Finished Pastel Portrait of Nick

This is where I ended up with the pastel of Nick.

I played with the background and ended up spraying tons of fix, 

just a few inches from the surface.  I got some great darks, drips and textures that is hard to see in this image but interesting in person.

18x22 inches

This painting will be on view at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio 

from October 9 thru Nov 27, 2011 as part of the Pittsburgh Pastel Artists League show.

http://www.butlerart.com/index.asp

Two hours into Pastel Portrait of Nick

I enjoy teaching, doing demonstrations for my students and working on commissions, but sometimes I have paintings in my head that just need to get out. I miss painting just to paint. So this evening I spent some time at the studio working on this portrait of my son, Nick. Not done yet. Still working on values, color tweaking and deciding how loose to keep the bottom portion of the painting... It feels good so far.
Terri Ludwig Pastels on Wallis Paper, 18 x 20 inches