One hour black and white pastel portrait study, done on Canson dark gray, 14" x 12"

I thought I would try to paint a black and white pastel at a portrait workshop that I attend. It definitely is different than using charcoal or graphite. I was still thinking pastel, yet no color... kind of weird. But... I did enjoy it, and I think I will be doing it more often. It's a neat way to just do something different, yet still do pastels. And it's a great way to concentrate on values, which are so important.

I know the size of the pupils aren't quite the same and need tweaking, but this is for learning's sake, I will just apply the knowledge to the next one.   Not perfect, just an hour's worth of pasteling, a good exercise.

I painted this on dark gray Canson paper, and I used black, white and gray pastels, both warm and cool. NuPastels, Giraults, and Grumbachers (very old...) were used. Size is 14" x 12" ish....

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

"Lilacs", another painting without a sketch, 18" x 12 1/2"

The lilacs are in full bloom here, and they are beautiful. Last week I just had to paint them, but what's a person to do, there are sooooo many little petals. I tried the same approach as I did with the pansies, it was the only way I could manage these beautiful flowers. The last time I tried to paint lilacs was probably 20 years ago, and it was a disaster. I actually tried to paint all the little petals , not a good idea. Since then I'd always avoided painting them, as I wasn' t sure how to simplify. I'm more comfortable simplifying theses days, it's definitely the way to go for a subject like this. I may noodle a bit more with the background on the right, I used a really nice red violet in there and I may want to put a bit more in. I don't want to overdo it, but a little more might be nice.

My daughter likes this one, and she's asked if I can frame it and put it in her room. Of course I said yes .

This is done on Canson Mi Teintes, paper color tobacco. I used mostly Schmincke and Giraults, the size is 18" x 12 1/2". 

I am having a difficult time getting an accurate photo to post here.  It looks fine on my computer, but once I post it here the colors and values change.  This is the best I could come up with:

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Here is the setup I painted from.  As you can see, I've worked on this a bit more, refining the flowers and playing with the background.  This photo is a bit washed out, it's difficult to get a good photo with lights on the painting, it tends to distort the values.

"The Architect", Pastel, 16" x 18", Painted on Wallis Belgium Mist

I do believe I am finally done with this painting.  I thoroughly enjoyed the process, so much that I am fired up to do another portrait.  I'm not sure who my next victim will be.  I'm thinking about my daughter, maybe......



This is very close to the original painting, I think I got the colors and values represented accurately.  Taking photos of my work is always a science experiment, I keep on trying until I get it right.  Thank goodness for digital photography, it makes things so much easier.

I ended up with almost a square format here, and I quite like it.  I've always been partial to either square formats or landscape formats for portraits.  I know, it's not what most people expect, and I think that is what I like about it, the fact that it's unexpected.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Painting without a sketch.....

.........is something I find very difficult to do.  I thought I would try painting some pansies today, taking a break from my commission.  Sometimes I need to do that to clear my head and relax. 

I painted with some friends this morning, I always appreciate the opportunity to do that.  My friend's wife had some pansies in a pot outside.  They were beautiful, but there were so many!  I figured if I got lost in the sketch I'd never get to paint, they'd die first!  So, I quickly put some abstract shapes where I thought the flowers should go, placed where I wanted the pot to be, and started painting.  Like I said, for me this is definitely out of my comfort zone. 

This one is painted with mostly Senneliers and Schminckes, such soft lucious pastels.  I had one green Girault too.  It is done on Canson Mi Teintes, the color is Ivy.  Size is  18" x 12 1/2". 

This first photo is just the painting:

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

This next photo is the painting with the set up, you can see my set of Senneliers on the table.  The colors in the painting here are a bit washed out, there was a light over my shoulder, and when I light up my paintings and try to take a photo, the colors get washed out.  You can see that even the paper doesn't look dark green, it looks gray.  This is to show what I painted from:

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

"Tulips for the Girls", Pastel, 8" x 11"

It occurred to me that I never shared this painting on my blog.  It is something I painted a few years ago, and it was around Easter.  So, in honor of  Easter and the promise of Spring, I am posting this painting.    I ended up giving prints of this to my Mom, my sisters, and my sisters-in-law, thus the title "Tulips for the Girls".

I painted this on watercolor paper, with Art Spectrum Colourfix primer.  I used pan pastels sprayed with alcohol as the underpainting, and various sticks from my vast collection.

Happy Easter!

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

The value of a value sketch.....

I find myself using value sketches more and more when starting a landscape.  I combine a small thumbnail with a bit of a more finished sketch, ending up with a "thumbnail value sketch".  The size is a bit larger than a thumbnail, this one is 5" x 7".  I sketched it using vine charcoal on some paper I prepared for pastel, Arches hot press watercolor paper with pumice gel applied with a foam roller.  My original intent was to just do the value study as a gray scale underpainting, and then start pasteling.  I kind of like this, so I think I'll just keep it as is.  It will be useful in developing a larger pastel painting I think.  I'm going to try to use it as my reference, and disregard my photo from this point forward.  This way I won't be "married to the photo", sort of a freeing experience I think.

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.

Note to self...... "use lighter colored paper when sketching with vine charcoal...."

Let me just preface this post by apologizing for not posting anything these past few months.  I had a personal loss and have been dealing with the sadness.  I have been unable to paint and I just let it be, knowing that eventually I would come around.  Yesterday seemed to be the day that broke my hiatus.  I somehow was able to find some joy in my art again. 

This was sketched at a portrait workshop last night.  His name is Billy, and I sketched from life, it was done in about 45 minutes.  I started it thinking I would do a full color pastel sketch.  My thought process was to block in the face using darks, to sort of have the image appear using the negative space and dark values.  I've always wanted to try this approach, and I found it is quite difficult yet very effective.   As I progressed I found I liked the vine charcoal and the effect I was getting.  I didn't want to introduce anything else into the mix (like a light colored pastel to show my lights..... sigh....), so I just let it be.  I like the way this turned out despite the fact that the paper I used is a bit too dark (Canson MT is the paper I used.)  Next time I will just decide in the beginning that it will be a charcoal and use a lighter toned paper - in a perfect world anyway... we all know how that goes.  Sometimes when I plan it goes against me.  More often I get these "happy accidents" (thank you Bob Ross, I've always loved that phrase), or serendipity (thank you Richard McKinley, another great descriptive....).  It's a good thing I at least know how I achieved this, sometimes serendipity occurs but the vehicle used to get there remains a mystery....

© by Christine DiMauro, all rights reserved.