Pastel portrait artists, pastel portrait artist Sonia Hale
Pastel portrait on Mi Teintes paper
18″ x 16″
Connecticut portrait artist Sonia Hale: pastel children’s portrait hangs in private collection in Darien, Connecticut
I was contacted by the mother of this dear young girl for a pastel portrait commission. She wanted to keep the composition simple and with her daughter’s dear face and the delightful dress, I knew we’d be in good shape for an excellent portrait commission. Bonnie posed in several dresses and in several different settings, but her mother felt this pose best captured her endearing expression and spunk. Pastels are a lovely medium for young children’s portrait commissions because they offer such smooth strokes to simulate skin tones. Oil portraits are very popular right now and have been for a while, but I love working as a pastel portrait artist for that reason.
Adding the fancy bow on top of her head was a way to nod to the past best pastel portrait artists of all time, including top portrait artist of the 1880’s Mary Cassatt. Her pastel portraits have always enthralled me and I love to get ideas for my own pastel portrait commissions. Writing this is giving me a serious inspiration to get back to my pastel supplies and work on new portrait commissions.
