End of September

Can’t believe it is already the end of September! And nor can Little One. Whilst we had a pretty volatile summer in terms of weather, the past few days we did have some lovely warm weather with plenty of sun. That’s right, Indian Summer. And what better opportunity to take advantage of this climate with a warm-toned pastel drawing featuring Little One?

The Start

It’s been quite some time painting with pastels, namely Pan Pastels. And here I took a 18×24 cm sheet out from Clairefontaine’s Pastel Mat and selected a toned one in Sienna. What I love about this paper is that not only is it thick at 360gsm but the surface has the teeth to grip the pastel colors properly and let it stay. Apparently no fixative is needed but I prefer to use one as reassurance. Texture is also coarse yet feels smooth. And here goes my initial sketch with Stabilo’s Carbothello pastel pencils. I thought for a change I would make Little One’s head tilt sideways for some added cuteness!

Color Her Beautiful!

Once I was happy with the sketch, I set about coloring. My favorite is Pan Pastels, which, as the name suggests, soft pastels that come in pans and applied with dry sponges. Result is a strong even highly-pigmented velvety finish with the added bonus of being dust-free and lightfast. Whilst ideal for larger surface areas, tiny corners are possible with smaller sponge applicators but I tend to finish off with a sharp pastel pencil or edge of a pastel stick. The eyelashes and leaves on the grass, for instance, were drawn with Carbothello pencil. Also very pleased that the Pan Pastels also come in shimmery pearlescent shades which I gladly experimented with for Little One’s dress and the water on the bottom right corner. Et voilà!

Now I have a bit more time, I really need to paint more with pastels. I love the matte velvety finish of this medium, not to mention the even smoothness. Although pastels could be a bit messy to handle, the Pan Pastels are less so, and even no washing of sponges needed between colors because all you need is to wipe on some kitchen paper. I’ll have to remember to get them out more often and start churning out some kawaii pieces like this one!