This 18" x 24" pastel drawing is of my daughter Jericka at Grad time.

After 40 hours I finally finished it. I started it September 5th and ended Nov 22/09.. It's funny when you think of it it was 78 days I started this. So I actually put in about 1/2 hour each day on this piece. I guess it's a good thing I was trying to make money in photography while I was doing this because this drawing bankrupted me...lol

 Again I did a step by step demo which is on my Facebook wall. It's in these steps where I show what materials I used and all the techniques to use them.

 The photo that I took of Jericka I have her sitting on our couch in front of the big living room window. There is plenty of sun light coming in through this window which blankets Jericka left side ( right side to the viewer ) Also in the original photo the background is in a dark shadow.

In this drawing I made the choice to define the background in order to see what was behind her. The China Cabinet is made out Oak and Birch wood which is stained in a dark cherry/brownish type stain...I don't know it's a pretty old cabinet..

Her face is really light on her left and a little dark on her right. I want to show and have that shadow but on the other hand I don't want to over do it. I want to make sure that I show the beauty of her face.

 My focus wasn't her roses, the dress or for that matter the other parts. It was her face and hair where I spent my quality time. Like all my other works I want the viewer to make their focus on her face and recognize her face and say " Yeah that's Jer ". Not say " Hey those are nice roses" and I guess she looks like Jer..

What I found fascinating was that I used these pastels like I do my acrylics. I work them like washes. Applying one layer at a time then after that I would use a spray of fixative to control the smudging of the pastel. This process of spraying the fixative would make the pastel permanent. This would allow me to add more pastels without disturbing the color underneath and build up until I got the desire look. The other thing I found fascinating was the constant blending to get the smooth looking skin. By using a blend tool or smug stick I was able to create a soft look on what ever I applied it to. Like her hands. Even though one is placed on the couch  and on her dress. I really didn't want to do too much detail on them. I don't like to take the attention away from Jericka's face. So I applied the snug stick to them a little bit and it soften them up..

As always like with any work that I do. Because I work on my Mac using photoshop. I have the ability to change history. What I mean by that is if I make a mistake I can undo or go into the program and remove the mistake.  With artwork if I make a mistake I either go over it with more paint to get rid of or in this case I call it changed. I changed the original image so really it's not a mistake but it's a new image. It's my way of seeing and basically what I feel like doing.

Can you find the the part that I changed?

Well if you go into my Facebook wall you'll find the answer on the first photo. And since your there you might as well check out the step by step demo...Remember compare the picture with the painting and you will find the answer. One hint - It's not the zooming into the photo..

After I posted this question.....................Can you find the the part that I changed?

While I was doing this piece I remember chatting to an old friend of mine, Mike.  He had mentioned that his daughter Riley was an inspiring artist. I told Mike with the drawing of Jericka, I purposely made some changes for inspiring artist like Riley to find.  I had motioned that he and Riley go on my facebook wall to check out the step by step photos.  Here is what Mike wrote back on Riley's finding...

......"Hey Joe,

Thanks again, this was a good learning exercise for my daughter Riley.  She actually saw a few things that she commented on.  One of those things was that the final picture was lighter than the original photo.  I showed her the comments you made about bringing up the light so that Jericka's face would be more prominent.  She also noticed that the drawing was missing some features from the picture like the corner of the couch on the viewers left. It took her some time to find the mistake, but I reminded her that the artist (you) would have focused specifically on the images in the front...or foreground.  She searched the background and finally found the missing design on the panel of the cabinet/hutch in the background.  She was pretty excited when she found it.  I hope you keep the process on the site for awhile...it was a good experience for her. 

Thanks again,

Mike...and Riley! ".....

It thrills me beyond my imagination to have a young and inspiring artist like Riley view my work, find my changes and at the same time be excited about her findings.  Thank you Riley and Mike for making my day... (8 ) ....
 

We as artists find the little wonders, critique them, and then for the love of it we create art work. After all, as an artists, this is how I interpret my surrounding world.

" Jericka at Grad time - 2009 "

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