Colouring in: Another oil pastel portrait

I’ve had another go at the oil pastel portrait technique David White showed me. I thought I would try to use the pastels in a more painterly way as Jacquie has such beautiful, smooth skin. I found I could blend the colours subtly by working them over each other repeatedly. There still is quite a lot of line, but I think less than my previous oil pastel drawings. Or perhaps it just looks less scribbly.

Here is the charcoal sketch:

I covered the sketch with an ultramarine blue ink wash then lathered it with oil pastels. The pastel layer is so think it looks impasto in places.

I spent two hours essentially colouring in. As a child, I never, ever won a colouring competition. I reckon I’d kick it in, now. Wonder if I can get away with entering under my daughter’s name…