“Girlfriends” 11″ x 14″ Pastel on Velour
I know… I’m an animal artist. But once in awhile a reference photo becomes available with a cute little girl and her dog that I just have to paint. And here it is! This is Emma and Rogue. Emma is my grand niece and Rogue is her girlfriend. And that look on Emma’s face as she hugs her dog reminds me of… ME!
Painting children is a frightening venture. Forget the fact that if you get one small line wrong it no longer looks like your subject… but the skin tones are incredibly hard, especially with pastels where you’re not free to easily mix colors to get that perfect skin color. And it’s so easy to get a blotchy look as well… so as I learned from the two workshops on painting children in pastel I took from my friend and mentor, Lesley Harrison, smooth is the secret. My success with this painting has opened up a whole new venture for me as I start practicing more humans to include with my animal paintings. So now the search is on to find those adorable kid with pet moments that I can capture with my art. And I would like to put another thank you out there to my artist friend Kay Witt for sharing her knowledge of skin tones to help me with this piece.
UPDATE: “Girlfriends” has sold.