Color

Today I went to my art class and I loved it!  I have been working on a pastel drawing of Jonathan. It is from a photo that I love. I thought I was getting pretty close to getting it done. There were just some parts that I couldn't get right and I had some questions about it. My teacher, Anna, is SO helpful. We talked about portraiture and then looked at my drawing to see what needed to be done with it. The face (I now realize) was really brown. I need to darken some parts of it to create shadows that are more accurate, but I was afraid that adding brown or black would just make it look more muddy. So, she showed me that, in the photo, if you look up close,  you can see purples and greens and reds - not brown. Sure enough - you can. She showed me some other helpful tips to help me see the colors I need. So, I added purples and greens and reds and yellows to the brown face, and wow! It made a difference. I love the depth that the colors add. If I had been working on this on my own I would have, first of all, missed certain details and proportions that I just didn't see, and second, I would have been satisfied with the brown face and never would have known to add color this way. It wasn't bad, but now that I have added color, I love seeing the difference. When I do finally finish this piece, I plan to post photos of the process to show the different steps I took and what I learned along the way. I am really excited for this class.  Anna is a good teacher, and I am learning so much!