CatDog

Pastel on a light rust-colored paper,  named "Cat Dog".  This the Bridget the poser, in one of her favorite spots atop the chair in front of the window.  This is my absolute first pastel.  It makes quite a mess.  And since I chose the bumpy side of the paper, for the texture, it takes quite an effort to grind the pastel into the depressions, with a finger or pencil eraser.     

I first tried this, from a photo I took, with colored pencil.  It was the wrong type of pencil, on the wrong paper. I could not get any deep values.  I also had no browns or tans but that really isn't a problem since blues and reds pretty much make brown.  I like the photo and I was itching to try pastel especially on that bright yellow wall, after a pastel demo at the art league meeting.

Now I have a assortment of pastels to play with.  Recently I was faced with the quandary did I want to do a planned portrait in oil or pastel.  I was sure either would be great for the picture in mind.  But I had a time crunch and chose oil because it's a lot easier to frame them.  This pastel was hard, taking a lot of care.  I did not have any pre-cut mats the right size so just glued this on top of a solid mat.  Works for now.