Absolutely no one has asked how I create a pastel painting. I happen to be fascinated by the process, so I thought I'd share it with you anyway.
The first step is to get the right photo, and for #1 The Market painting, here it is:
That's actually one of the trickiest parts. It took 4 trips to The Market to get this shot. Then I create a pencil sketch on tracing paper, and when I've got it right I go over the lines with a marker.
To transfer this sketch to a durable, high quality paper to paint on, I use this homemade light box...
which was made years ago by my husband's Uncle Jack for my MIL to transfer quilt patterns to fabric. The sketch is placed under the paper, the image shines through, and I draw it again with pencil. (This is just the way I do it when I'm working on a detailed drawing for any media that requires the right perspectives, etc.) Before I had this light box, I've used a window, and I've used a glass top table with a lamp under it!!
Pastel won't stick to slick paper, so I brush on pastel ground, a gritty paste. btw: Sometimes I use pastel paper that has the grit on it.
Once the pastel ground is dry I do the underpainting with pastel and denatured alcohol. Here's the underpainting for the #2 barbershop painting:
To make the painting easier to handle and frame later, I attach it to a sheet of 1/8" foam-core board with double-sided sticky paper. Now I'm ready to paint.
This is a photo I just took; I'm mid-way through this. See the purple underpainting on the bottom half. Most of that will be covered in the final painting, but some will peak through. I use a variety of pastels, for their shape, softness or hardness, and color. It's very messy; I have absolutely ruined the carpet in this bedroom turned "art studio". Oh well.
