When to Darken a Background on a Portrait Painting

Rachel has sent me her delightful painting and has asked for my feedback, Rachel writes:"This is the very first attempt to do a picture of my own, and I found it a bit scary. I did copy it and the original was much darker. I did not know what the best background should be so have made it very pale."I can understand Rachel’s reluctance to put in a darker background as this would certainly not have worked as the painting itself is so light .However it is possible to darken the background a little more as this would help to add contrast for the light shawl.I would suggest that a mid-grey is applied to the whole background area and rubbed well into the existing base colour, 233 would be a good choice. I would then apply 181 on top of this again over the whole background, this could be followed with a blue, say 140 and blended into the background. Although 181 on its own is a strong colour it will not appear that way because of the lighter base colours.One other point I would like to make is that the composition is changed, I have over laid a blue frame on Rachel’s painting to illustrate how I would do this. I would also bring the cloths down to the edge of the frame at the bottom, (see black arrow).If you would like feedback on your artwork, look into joining our pastel pencil membership.