… as a three-and-a-half-hour experiment. I had never attempted a portrait in oil pastels, and wanted to try one using a limited palette of four shades, similar to those which have worked well for me in several soft-pastel portraits.
I built up the image on warm-tinted Ingres paper in Neocolor II (wax pastels) and Neopastel (oil pastels), blending with fingers and kitchen towels. It’s about 8×5″. The highlights have scanned rather harshly, and I can see a couple of details I may be tempted to tweak; but I can’t help but be happy to see that little face on the page.
This is EDM Challenge #54: Draw someone you love.
My little girl.
Nov 21, 2007 @ 17:58:00
Absolutely brilliant!
Nov 21, 2007 @ 21:10:00
Beautiful! It is so tenderly done – love the cropping and angle that you chose.
Nov 21, 2007 @ 21:43:00
I could love her too great job
Nov 21, 2007 @ 23:21:00
Beautiful!
Nov 22, 2007 @ 01:47:00
What an amazing job you’ve done. I always find I can’t draw anything with oil pastels unless it is very large. That is so beautiful, working so small.
Nov 22, 2007 @ 01:51:00
OMG!!this is just gorgeous!!!!
Nov 22, 2007 @ 02:53:00
OH, how precious and beautiful your little girl is, E-J! You did a fabulous job of her portrait and I can feel the love you have incorporated into the brushstrokes. Thanks for sharing it with us ~
Nov 22, 2007 @ 03:19:00
fantastic – thanks for posting this!
Nov 22, 2007 @ 10:46:00
The love you have for your little girl bursts out from this little painting and you have done so well with a limited palette. I too enjoy a limited palette, I think it unifies everything in a way that is really appealing.So nice to see something new here EJ.
Nov 22, 2007 @ 16:42:00
Very wonderful, beautiful job!
Nov 22, 2007 @ 19:49:00
Oh – you should b every proud of this. It’s a wonderful portrait of a gorgeous little girl.
Nov 23, 2007 @ 10:33:00
Gorgeous work! she looks adorable and I agree with shirley, it is so tenderly done and I love the angle too..ronell
Nov 24, 2007 @ 17:48:00
Nice! I can feel the smoothness of the baby’s skin. It’s really good to record like this.
Nov 24, 2007 @ 22:39:00
Your choice of composition makes this portrait powerful — you narrowed it down to a moving expression. Your choice to limit yourself to a palette of colors is very efficient too.
Nov 24, 2007 @ 23:02:00
Oh, a lovely portrait of a lovely little girl. I’m with everyone else, composition, light and color, it is gorgeous! And I know what you mean about not being able to work for an extended period of time. Glad you found the time for this one!
Jan 21, 2008 @ 06:12:00
So beautiful. I love her little smile.
Jan 31, 2008 @ 10:39:00
This is indeed beautiful, E-J, and I’m delighted to see you daughter is following in your artistic footsteps.
Jan 03, 2010 @ 21:21:41
Absolutely beautiful!