Soft pastels on Mi-Teintes board 14″ x 16″ (36cm x 40cm)
Preliminary study for a portrait of Dani Samuels to exhibit at SOPAC.

It’s been a while since I did the latest of my Paintings for Poles work. So eager to explore in my newly found medium of soft pastels I asked Dani if I could do a portrait of her. More willing, pleasing and encouraging models I’ve rarely seen.

This is the 5th painting this year and the 5th in soft pastels. Yet, it is the first that I set myself to do careful detail. I consider it a 70% achievement of realism. Aims towards more improvement include hair, eyes and skin at magnification level but I’m very happy with my steps so far.

Dani’s Bio data:
I noticed that every time I read about Australian pole vaulters my fav event, Dani was always there. Wether it was Steve Hooker or Alana Boyd, Dani was there in the news with them. One reason is because she’s so nice to be a friend of but also because she is so good at her speciality: Discus throw.

Dani Samuels (born 26 May 1988) is an Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event.
Samuels is one of only nine athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James, Jana Pittman, and David Storl) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. Her personal best throws are 65.84 m for the discus and 16.30 metres in the shot put.