How to paint a pastel portrait

Hang on Studio Wall

Equipment

Coloured card

Soft pastels

Pastel pencils

Golden Pastel Ground

Plus how to make your own sanded card

Timothy Holmes demonstrates a pastel portrait and shows how he makes his own 'sanded' card.

Meet the artist

I have been painting with oil paints since my school days. Mainly landscapes and portraits. I only really started using pastels more recently. I know some people don’t like to use them because they can get a bit messy, but the effects can be interesting and on the whole I find them quicker to do than my oil paintings.

I am a bit of a messy painter but I usually have a plan and I tend to do my own thing more than follow a rule book. But for me making art is simply great therapy.

I started making pastel paintings and sketches of landscapes and seascapes on card and pastel papers, but soon wanted to try portraits and I found that quite challenging.

How to make your own pastel paper

You will need:

Coloured card
Golden Pastel Ground
Water
Brush

Preparing your card:

Make sure your coloured card is flat and thick enough (270 gsm) to apply a pastel ground.
Mix one part Golden pastel Ground to about three parts water then apply with a brush.
The card will bend when damp but will flatten out as it dries.
Apply one or two coats depending on how much ’tooth” you require.
When the ground is completely dry lightly brush off any excess dust from the card.

Precautions when using Pastel Ground:

Make sure you use disposable gloves when mixing and applying the ground
Never breathe it in or get it or get it on your skin.
Ventilate the room really well.
Store in a safe place out of the way.

I wear a mask when applying inside, though I usually make a batch of ‘sanded’ cards in summer when I can do it out on the patio where they can also dry quickly.

Portrait painting demonstration

Choice of paper

The choice of coloured paper for this portrait was deliberate as I felt using a cooler colour would help deepen the darker shades and the overall cool low light feel.

These decisions don't always go to plan but I like happy accidents in art so it's worth taking risks.

I don’t really like blending the colours too much as I find it can make them a bit flat and lifeless, so this way I have the chance to let the colour of card come through a little in places and complement the shades around it.

For this portrait I had previously made a small sketch with thinned oil paints on a piece of HDF board to get a general feel for the figure.

The reference

My reference for the portrait was a screenshot from a film which I'd saved it to my mobile as I liked the pose. From this I made this the oil sketch which will also be worked up to a painting at a later date.

Between making the first sketch and starting the pastel portrait I must have deleted the reference, so I relied purely on the sketch and what I could remember of the colour, mood and lighting.

I do create a lot of portraits from my imagination, so this was not going to be a problem and I prefer to improvise.

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Start with a sketch

I began with a very loose sketch using a purple pastel pencil to get the basic shape of the figure, then added some highlighted areas in a pale pink soft pastel to help with the visibility of the form.

Top Tip

Starting very loose is enough to give me a base to work from.

This way of sketching an outline of the figure allows me to see where adjustments might need to be made when building up the layers of pastel.

Working in layers

As I said previously, I am not really a fan of smooth looking pastel work so I try to build the colours up in layers to reach a deeper more painterly feel.

Using this method I have to be careful not to go too far and usually find two to three layers of different colours will achieve a good result.

I also don’t like using fixative as it tends to darken the pastels, but I will use it maybe once very lightly on the first layer to help make that stable for the second and third layers that will go over it.

The accompanying image shows how I start with dark and darker mid areas and test various areas of the background to see which colours combine best for the figure to stand out.

At this stage it’s looking bold enough to really get cracking.

Highlights

At this stage I begin working up the highlights and lightest tones, and making small corrective adjustments to the form where needed.

I use dabs of pastel to create painterly blends and add a bit more depth.

Top Tip

As I build up the layers of colours I take pauses in between to take the work outside to blow and tap away all the loose pastel dust and clean the easel. When doing so, it's a good idea to wear a mask to avoid breathing in any dust.

Finishing touches

I will usually make some tidying up and softening of lines with pastel pencils. They can also help with subtle blending if used carefully.

I also make more corrective adjustments and whatever is needed to smarten up the mess I made on the card.

After a few days, if I think I won’t do any more fine tuning I will fix the painting with a very light spray of fixative, or sometimes not, as it tends to deepen the colours somewhat.

This is one way I paint portraits with pastels making my own sanded card. I hope you found it interesting.