Kim Blair Artist: June 2020

Matt and the Cat ...portrait in pastel by Kim Blair

Matt and the Cat

(12.5"x19" wax pastel)

Matt and the Cat was painted from a selfie sent to me via Matt's aunt.

Jasper, the gorgeous cat draped across Matt's shoulders looks huge! I'm not sure if Jasper is a large cat, or it's the perspective of the photo playing tricks, but one thing is for sure, Jasper is a loving playful companion.

Painting from selfies, can be a challenge because there is often a distortion of the features as people hold their heads down or up depending on how they are looking at the camera.

Add balancing a cat on your shoulders and the you can see how this might change things!

;0)

When I named this portrait, Matt and the Cat, it brought to mind the wonderful Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat and the story of a mischievous cat who tries to entertain Sally and her brother one rainy day when they are confined to the house... hmmmmm sounds a bit like the past few months.

I wonder if Jasper is as mischievous as the cat in the book?

*If you received this blog post via email subscription the video will not be visible in your email. Please go directly to my art blog by clicking on the following link for kimblairartist.blogspot.com in order to view the short 2 minute video of the creation of this portrait.

Clare Balding's portrait in pastel by Kim Blair

Clare Balding

(14"x11" wax pastel)

I thoroughly enjoy watching the British portrait painting show Sky Arts 'Portrait Artist of the Year.'

Like so many programs they have been unable to film new episodes because of Covid 19.

But luckily they created a live four hour FB portrait painting show, on Sundays, in which artist from around the world can participate by painting the guess celebrity sitter.

Last Sunday, June 7, the sitter was the British Broadcaster Clare Balding. I along with thousands of other artists participated.

Each week they place a montage of the portraits entered around the show title and it was a thrill to see my painting made it onto this page.

Below is a screen shot showing my portrait of Clare in the upper right just inside the white space of the title block.

The image on the screen may be small but my gratitude is huge.

Thank you Sky Arts!

(My portrait of Clare Balding is the small rectangle ↑ to the right of the last 't' in Portrait)

Michael's portrait in pastel by Kim Blair

Michael

(14"x11" wax pastel on gessoed w.c. paper)

Social Media is proving to be a great source for reference photos.

I discovered Michael's selfie on Instagram and instantly (pun intended) wanted to paint him... thankfully he agreed. The bits of colour bouncing off his face gave the photo an interesting glow which I thought would be fun to try to suggest in the portrait.

It's no secret that I absolutely love colour so how could I possibly resist this deeply saturated analogous colour scheme!

"Colour in a picture is like enthusiasm in life."

- Vincent Van Gogh

Fred's portrait by Kim Blair

Fred Hatt

(14"x11" wax pastel on gessoed w.c. paper)

Fred Hatt is a visual artist and photographer based in New York City. It's because of Fred that I started working with wax pastel.

I absolutely love chalk pastel work, but discovered early on in my artistic journey that the dust created while working with traditional pastel was not good for my health.

When I was researching pastel portraiture I happened upon Fred's work using water soluble wax based pastel. His portraiture/figurative work, created from this medium, was the inspiration for me deciding to experiment with this type of pastel for my portrait work.

Previously I'd used this type of pastel in mixed media painting, but until I saw Fred's work it had not occurred to me that it could be used for portraiture.

This highly pigmented medium allows me to create colourful portraits.

Fred's style of working with wax pastel is dynamic and unique. His line work, which is captivating and sensual is complemented by his masterful use of colour.

Now, after nearly two years, I have painted 100 portraits.

Thanks for the inspiration Fred!

Check him out on instagram