Weekend Portrait Workshop

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I recently taught a weekend workshop with a group of inspiring artists as we developed our portrait techniques and approaches. What a wonderful time we had together!

The weekend began Friday evening with a full portrait demonstration in pastel. 

It's so exciting to see workshop participants push themselves right out of their comfort zones to apply these new techniques and learnings to their work. The results are always amazing!

6 Basic Skin Types

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While there is a vast array of beautiful people throughout the world and a multitude of ethnic backgrounds, I find it helpful to group them into 6 basic skin types in order to approach the process of painting skin tones in a pastel portrait. Here is a chart I've created representing the 6 basic skin types; pale, fair, medium, olive, naturally brown, and very dark brown/black. My portrait palette box is organized to represent all of these skin types so that I'm always prepared for any skin type I may encounter. Samples of each skin type are represented below. 

If you're passionate about honing your skills in drawing realistic and expressive skin tones, we invite you to join our Painterly Portraits Course. In this comprehensive course, we delve deeply into the art of capturing various hair, skin tones, and facial features with pastels to give your portraits the best photo-realistic look.