Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A PORTRAIT AND A CARNIVAL

Yesterday I did a portrait in pastels of Isabel Macieira, partner of Matthijs Leijenaar and co-director with him of Casa 5. I was going to work on it some more but am afraid I'll ruin it so am leaving it alone. These are not oil pastels but the dry chalky kind, lovely to work with for spontaneity as long as you don't smooth and fiddle too much. Next I'll do one of Matthijs. On Saturday I'm giving a workshop on monoprinting without a press. Will post some of the work produced then.

It was carnival here on the weekend, cold and raining on and off, but that didn't deter the high spirits. I was bundled up wearing three layers of clothes but some people didn't feel the cold at all.

 

 

9 comments:

Jean said...

Lovely portrait - I like the way it manages to be soft and quite piercing at the same time.

Hope the workshop goes well.

It all sounds very rich and fruitful.

Sarah said...

Hey Nat, been following your journey over the last few weeks and really love your work. The creative juices are really flowing! Favourite so far is Inside Out. Glad the weather is not putting you off, very grey and miserable here in London today too. Awaiting future posts with much interest, Love Sarah and special face exploring kisses from Giselle x

20th Century Woman said...

GREAT portrait. You are right, don't touch it. I am inspired to get out my pastels.

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

DefSufi,thanks for your appreciation. Don't know if I'm actually having fun - it's cold and wet and the sun seems to have vanished but at least I'm concentrating on what I'm here for.

Jean, that's a very insightful description of the subject of the portrait! Didn't know I'd caught those characteristics.

Sarah! I'm happy that you've been following my reports. Stay tuned, there'll be a few more before I leave. Lots of love to you, the Giselle and Elliott.

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Anne, I'm always glad to inspire - bring out the pastels and get cracking!
(they do crack very easily, especially when dropped on tile floors).

Dick said...

Just catching up after moving house. What strong, bold pictures are coming out of Tavira, Natalie. I love this portrait - and indeed all the preceding samples too. I look forward to your overall assessment of this intensive process.

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Thanks Dick. My time here is nearly done and back at home I'll be able to make some sort of summing up. Now it seems Haloscan is ending so I don't know if any comments will appear after this. Will do another blog post soon. Good luck with the house move.

Dale said...

shoot. I wish I could do color. Envy isn't one of my main modes, but I sure switch into it when I see what you do with color!

Natalie d'Arbeloff said...

Dale, the colors here just soak into one's being. No special skills required!