Well, well, my first attempt at a pastel portrait.  I could not find paper in my piles of bits and pieces but finally I found some Strathmore black that I thought might work.  I should say I did this as an assignment for our group, not because I’ve all of a sudden given up oils.  I was not convinced I would be able to come up with any work that might be acceptable but I wanted to try.  Now that I’ve done this I went out and purchased some other materials, paper and other tools, so that  I can make another attempt. You can see here that I had difficulty blending the colors and making a smooth appearance to the skin.  That, I believe is because there was not much ‘tooth’ to the paper.  I was able to purchase some nice paper colors in a tablet so I will see how the next attempt turns out.  My encouragement to you as artists is, never be afraid to try something new and stretch your limits.  Shalom,  Diana