New Portrait Painting & Some Observations

I just finished the portrait shown and delivered it to the customer yesterday.  This one went fairly easily and I just love this little dog's face.  It's a pastel done on velour paper and everything went fine until I began to spray between the layers.

Velour is a funny/odd substrate in that pastel will all fall off when you don't want it to and will cling tenaciously when you want to remove it!  I swear it seems to know the difference!  So, to prevent problems, I normally spray with fixative between layers then leave the top layer alone or spray very lightly.

I reviewed the SpectraFix fixative not too long ago here on my blog and that is what I used on this portrait.  It's about the only fixative I've ever used that doesn't change the color of the pastel and I think it's the best fixative out there.

However, even with the utmost care, it can "sputter" and leave large drops of the fixative on the painting.  I've had it happen both on paper and with the velour and it's very difficult to correct as the spots show up clearly.  There's not much you can do to correct the spots on paper and even going over the spot with more pastel sometimes doesn't cover it completely.  Normally it's a bit easier on the velour, fortunately.  I waited for the spots to dry completely then took a stiff bristle brush to gently brush the fixative off as much as possible and to sort of fluff up the nap.  I can add back pastel if needed to cover completely but usually the velour doesn't need it.

This time it didn't work that well and the spots were really visible on the background where there was no pastel to begin with.  I ended up adding a halo effect with pastel around the dog to hide the spots.  This worked, fortunately.

I'll know in the future to shield any areas without pastel to protect from these spots! 

SpectaFix Brand Fixative

 "Southern Magnolia"

I got an order in from Dick Blick a couple of weeks ago or so and have just now been able to play with some of the things I bought.

Most of the items were simply restocking some of my favorite supports but I added a new item this time - SpectraFix, the relatively new fixative made with a milk casein formula.  I was eager to try it since it's not an aerosol in a can and is not supposed to smell nor be that toxic to use.

One of the things I hate most about pastel is fixing it!  I have to go outside to spray because my studio does not have adequate ventilation for most aerosol fixatives.  That's a royal pain when the weather is bad and even if the weather cooperates, I like to spray between layers (until the last one) and that's a lot of running in and out!

So I was delighted to hear of this spray.  It's still an aerosol but comes in a pump spray bottle instead of the usual cans with chemical propellants.  I put it to the test with the magnolia painting above.

I'm very pleased to say that it does work very well as a fixative and there really isn't any smell! 

WIP Update - Lab

I don't know if this is just at the "ugly stage" or is really just bad but I'm about ready to start it over again. I bought the PastelMat to experiment with but, for me at least, it has a steep learning curve!

I probably should have left it alone until the Richeson pastel sticks arrived but it was lying there on my work table with the pastel pencils beside it and ----- well, I just couldn't resist adding a stroke here and there!

I'm still working all over the place and have the eyes, nose, collar (& everything else!) left to do so don't judge it too harshly! I am going to leave it alone until the new pastel sticks arrive and then, if I can't rework it to my satisfaction, I'll start over again on velour or maybe even PastelBord.

On a brighter note, I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and got a few supplies. They offered a 40% off coupon, were having a 30% off sale on some items plus it's our annual tax-free weekend so I bought some things that I wanted. Actually, I didn't get much because Hobby Lobby doesn't carry much in the way of really good art supplies but I did buy the wedge-shaped Style Stix. I thought they might work as well as my finger for blending but it felt clumsy to use when I tried one. I probably just need to practice with it though.

I also got some Winsor and Newton workable fixative. I don't think I've ever seen that at HL before so I was tickled to find it. All I've ever seen around here is the Krylon stuff and that smells sooooo bad that I really don't like to use it. Hobby Lobby also had a low odor spray by Blair but, if I remember right, I don't think it said that it was a workable fixative. Anyway, I bought the Winsor and Newton and like it so much better than others I've used. To tell the truth, I think I like it better than the super expensive Lascaux that I've been mail-ordering.

One of these days I want to try the SpectraFix fixative that another artist has developed using milk casein. It's supposed to be much like the stuff that the old masters used without any of the more harmful chemicals or anything. It's also not supposed to darken your work. If that's the case, I may go back to experimenting with glassless framing!

So many art supplies! So little time and money to try them all! lol