Dave Woolass – pastel portrait
We were delighted to welcome Dave back this time to show us how to create a portrait in pastels. Brian volunteered to be the ‘model’ and we watched in awe as his picture emerged. Dave uses a variety of pastel types including pencils for fine work.
He started by blocking in dark areas and the back of the head and shoulders using various blues and purples quite freely, the use of colour was striking and not necessarily ‘flesh’ in tone. By blocking in the colours the picture began to emerge. The mid tones were a range of reds and yellows, with a very pale blue in place of white.
Using his ‘Dave’s Rag’ to take off pastel, blend or clean his hands, and blending softly with his fingers whilst building up the layers of pastel, by the break time the portrait was looking very real, although when you looked up close there appeared to be little detail.
After the break Dave continued to build the layers and the final portrait of Brian looked great, he and we were very pleased with the result.
Dave is moving to new studios in the next couple of months where he will be doing demos and workshops in a delightful rural setting. So good luck Dave and thanks for a great evening.
by 