Sitting Nude, 8x10

'Sitting Nude', 8x10" Pastel on sanded paper ©2011 Brenda Boylan

It's been years since I've had the opportunity to paint a nude from life and last week I was asked to join a few other artists in this live session. Originally, I thought I'd be really safe and work with charcoal or pencil on Canson paper to avoid any embarrassment of my skills, but after thinking about how chicken this really was I gave myself the courage to just do it and use what I know best...pastels. 'Thrilled' with my results is an understatement after all some 25 years. The southern light source was a bit hard to discern it's temp, so I just faked it and used both warm (reds and oranges) and cool colors (purps and blues) for the shadows. This model had such clear, beautiful skin that I hope to get another opportunity to paint her again. I worked out 2 pieces on mounted Wallis Belgian Mist in the 3 hour session and both turned out pretty much the same, except the other one (not shown) is a vertical format.