I love painting pastel portraits of children in nature—full-length and in a large format.
This is the kind of portrait I am sharing here. I painted this pastel portrait at the beginning of January 2026, and I feel it turned out really well.
The portrait was commissioned and created based on several casual photographs taken in a shaded summer garden, where sunlight gently touches the figure of a young boy sitting on an old bench. The child’s pose impressed me with its elegance and naturalness. His facial expression suggested an innate intelligence and refinement.
Inspired to create a truly beautiful portrait, I tried to capture not only the presence of the child, but also his connection with everything around him.
While I was working, the boy’s expression, gaze, and gesture naturally blended with the deep shadows of the garden and the reflections of summer light on the leaves and plants. The size of the pastel paper (23 × 43 inches) was ideal for this composition, and the work developed surprisingly quickly.
Soft Pastel is an incredibly spontaneous, dynamic, and expressive medium, and the large format gives it even more strength and reveals its beauty.