Lovely portraits. However, you might want to take a look at the level of your jpg compression since your images have lost a lot of clarity. If you decrease the level of compression when you save the file, it will greatly increase the quality. You can't go backwards on this however - you can't resave the same image with less compression and regain quality. You'd have to rephotograph or rescan, depending on your original source material.

Loose style
 

Thank you for the comments, I've just been on a week's workshop with the master pastellist Ken Paine, really a life changing event. I hope to emulate his sensitive portrayal of his subjects.
I can't wait to get started!

Hello Margaret and welcome, beautiful pastels.

Feeling welcome!
 

Thank you for your comments; I'd love to hear how you get on Greth


Scotland is a fantastic country, very welcoming, it would be great to see some US artists over here!