'Capturing Likeness and Light' by Petronella Van Leusden

Petronella gave her ‘Capturing Likeness & Light’ demo’ this week at the Sunshine Coast’s Buderim Craft Cottage. A larger than usual group of promising portraitists were enthralled as Petronella’s donned her teacher persona to share more than a few pearls of wisdom and experience.

The demo’ itself was a masterclass in how to take a less-than-optimal foundation and use it in such a way that the final product is enriched. Petronella demonstrated how yellow pastel paper – typically an inappropriate ground for portrait work – can be harnessed to create light and form in unexpected ways. Using pastel pigment for under-painting, she developed her subject with increasing detail, all the while talking through her process.

What was most striking, and helpful, was how Petronella articulated each phase of her process. Participants were able to follow each step from the choice of subject, sketching and measurement, transfer to the painting surface, blocking in for under-painting, and – most important – how to identify and work with values.

So much important learning to absorb in such a short space of time – and all of it excellent!