For a long time I have admired the luminosity and colors of paintings done using the pastel medium, but have considered it too messy of a process.
In February, I saw Alain Picard’s ‘Portrait Week’ advertised. His portraits really appeal to me, and I wanted to know how he achieved his effects, so I signed up.
I found that he is a very well-organized, knowledgeable, and encouraging teacher.
This painting has some wild color choices (how do pastel artists achieve color harmony!?—in oils we use a limited palette of colors; I have a lot to learn!).
Additionally, the pastel marks are too linear and scribbly. Making more blocky marks requires breaking the pastel sticks into smaller pieces; I just couldn’t bear to break up my lovely sticks yet!
The 3 x 3 block on the lower left shows my color choices for the skin tone palette, cool to warm across, and light to dark downwards. (This seems to be the first step in controlling color harmony).
Overall, for a first attempt I was encouraged enough to keep going!
So I signed up for his six week ‘Painterly Portrait Course’, held in March and April…
marymayhewart 
Interesting – do you still think they’re too messy? I can see from your recent self portrait how far you’ve progressed with the pastels.
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I have learnt to control the mess somewhat, by wearing a vinyl glove on my right hand (holding the pastel) and a baby wipe in my left hand.
The paper needs to be vertical so that any dust coming off the painting falls straight down and not onto the painting, and I have made a very simple cardboard ‘gutter’ that goes under the painting to catch the dust.
Also, the sanded paper type can help—some hold onto the pastel pigment better than others.
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