An Unfinished Sketch

The day got away from me what with celebrating Father’s Day and obsessing over the details of a totally captivating book, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith. I need an early start tomorrow and so this sketch will have to be finished later without my models in front of me.

This sketch is a good example of the first stage of how I have been working lately. I start by drawing in pastel on black paper. The pastel is responsive to my thinking. It is easy to smudge away so I can make adjustments to the sketch as needed. The smudges do not matter much, for the most part they can be painted over or erased with a kneaded eraser. When I have the basics in place I begin to add the gouache. This sketch will be similar to yesterday’s but I plan to leave more of the black paper showing in the bodies and especially in the facial features.