A new pastel

I am working on a new pastel for a show I want to enter. I took this photo in Italy during our trip. It was taken in the park around the Borghese Museum outside of Rome. The museum is amazing, housing many of the masterpieces from Italy. This group of visitors were sitting on a park bench, enjoying each others company and very engaged.

I start by creating a drawing that will serve as my guide throughout the painting. I usually work from left to right to avoid smudging the pastels but sometimes will work a bit differently if I need to work,for instance the whole bench. As I was working my way over to the mans face I got hung up on him and worked on his clothes first. I was making sure my faces come out before working the whole piece. I already broke my left to right rule, I do that a lot. I am not thrilled with the first face but will continue to work it later.

Here is the beginning of the painting






- Desiree