New pastel painting

"Tough call" by Hilary J. England, pastel on hardwood panel, 11" x 14"

I have started a series of pastel paintings, and this is the first of them...I haven't worked in pastel in a while, and I just had a yen to return to it.  It's just such a primitive, free flowing medium for me...very different from oil painting, almost frenetic rather than meditative...a way to purge my excess energy.

This painting was done of Maddie, sitting in the grass, looking a little deep in thought, trying to figure out her "dollies."  I just thought all of the texture, and the amusing way she was sitting, was an irresistible capture for a painting.  I did some rapid sketches, and then put them together into one final drawing...I really tried to concentrate on the design aspect of the piece, rather than it being a "portrait."

I have another three pastel paintings I am working on simultaneously, so that makes for a sort of controlled chaos.  I have been somewhat preoccupied with design, texture, color, and a sort of "cloissone" element, so this is the thought train I'm riding right now.