This was at the last sitting. Cerise had been to my studio for four two hour sessions. She did a great job and I really enjoyed the time we spent together.


We listened to music and Cerise introduced me to “Nevershoutnever”. The song I associate with this portrait is “On the Bright Side”.

This is how I saw things.  I loved the fabric behind Cerise.  You will notice that in the image at the top the fabric was hung different.  We were together for the sittings once a week.  During the rest of the time things got moved around and changed because it is a multi use room.

Cerise (mother) and her husband came in to see the portrait at this time and were very pleased.  I was excited to see their reaction. 

When Cerise left after the last sitting I found the dark shadow line of the background in my composition very distracting.  Thank heavens the way the fabric draped on the last day was my favorite of all so after Cerise left I went back in and changed it.  You can see the change starting below.



After first sitting with Cerise

Cerise Arbour commissioned me to do a pastel portrait of her daughter Cerise. She wanted it done from life so “Little Cerise” could have the experience. Cerise (mother) had sat for a pastel portrait when she was little and remembered it fondly.

I had Little Cerise sit in my studio by the window. During the first sitting we had a lovely warm light and I wanted to stick with that. I was conscious of the cool shadows on the right side of her face and really wanted that to come through.
Cerise had such soft features. It was an exercise in subtlety for me. Hard angles and dramatic lighting are much easier to capture.




I had Cerise wear a shirt of mine at our first sitting because the dress that was to be in the finished piece had yet to come in. She came to the sitting in a yellow shirt and it was reflecting way too much of that yellow up onto her chin. The pink shirt softened that and made for a better transition into the final color scheme.

I took this photo to help determine the composition and get Cerise back into the pose when she came again. I posterized the image in photoshop to remove detail. She was a great model and held the pose very well. The first 40 minutes of our 2 hour sessions were great!

This was at the end of the first sitting.

Coulter Sitting

I was asked to do a pastel portrait from life so I had Coulter sit for me to get the feel for the medium again. He lasted for about thirty minutes and fell asleep! He was no good to me after that.


He did sit for me one more time so I could finish it.