I printed out the photographs of Elizabeth and Zach @ Kinko's yesterday then worked on their portrait in my studio. It's challenge for me to work this way. I'd much rather have the models sitting for me a second time. This was not possible because they had to fly back to Utah on Sunday. It is a good challenge, though. I can become too dependent on working from life. Now I have to rely on my memory, and I can make stronger editing and compositional choices when I am alone in my studio. I also get to use my imagination to play with the symbolism and the narrative. This is easier to do when I'm alone. When I'm with the people I am drawing, I am like a sponge, taking everything in. When I am alone I get to squeeze some of that back out! :^)
A little shop talk: I sprayed the drawing with workable fixative in order to add more layers of pastel. I had used Natural Turpeniod rather than plain Turpenoid to do my oil wash drawing at the start of the piece. I won't do this again - it is too oily, and is causing the paper surface to pull apart in some places. I had to go buy a couple of Schmeinke pastels to draw on these areas. Schmeinke's are ultra soft (and expensive - the Cadillac of pastels!)
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