Pastel Pet Portraits

It is mostly pet portraits in pastels that I am commissioned to create. I absolutely love pastels – layering, blending and smudging and then adding the fine detail.
I use pastel pencils (Faber Castell, Derwent, Stabilo CarbOthello), PanPastels and pastel sticks (Rembrandt, Faber Castell).
I mainly work with Clairefontaine Pastelmat paper –  a lovely pastel painting surface and a firm favourite with most pet portrait artists I know. It’s acid-free, archival and lightfast, thus perfect for conserving my artwork, and its surface is softer than sandpaper but can still hold several layers without the need for fixatives. The colours are (and remain) vibrant and I am able to create very realistic pet portraits with soft backgrounds.
If you are after a pet portrait in colour, then pastel is for you!