Birgit with Braid

9x12
Soft Pastel on Canson Mi Teintes Paper
Price: NFS
Year painted: 2004
Pastels used: Nupastel, Rembrandt, Schmincke
Source: Photograph taken by the artist’s sister.
Used by permission.
My sister likes to take pictures of herself with her digital camera. I enjoyed learning how to create the textures and colors of her hair from this sketch. I painted on the reverse of the Canson Mi Teintes paper to avoid the holey texture, which also gave me less "tooth" to work with, however. The challenge in pastel painting is to not overwork the paper, i.e., to not fill it with so much pigment that it can't take/accept any more. Yes, even paper can reject you. :)