Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Just for fun - Pixel


Pixel
9x12 inches
Pastel pencils and Pan pastels on pastelmat
This was not a commission, but an exercise I wanted to do to assess the suitability of pastelmat for doing pet portraits. In the past, I've always done them on velour because it gives such a lovely, soft look to the fur, but I have also had lots of problems getting the pastel to stay on the velour, even with multiple coats of fixative - so frustrating when you have spent hours on a portrait. I am definitely a convert to the pastelmat. It is easy to achieve the same soft results, but the pastel stays put!!! I'm in love!!! A huge thank you to bwhistler from Flickr Creative Commons for giving his kind permission for the use of his gorgeous reference photo for this artwork.

10 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

This is so beautiful!

Arcobaleno said...

...Wow! I love this paint!!!!

Unknown said...

Gorgeous Karen. I just love it so much. You achieved such a lovely fluffy fur. The eyes are superb. and I love the BG.

I am going to check out this support.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Sherry, Arcobaleno and Dors.
Dors, I get it from wetpaint and by the time you include postage it works out about $1aud a sheet of 9x12 (I buy the pads which have 12 sheets in them), which I don't think is too bad. Can't wait until they find an Australian distibutor.

Artoholic said...

Another lovely piece Karen! Sounds like you've found exactly what you're after in Pastelmat.

Will be putting forward the virtues of the Aust Miniature Society tomorrow at the Calligraphy Guild meeting. Fingers crossed for some new membership applications!

Cheers

Cindy

Unknown said...

Hey Cindy - all the best with the Calligraphy Guild - it would be great to have more members on board.
I wish I had this Pastelmat when I did your portrait Litte Cat, I would have been so much happier!!!

Carol Andre' said...

Oh, Karen- the eyes, the eyes!!! Wonderful.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Carol - I Looooove doing eyes - can you tell? LOL!!!

Unknown said...

Just wow! So soft, and those colours are so lively, the eyes are beautiful)

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for your lovely comments Sam - I totally enjoyed doing this one, because it was such a beautiful cat with stunning eyes.