More Shelley, more pastel

This is one  of Shelley done another day. I love the black stockings!  They make a nice  balance with the dark hair and the band on the mittens. I made the background behind the profile darker so that the profile would stand out.
The colour of the pastel paper worked well with the skin tones. Sometimes I like a skin-related colour like this one and sometimes a dark paper can work well. however, for the dark paper, it is often necessary to work some skin tones well into the paper first, then build up the layers of pastel. I quite enjoy working with pastels although I do not have the huge assortment of colours that a lot of pastel artists have. Too many could be too heavy to carry around- but I also think that it is possible to build layers and have a rich colour without having a very large amount of choice. I even wonder, sometimes, if being a little more limited doesn't make for more creative choices... sort of like painting acrylics with a limited palette which can result in unity as well as creative colour. Wednesday is "long pose" at Life Drawing (every second month) so I'll be taking my pastels and a choice of paper. Decision on paper colour will depend on the costume and set-up colours as well as the position I get. Position can determine the composition. The challenge is to make the most of where one sits or stands.