I have been working on doing my portraits for various classes. I am currently enrolled in two Suzi Blu classes ("Angels" and "The Goddess and Poet") and "Pursuing Portraits" with Pam Carriker. I finally broke down and ordered a set of the portrait Pan Pastel colors. I love working with pastels and am looking forward to trying these out. My Creation of Adam was done completely in Charcoal and Soft Pastels.




I originally had decided to do the Delphic Sibyl (I love Michelangelo's work) but ended up doing this piece. I had to find a book to take the image from as images from the net sometimes distort the colors. After picking the image, I had to "grid" it out. Once I had the grid done, I then had to make a larger image as the final piece. After drawing the grid on drawing paper, I then filled the grid in to match the original grid of the smaller image. For this assignment, one of the parameters was that we had to use dry media for the color. I decided on pastels. I used many different pastels (pencils and soft pastels) to color it. It took me 6 weeks from beginning to end to finish this piece (and I was still rushed to complete the piece).

Here is the original image of the "Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo.

Here is my second sketch for the class "The Goddess and Poet". All these sketches have been done using graphite drawing pencils (2H, HB, 2B, and 3B). I am really enjoying the class. If you are interested in doing faces, you should take a Paulette Insall and Suzi Blu class.

I am currently taking two Suzi Blu classes "The Goddess and Poet" and "Angels". Here are the sketches I have done for the first week of the class. I also posted some images of features that I have been practicing.

This was the first drawing that I did that was exhibited in an invitation only exhibit. I thought I would re-post since I have started getting back to my artistic roots of portraiture and figure drawing.

Well, I finished my second painting and did end up putting red hair on her. Not sure how I feel about her not having bangs but I guess it is okay.



I used pastels, colored pencils, caran d'ache, Golden paints (both heavy body and fluid acrylics), and a white gel pen to create this image. I love the way the background shows through her hair. I need to finish her top and do something more with the background.

I decided to experiment on a canvas board using different media. I transferred a sketch of a face that I made onto an already painted background. For the skin tone I used a layer of titan buff fluid acrylics, after that was dry, I applied a layer of Golden's Acrylic Ground for Pastels. My next step was to use pastels but I picked up the wrong box (non-smear) and, as expected, they didn't blend very well. I then moved over to Prismacolor Colored Pencils and did the rest of the shading and highlighting. For the very bright highlights, I used a white gel pen.

My next step is to add her hair. I think I am going to make her a redhead after which I will finish off the background. Check back to see how I finish her.