Caroline McFarlane

Portrait in Pastel

Sophie volunteered to model this evening - thank you Sophie!

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Caroline selected a suitable colour of Canson paper. It has a rough and smooth side, generally the smooth side is used. It is important to have a vision in your head. For example, starting in the centre would not allow space for Sophie’s hair.

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Pitt pastel pencils were used for a preliminary sketch. It is easy to rub out if necessary. In this case the model was looking almost directly at the artist. Caroline used a vertical line to indicate the centre of the face (nose). Remember to adjust the central line according to the direction of the head. A horizontal line was used for the eyes. Adjustments were made and Caroline checked distances, eyes to side of face, shape of the edge of the face. Shadows were indicated. Level of the bottom of the ear was measured against the base of the nose.

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Having started with a neutral brown, Caroline moved to a light pastel pencil and a dark one to add shadows and highlights, still making adjustments as she went.

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For a mouth the top lip is critical to the whole face. This is because it moves more often than the eyes do, which are traditionally thought to hold the likeness. A mere suggestion of the bottom lip was added.

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To check angles, hold out your pencil and transfer the angle to your paper.

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Pigments in pastels can be absorbed by the skin and some are poisonous, so Caroline donned some surgical gloves before moving from pencils to the pastels themselves. A tray is used so that the same pastel can be easily retrieved.

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Caroline is using Nu pastels - an American brand. Caution should be used, as hers were impounded and an extra customs charge was made. Harder pastels were used before moving to softer ones as the softer ones cake the surface more and make it harder to add more colour and it can start falling away.

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Colours are affected by the colours that they are next to, hence it is good to get some darks in at an early stage. You do need quite a lot of pastels to get a good range of colour, but Caroline will mix optically by placing small lines of different colours next to each other. Over-blending is avoided as it is easy to get a muddy effect.

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With a pastel in hand, Caroline looks for other areas where that same colour can be used. She compared a picture to a tapestry where the colours weave in and out. Sometimes a ‘glaze’ technique is used, where one colour is used on top of another but you can see both.

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Dark pastel was used for the eyes and a softer brown underneath. Whites of eyes are rarely truly white. Looking at the white of the eye, Caroline drew it as its own shape using a pinky-white. The other side was closer to grey.

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Having added the eyes, Caroline started to concentrate on the shadows, building up dark, then light tones. Bringing the hair up to the level of the face helps with balance.

For the mouth rather than outlining and colouring in, Caroline looks for shifts in tone.

For the clothing, Caroline likes to end it with an interesting shape rather than a straight line.

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