Thank you for looking at this (mess). Fresh eyes often see what what the familiar ones don’t. So often I feel like I can’t see what I’m doing, and it’s right in front of me!

Those pesky values are easier for me to see in pencil, and I really should be doing value sketches before ever touching pastel to paper. Patience is something else I need to learn.

I’ll try the squinting method- or maybe just set it across the room from me. Everything should be pretty blurry if I do that.

Thank you for the advice and encouragement. It is greatfully appreciated.

-Lisa

I hope you don’t mind me saying this….squint at your reference that you are painting then squint at your painting, you will then see where the light should be falling plus most of all, it will eliminate detail so that you can see the patterns/shapes of tone. You should then be able to eliminate the patchwork effect that you don’t like. It often only takes a scraping of pastel to change a value to what you want.

I have had artist help me out with my own work on my blog, which is really good as we sometimes need fresh eyes to see what we have difficulty in seeing

Be warned though squinting is bad for wrinkles!

The large oil I am working on has certainly given me a good workout when working out my values; it has been a very valuable lesson for me. Cheers, Susan