In Which I Try Soft Pastels

 YouTube can be dangerous to my pocketbook.  I watched a few colored pencil tutorials there a while back, and one suggested combining soft pastels -- specifically a brand called "PanPastels" -- with the pencils.  The idea was to use the pastels to cover larger areas, and for smoothness.  So of course I had to check them out.

I was delighted to find a portrait set to test out, and it came with application tools.  Those things to the right are sponges, and you slide one of the smallest ones onto that blue implement.  Then you dip the applicator in the pastel color and brush it onto your surface. 

You can add colored pencil on top of the pastel, and put more pastel on top of the pencil and build layers as needed.   Blending is a bit labor intensive, because the sponges quickly get dirty and you're not supposed to put a dirty one back into the color again.  They did not clean easily with water, as the product info claimed, either.  I wound up using one tool for lighter tones and another for darker tones, and just tried not to mix them up.

For this portrait of Crowley, I used three pastel colors for his face and two for the hair and background.  I added colored pencil to the background and went back over it with more pastel.  I used pencils for the details of the eyes, nose, and mouth.

The overall effect was more painterly, with a smoother texture.  I like the result, but the process was very messy, and now all of the sponges are dirty and won't come clean.  Most vexing!  I may try them again, or they may wind up in the closet -- we shall see.

For our two weekly Zoom sketch drawing sessions, we chose photos of some interesting buildings in Europe -- no idea where or even what they are, but hey, they had fun challenges.

Arches are hard to get right, but I got this one fairly well, I think.  For the one below, it was getting the perspective lines right, and they got a little wonky here and there.   I spent most of my time drawing the stones of the walkway -- I found drawing all those ovals sort of mesmerizing.  

I do enjoy the Zoom sketch sessions because I never know what we're going to pick to draw, and it gets me away from Yet Another Crowley or Aziraphale portrait!

Finally, Truman is much better after ten days of restricted movement and medications, and his back legs are about 90% normal now.  The next challenge is to get his weight down, which definitely contributed to his recent spinal disk issue.

Here he is celebrating his recovery: