The Final Dance Paintings

I was so stressed over these stupid paintings I woke up at 6:30am and just got to the easel.  Today I balanced a day of work and painting.

I have been SO stressed over this stupid situation I got myself in!!
It was time to just sit down and DO IT.

I sprayed the heck out of the backgrounds with fixative, which is not something I normally do but I had to do it. I needed another clean layer.

The figures went in with (mostly) Unisons, and a few Nupastel. The pans were out and I got the Brilliant! Idea! to use my sparkly panpastels! THAT was exactly what these paintings needed!! I also used my iridescents and metallics!

(I would very much like PanPastel to make jewel-toned iridescents.)

It was exactly what the paintings needed. From early morning to the evening, I finished all the paintings.

I did not spray the final layer, that would mess them up. I never spray pastels.

They all needed about an hour of studio work.

Here they are, I tried to get the photos as close as I could to the originals but they are still better in-person.... especially because they shimmer and sparkle.

I am very happy with this series. I stressed a lot and learned a lot and I'm really proud of myself for seeing it through and figuring it out to the end. I could not see this end result when I started- that's why it was so stressful.

They are packed and ready to send to school with Daya tomorrow.

5x7 pastel/gouache