Hot Chocolate and Christmas Stories

I went to a delightful ‘Hot Chocolate and Christmas Stories’ party today. It was mostly for the small children of teachers from the school I used to work at and it was wonderful to see the enjoyment they all got from the event.

I began this with a light pastel sketch using a photo for reference and then simplified the composition.  I wanted to paint on a paper with more texture than the Bristol board I used yesterday and made the unfortunate choice of pastel paper, which wrinkled from the wet paint. Worse, as I scanned the sketch, the paint flaked off when the lid pressed the wrinkles down.  Even so, I like this new medium and will keep at it for a while.

This is a pastel and gouache sketch on black pastel paper.