Max--a Portrait in Pastels

Max the Puppy
 

As I gift for my friend Joe's retirement from a career as a US Airways pilot, I decided to make a picture in pastels of his beloved dog Max.  Joe's wife loaned me some photographs, and I selected one of Max as an adorable puppy. Now the problem I faced with this photo was that the dog is a very light beige Golden Retriever, and he was lying on a beige mat on a beige floor.  The LL Bean boots were the only contrast. So, I took artistic license and made the floor mat teal green to contrast with the light-colored dog.  Looking at the picture now, I see that I might have used a darker piece of paper too for more contrast. 
I think that pastels are an ideal medium for depicting pets because a variety of colors can be mixed to achieve the final result.  Max's color was especially difficult to reproduce.  I used a lot of white to represent his fluffy puppy fur.  I see a lot of room for improvement in this portrait of Max, but I am satisfied that I captured the "spirit" of Max as a puppy.  The boots show how small he was at the time.  I just hope that Joe likes it!

Portraits in Pencil

Kate Middleton, Portrait in Pencil

I took a four-evening art class through Hempfield Adult Education.  I lasted two evenings.  I found it to be very helpful in focusing on drawing faces, and I learned some nice techniques in shading, highlighting, and getting the correct proportions. The instructor could not have been nicer.  I did not go to the last two classes because I didn't like the subject he chose--two eyes, a nose, and a mouth which were disembodied from anything else.  I also had artistic differences with the instructor--his idea of excellence was as close to his work as possible.  Additionally, I do not see myself doing portraits in pencil.  I would prefer using pastels or watercolors to add color.

I was interesting to see that ten people wanted to take this class.  The instructor did an amazing amount of prep work to facilitate our learning, and he showed us quite a few portraits that he had done that demonstrated a lot of talent and persistence.