Mr.&Mrs. Pastel WIP

 

 
 
Ok, this is the start of Mr. & Mrs., my double lion portrait, on golden yellow velour paper, 9"x12".  This is a combination of two photos from Gary Jones at PMP.  The male was in black and white and female in full color, so I am working the male from value studies I did plus using other lion reference photos to try to get his colors correct.  Colors will be the same for both so hoping to keep it cohesive.
I can already see that this is going to photo differently than what it is in real life as the photo background looks blue and it actually is a blue green.  I will try to take the next pics outside so it might translate better.  But, heck it's cold.
I mounted this velour paper to the same size of acid free foam board, I didn't have the adhesive sheet, so used 3M Super 77, liberally spraying both the board and the back of the velour sheet.  It seems to have bonded pretty good.  I let it dry overnight so it was good and setup before I started applying pastel stick presure.  I need to practice making sure the edges are correct on first try as it doesn't slide around once the two are put together so this is just slightly askew but don't think it will affect framing, in case it turns out and actually gets framed.
Not sure what is the best way to put a solid background on velour, it really doesn't blend and you definitely see uneven application. But I am hoping that the subject will be so compelling you don't really dwell on the background.  Ahhh a girl can hope and dream.  Actually I am hoping I can find someone who has worked on this to give me some ideas and might have to go over the whole background with a softer pastel stick to get more even color.   Right now most of this is being worked with Nupastels and pastel pencil, very little really soft pastels at this point.
I also am trying to find some way to do blending on this paper so am  using a stipple brush, especially in areas where I want my color transitions softer. 
Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great week ahead.

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