Monkey Soft Pastel on La Carte, 9x12, 2007 Zoom in! This painting will be on La Carte paper, which has a texture like fine sandpaper, allowing it to hold the pastel particles well. I've chosen a greyish blue paper, which will offset the warm colors that will be applied later. I've started by coloring in the eye with CarbOthello pastel pencils. I start with the eyes because this will be the focal point, and will set the mood for the rest of the painting. I've also started to block in the base colors for the face. I'm using Rembrandt pastel sticks, and most of the rest of this painting will be done with pastel sticks. I've started to define the spikey hair of this monkey. For this, all I'm doing is making short tick marks in the direction of the fur, in a variety of colors. I keep in mind the general palette of the reference, using more yellows in some areas or more chocolate browns in other areas. For the darkest darks, I'm using a Ludwig dark purple pastel, combined with black. This will create a more interesting dark than black alone. Here, I'm continuing to block in the base colors, keeping the strokes going in the general direction that I want the fur to flow. I use a variety of colors to give the fur some texture. For the dark areas, I'm using a variety of purples, again to offset the warms of the sunlit fur, thereby providing interest for the painting. Here I've cleaned up the face, defining the highlights on the nose. I've also added fur to the brow area with a white pastel pencil. It's hard to see in this picture, but I've used a dark reddish brown pastel on the very edge of the shadowed part of the face. The purpose of this is to define reflected light from the golden fur, and creates a greater sense of realism, even though it's rarely conciously noticed by the viewer. This is the final image. I've added a bit of the Ludwig dark purple pastel to the shoulder as well, and added a bit of dark brown to the edges of the cream-colored fur.