Gord's Pastel Portrait, by Kim Blair


Gord
(14"x11" pastel on 300 lb gessoed w.c. paper)


I think by looking at this portrait you can tell that our friend Gord is quite a character! He loves to have a good time and enjoys playing a practical joke or two when he gets the chance. He is married to Lois, the woman who's portrait I posted last week.

Gord loves a good cup of java... and the baristas at his favourite coffee shop have practiced making his foam extra special!
;)



When I texted Lois the portraits of her and Gord a few weeks ago I had no idea that the day I to sent the images to her turned out to be their 20th wedding anniversary!



Happy 20th Anniversary Lois and Gord





Lois in pastel, by Kim Blair



Lois
(14"x11" pastel on gessoed 300 lb w.c. paper)


Lois is such a good sport! 

I told her she is my 'test portrait' because this is the third portrait I painted of her... and as the saying goings "Third time's a charm."

The first two times I painted her portrait using acrylic paint on gessoed w.c. paper... the second attempt was better than the first...but the third portrait (painted with caran d'ache aquarelle pastels on a terra cotta toned acrylic ground) that you see posted here is my favourite!

Since these caran d'ache aquarelle pastels are now my portrait medium of choice I invested in the large boxed set of 84 colours... a very early birthday gift to myself.
  
*(Next week you will see the pastel portrait I painted of her husband Gord)

A special note to my subscribers:
(If you received this blog post via email subscription but the video below is a black box...  and will not play in your email... then please go directly to my art blog kimblairartist.blogspot.com in order to view the video there)


Pam's Portrait by Kim Blair




Pam
(14x11 pastel on gessoed 300 lb w.c. paper)


The day Pam showed me the photo used for this portrait on her cell phone I felt an immediate jolt of inspiration to paint her portrait!  Her striped jacket reminded me of Van Gogh's portrait 'Portrait of Trabuc', and of course then the desire to paint her was doubled.

Pam's portrait was the first one I completed using caran d'ache pastels. I began with a purple toned acrylic background and drew her in graphite, then started applying the pastels in various marks and random patterns.

If you zoom in on the image above you will see the spontaneous interwoven pastel marks that read as a unified whole when viewed from a distance. 

 *Below is a 2 minute slideshow of Pam's Portrait from beginning to completion.

A special note to my subscribers:
(If you received this blog post via email subscription but the video below is a black box...  and will not play in your email... then please go directly to my art blog kimblairartist.blogspot.com in order to view the video there)