A word, a kindly smile, will often suffice to gladden a wounded and sorrowful heart. – st. thérèse of lisieux
“Tess’s First Communion”, 9×12″, pastel on Canson Velvet Pastel Paper by Annie Dash Studios
Tess is a sweet and gentle-hearted girl, and was one of the first children that I had the privilege to photograph for formal First Communion photos, eight years ago. Her kindness, innocence, and devotion to the Lord at such a holy time in her life stayed with me, and I knew that her First Communion portrait would be perfect to create in pastels.
Here is the photographic portrait we took together, in celebration of her First Communion:
I used PanPastels to produce a painterly look for the underpainting of the face, hair, background, shirt, then added layers of Rembrandt pastel sticks, and pastel pencils for all the detail work. I added additional soft greys, whites, pinks, and purples to the background for a soft, painterly look.
Here is a collage of the stages and many layers of this work:
I truly enjoyed creating this beautiful portrait, and am very happy with the end result! I believe that pastel portraits have the ability to capture the essence of not only how people look, but who they are.
As they say, time is fleeting, but art endures. I hope that Tess and her family look back fondly on her First Communion portraits in remembrance of this holy and special time in her life.
I hope that you enjoy this work as well — if so, please be sure to leave a comment below.
If you’re interested in booking your own First Communion or Fine Art Portrait, please get in touch!
Annie Dash Studios is a portrait artist and painter serving New Albany, Indiana and beyond with commissioned and original realistic fine art pastel, watercolor, and acrylic paintings.