It was a great experience for me to work on this portrait! The model is a good friend of my family and he is always happy to spend some time “collaborating for the cause”.
He is an architect, an artistic soul with a free mind, and a great personality too.
Building the structure with PanPastels, ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
I wanted to make a dynamic portrait of him with a lot of energy, inspired by his pensive regard…
It is not the first time I´m painting him. But this time I decided to do it using new tools. PanPastel contacted me to try their products several months ago, and after a few mail conversations, I received from the company Colorfin LLC an interesting set of colors and products… Painting this portrait was a true journey since I have never used this medium before!
Pastel portrait ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
Getting into the expression, ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
The whole process was a real challenge for me, not only because of the complexity of my model but also because I was working with this new art material for the first time!
I knew it would feel like a completely new technique to me, but it was much more surprising, interesting, and fun than I was expecting!
These pastels are fast, but gentle and very easy going…
A detail of the portrait, experimenting with PanPastel, ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
Using the Panpastel tools for details, as the eyes, ©photo by Graciela Bombalova, 2020
My approach to Pan Pastel was direct and intuitive. I tried to mix and apply the colors as it was an oil painting, keeping free strokes, using several sponges they supplied me, that are available for the large spots, and some thinner sticks for the details.
I whish I had kept the freshnes of this arm..!! ©photo, Bogra art studio, 2020
Large areas can be easilyt covered folowing your imputs … ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
I worked on a Canson, Mi- Teintes Touch pastel paper and the pigment was covering easy, allowing me to build the portrait on layers. What I noticed is that too many layers filled quickly this kind of paper, that would normally absobs much more Pastel strokes, working with sticks. So in the future I will try a different paper. Or I´ll mix these pastels with my usual soft Pastel sticks too…
The final portrait, ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
After so many years working with pastels, it was a great joy and pleasure to discover a new approach to the pastel medium and to the painting itself!
Part of the PanPastels selection I used, ©photo, Graciela Bombalova, 2020
It is always great to experience new products and keep open mind.
Statement: This is not advertising. No payment has been accepted, nor any forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation to make this post. This is a personal point of view on my experience with PanPastel products.