Another self portrait for this week. I enjoyed working on this one more than the previous one and used a darker textured pastel paper. A4 size. Duration approx 1 hour.

Portraiture in Oil Pastel with Samir Rakhmanov

Another self portrait for this week. I enjoyed working on this one more than the previous one and used a darker textured pastel paper. A4 size. Duration approx 1 hour.

Skills

Posted on

April 3, 2025

← Last week’s self portrait. I feel this is overworked when considering again the instructions from Samir. I got carried away with blending and the blue clothing appears to come forward more than I intended. A4 size pastel paper. Duration approx 1 hour. Final painting! I used a 31x41cm (12x16in) cold press watercolor paper, toned it with a light raw sienna gouache wash, then primed it with clear acrylic gesso (didn’t quite smooth the texture, but I ended up liking how it worked). This was my third attempt at the composition; the first two got too detailed and muddy. This time, I focused on keeping it simple and letting the paper show through as much as possible. I left non-essential parts as expressive lines (like the blue curtain or my orange blouse) or blended them into the background (like my hair). I’m really happy with how it turned out and super grateful for all the tricks I learned during this course. Thanks, Samir! →

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