A Roman Woman, C.100 AD

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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.