'Life Drawing Techniques With Pastels'

At the Gold Coast's March 14th meeting, Kym Beaton demonstrated several approaches for quickly capturing the life and structure of a portrait subject.

She began with pan pastels, demonstrating a fast and flexible way to block in tone and establish overall form early in the process. And, because pan pastels can be applied quickly and softly, they allow the artist to focus expressly on accurate form and tonal structure before moving into details.

Kym also focused on the use of papers, noting that some of the more affordable papers can hold pan pastel well, and are useful for studies and quick sketches.  Mid-tone papers can be especially effective.

She then demonstrated several practical techniques for measurement and composition, including:

· Observing and comparing negative space to check shapes and proportions;

· Boxing in the subject to simplify the structure;

· Measuring proportions using a skewer held at arm’s length.

As her process unfolded, Kym began drawing to establish tonal relationships, allowing the main shapes and volume of the subject to emerge. Once the tonal structure was in place, she demonstrated how selective outlines and details can be added to clarify edges and bring the subject to life.

Kym's demo' highlighted how working quickly, tonally, and structurally, can help capture the essence and vitality of a subject before refining the image. Most important, is that the elegant simplicity of her approach provides a dependable foundation for a genre that some artists can find challenging.