A Roman Woman, C.100 AD

Pastel and Charcoal on White Sketch-weight Archival Paper

This is a drawing that I started at home, continued as a demo for my students in

class as an example of my "veils" technique - which involves using many thin layers of color and applications of fixative combined with charcoal drawing -

and finished at home.

I used the Sennelier "Fixatif Latour", which comes only in a spray pump bottle.

It is wonderful because it has a citrus base, and unlike most fixatives (many

pastelists refuse to use any fixative at all, as a mattter of fact there is a big lack

of consensus about this...), you can spray it right in front of your face. You don't

even have to go outside. It has two drawbacks: one is that because it is not solvent-

based, if you are working on a thinnish paper, as I was here, it can actually cause

the paper to buckle. But of course this is not problem with Wallis sanded, or even

Canson pastel paper. Secondly, because it is a pump, one often gets little spots if

the nozzle isn't 125% clean. You can see the spots if you look closely in the pink part

of this piece. Sometimes that has its advantages. Sometimes not!

Thanks for visiting today.