Thank you Gaye for your awesome compliment. And a Big Thank You to Gail for inviting me to write a Blog, my first. No matter how old we get, there is always a first for everything, I think.

Lovely to hear you’re inspired by Laura’s work Gaye 😁 And oh my gosh, YES to your comment about the colours in that piece!

And I can’t wait to meet you on one of my art retreats!

Thanks so much Laura for this added info about the watercolour paper. Cool idea about the blocks!

Hi Gail, a brilliant article and introduction to Laura, whose work I didn’t know but am very inspired by. Just love her “Hand of the Artist” …the colours are exquisite! I’ll certainly keep this article in my Notes.
I thoroughly enjoy your articles, Gail and hope one day when commitments permit to join you somewhere….in Australia perhaps!

Thank you, Joanna. I am happy you find my blog an inspiration. I believe all of us artists can inspire one another.

Thank you Kerrie. I am happy my blog can be an inspiration for you. I too felt out of sorts among the more colorful pastel artists. But I think there is room for all of us.

Thank you Edward for your beautiful compliment on my work. So very kind of you. I’ve always tried to capture “light”. I hope you try using those 3 colors and see if you like it.

This is a wonderful compliment! Thank you, Joseph! I do hope you show your work and you should. Degas did many tonal pastels, I believe. Embrace that black, white and gray. They are my favorite colors as I can use them to gray down some of the bold colors of pastel. Thank you for sharing what you do. Happy drawing!

Thank you Jenny! My pastel on watercolor was an accident as I was really trying to do a watercolor but it failed immensely. That’s when I decided to experiment and try to turn it into a pastel. I did use 300 lb Cold Pressed watercolor paper for this. 2 years ago, I did some pastels on Hot and Cold pressed watercolor blocks. The blocks are nice if you want to use a watercolor underpainting or tint it with any water based medium as the block won’t buckle. It is surprisingly interesting that watercolor holds the pastel very well. I seldom use any fixative. I hope you will try it.

Jenny, I do hope Laura’s post and work inspires you to challenge yourself to try a portrait using Laura’s method. I’ll let Laura answer your questions.
I’m so happy this postresonated with you!!