Milescapes Art – Gifts, Original Artwork and Photography [Blog]

Well, I’ve been at it a couple of weeks but I finally managed to complete another pastel portrait – double-portrait, actually. And while I was working on it I actually got the tax return finished and filed   Here is Jen with her beloved friend, Jess.

Jen & Jess, best friends

While working on this picture I learned something new. I discovered just how much pastel you can really lift off with a kneadable eraser. I began with Jen and felt that she had come out pretty well and was getting up my courage to begin the horse. As is my way, I began with his eye. Then, as is sometimes my way (too late),  I got out some books and looked more closely at horses’ eyes. This time there was no fixing it. What I had to do was start over. It takes patience (and a lot of kneading) but after repeatedly pressing clean parts of the eraser onto the pastel and lifting I was able to get most of the original color off. I am so glad I took the time to do it because Jen says that now his eye is just right.  She  also told me that I’d “captured his expression”! It’s a good thing I wasn’t aware that horses had expressions or I would have been worrying about that, too.