Demo for Blue Shoulder

I had the image of the woman in mind as I placed the pieces of paper. The first thing I wanted to do was get the masonite covered. The pieces are old paintings that I had done on paper. I picked this piece, because I wanted a dark brown for the skin and the sloping line on the right could be used for the shoulder line.

3 more pieces of paper were laid in to get the masonite covered. I used the piece at the lower left, because the lines followed the lines of her shirt and shadows of her chin. The brighter blue piece was than used to resemble the other side of her shirt. The lighter blue piece above the left shoulder was cut and torn to roughly follow the outline of her head and shoulder.

Once I had the board covered, I roughed in the sketch. Here I assess what I have and determine how I want to move forward. I usually start with an area that bothers me. I needed to lower and establish the left shoulder, which got me working with the darks on that side and under the chin.

I continue to carve out the image in pastel and find ways to "stitch" the pieces of paper together on the face.
I do this usually by taking some color from each piece and putting it on the other.

Then the facial features are addressed and any final touches. 5x7 on board.