show opened last evening, with a nice little gathering.I seem to be one of the very few portrait artists here- mostly its landscape or animals painters in our Art Club.Here are a few pics:

Old Lady close up in Pastels

Soft Pastel pencils on buff colored paper

16"x12"

Another one in the pastel series..While "Devotee'' was detailed and took 5-6 hours to complete, this one was softer, with less color applied and more paper showing.I wanted to experiment with only white and brown pastel with paper providing mid tones-but I guess I painted it too large.Had to add some mid tones,too.This one took one sitting of about two hours.

Young Monk

Soft Pastels on Canson Paper

20"x14"

The long awaited pastel painting...I am not very happy with this,though.It will take a lot of time to be able to tame this medium.I think I used too much pigment...should have kept some background color showing through.May be..I am so new at it- I just don't know what should I do! Artists use this medium in lots of different ways and I will have to find out what appeals to me the most.The core problem,however, is,how  to store these works.I don't want to spray them with fixative too much for the fear of spoiling the color.Will I need to frame each of them? Advise anyone? Hilda?...