Colour Choices and choosing ground colour

 On the weekend, I posted two recent portrait studies. Thank you for all the response. It gave me an idea to do a post, talking about pastel vs. other mediums, but also, the impact of working on coloured grounds. Many, many times, I get asked:  what colour paper should I use for my pastel? Answer: There is no one right answer. There are only different effects you create through colour choice. Then we spend time looking at an image, and taking out different coloured papers, and talking about how this affects your pallette in general, and how this addition would impact the piece you are intending to make.
The correct answer, lies in what your initial intention with the painting is. If you want drama, you might go black. If you want light and airy, you might go for a very light yellow. If you want space in a landscape, you may go for any shade of blue. There are many possibilities, each one creating an effect, a feeling. It's all about what you want to express, and how you want to express yourself. Yes, theory is involved. All my workshops are carefully planned to afford the student the opportunity to see theory, and make decisions based on that, but also to feel, through intuition. That inexplicable,...I don't know, I just love green. Personal choice, that leads to individuality.
Which is actually, a very important point, and leads to the quintessential question asked by all artists?

Who are you? What do you want to say?

Andrea, portrait study, pastel

Andrea, oil

The answer can lie in every decision and choice we make, defining ourselves through what seems like the simplest of choices, or the most complex.
I am experimenting as widely as I can these days. The pastel was done on a dark warm red, and you may find it's quite a bit more sombre than the oil. That's because the red dictates a darker value. If I want the painting lighter, I've got to inject more light values. This paper doesn't have good tooth, and I like the idea of the lights that are there, to be an important part of the composition. The light areas don't take up a lot of room, which is good for the compositions' drama, and I just like that red staying where it is. So I'm leaving it.
In the Oil, I drew Andrea first, then laid down a base of yellow, red, blue and green. flat. Let it dry, then at the next session with the model, I started to expand my pallette. I'm trying to work with as pure as possible a pallette, and keep the colours limited, mixing for variations. Notice how much more contrast and light, like a breath in, there is in the oil. Which one is better is not the question. Which one creates the effect I am after, and,... Do I like it, is it pleasing to me. You must paint only what is pleasing to you, or risk losing your motivation and passion in pleasing others.