"Somebody" Portraits

About two years ago I bought a set of firm pastels. I tried them and I just didn't like them as much as I liked soft pastels. So, I put them aside. Couple of months ago I was drawing with my soft pastels on the paper, which had a smooth surface, this time. But I had hard time to keep the pastels to cling to the surface. I just had to re-color the area several times, whenever I tried to do some blending. It was very annoying. (Who said that art is easy is wrong!)

Few days ago I decided to pull my firm pastels out of a drawer and draw an imaginary portrait. I used a different technique with these pastels and I love to work with them now. I am ready to draw many portraits.

Maybe I should put my soft pastels on the shelf for a while? No, actually I will use both of them at the same time. I like that idea. And I will use a pencil too. And perhaps even watercolor.... and oil stick... and ........ LOL

Above drawing is "Somebody #2" and drawing below is "Somebody #1". I call these portraits "Somebody", because they are actually nobody. Hmmm, should I call them "Somebody Nobody"? They are just figments (is that English-English or American-English or both Englishes expression?) of my mind. And more to come. I love this technique....

Pastel Drawing - Stormy Clouds

I have one obsession - looking at the sky. I absolutely adore the clouds. The shapes. The colors. Sometimes heaviness. Other times luminosity. I must be extra careful while driving, because I tend to steal a look at the clouds and it could be.... you know what I mean.

Over the years I have seen many cloud paintings and drawings from other artists. Some exquisite, some pretty bad. I have been trying to get courage to paint or draw clouds for a long time. And in these past few days, it was my first attempt. I think I didn't do too bad, but neither great. I still need to perfect the feel, the colors..... But not too bad at the first try :-)

(I just have to pat my own back a little bit - it is my personal encouragement to do it again.)


Stormy Clouds
Pastel on Cotton, Acid Free, Archival Paper
24x18