YOP self portrait

Hello!

The final Year of Painting challenge (for this year) on the Painting Friends forum was a self-portrait. I draw and paint quite a few portraits, as it’s my favourite subject, so for this one I wanted to try something a bit different – different medium, different approach, just to freshen things up a little… 

I wanted to do something other than my usual head-and-shoulders type portrait, and I'm pleased with the way this one turned out. I covered my paper with charcoal, and used a putty eraser to lift out the pale areas. This is a really forgiving approach, as it's so easy to correct the shapes, lifting charcoal out, putting it back in, until eventually it comes together...

Charcoal on pastel paper (A4 W&N pastel paper pad)