Over the last couple of years, I’ve featured three pastel paintings by Michele Ashby in my round-ups. Each time was of a different subject: a spiral staircase, a dog portrait, and a figure piece. Such talent!
Following Michele on various social media platforms, I’ve noticed that she posts a lot of paintings she’s done of her children and I became intrigued. I decided to invite her to write a guest post with the theme of her children as
Do you know Michele Ashby’s work? If not, here’s a teaser.
Before I hand over the blog to Michele Ashby, here’s a short blurb about her.
Michele Ashby Bio
With a BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design, Michele Ashby forged a successful career running her own business for roughly 25 years. More recently, after a hiatus of many years, she returned to drawing and particularly pastels, loving the vibrancy and immediacy of colour. Her work has been featured in the ‘Fresh paint’ section of Artists & Illustrators magazine.
Ashby has won a number of awards. These include
Ashby is an associate artist with Unison Colour pastels and a signature member of the Pastel Society of America. You can learn (and see!) more on her website.
And now, here’s Michele!!
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I always look forward to reading Gail’s blog and am delighted to join the list of her incredibly talented guests. I adore her incredible way of sharing her insights, encouragements and words of wisdom. It’s clear to see that Gail’s passion for pastels reverberates ingeniously throughout her blog and I simply love that about her.
Gail has asked me to share my passion for using my children as subjects.
Here’s a little bit of background… At
A Foundation Course at Colchester College saw me experimenting in various disciplines from Graphic Design to Fine Art, Fashion and Textiles to Sculpture and Industrial Design. I chose Graphic Design for my final year, interspersed with regular life drawing classes and completing my art education with a BA (Hons.) Degree at Kingston University.
Michele Ashby, College life drawing. My first ever life drawing. I can’t believe I have kept it and was able to lay my hands on it. This was drawn on the second day at college aged 17, the start of my Foundation Course. I have always loved drawing and the feeling of a pencil in my hand – however this day I must admit I was terrified!! 
Michele Ashby, “Ruth,” red paper. One day a week, we had life drawing on Foundation Course. I particularly enjoyed drawing Ruth as many of us did for her voluptuous figure. She had a fabulous confidence and we enjoyed drawing the swell of her hips and her pendulous breasts compared to the slimmer figures of the other models.
Michele Ashby, College first self-portrait. I believe this portrait was also drawn on one of my first days on Foundation Course way back in 1980. It was also my introduction to pastels. I had never used them before favouring coloured pencils and the humble pencil. It was the start of a beautiful friendship even though we had to wait many years before we were reunited. 
Michele Ashby, “Julia.” My good friend at Foundation College and my roomie for a while at University Julia was an absolute delight to draw with her Pre-Raphaelite looks and theatrical taste in clothes.
During the 25 years in which I ran my own business, I worked on some incredible projects including designing corporate identities for many golf complexes across Portugal, packaging design for all the major food multinationals, as well as designing the BBC’s Bob the Builder books. I feel my ‘design eye’ helps me make informed decisions regarding what works well as a composition. The excitement and motivation of a deadline is something I don’t think I’ll ever lose sight of – it helps me remain focused and channels my ability to manage my time to maximum effect.
Michele Ashby, BBC 20th Century History Makers – Anne Frank. Whilst freelancing I was fortunate to design quite a few books and their jackets. This series of four books for the BBC was a real treat to work on as I had to design the layouts as well as use Photoshop to colour the black and white photos throughout the books and their covers. 
Michele Ashby, BBC Girl Talk Cover. Girl Talk magazine was one of the jobs where I learned a lot about deadlines. Each day I had to design, layout, and artwork 3 double page spreads, full of energy and colour with illustrations, photos, games and quizzes! This was the time when my daughter, Imogen, did a bit of modelling and I happened to design one of the magazines where she made the front cover!!
When struggling with some major challenges in my personal life I joined a life drawing workshop as a way of having some much needed ‘me’ time, to concentrate for a few hours and forget the chaos surrounding me at the time. I took along some coloured paper and pastels that I’d had from my University days and as soon as the pastels hit the paper it was the start of a beautiful homecoming. My style is detailed, with a passion for contemporary realism; I have a penchant for contre-jour and chiaroscuro dramatic lighting effects.
As a
Imogen 26 and Alfie 23, who live together in London, claim each other as one of their best friends and for
I’m so pleased to say they have both taken after me with their creative flair and although different in content, with careers in fashion and videography, our passion for creativity is close enough that we relish bouncing ideas around and feeding off one another, with time together often revolving around artistic content.
Having only been a professional artist for 4 years I have found that portraiture is what draws me in the most. I’ve found the transition a huge challenge, persevering until I find the reward of getting everything working together to produce a likeness that I am happy with. First and foremost as an artist, it’s important to draw what you love, what you feel passionate about and connected to, using a visual honesty to be able to tell your story. So for me, being a big family person, I am lucky enough to have found what makes my heart sing, and it is, of course, my children.
To be able to find models that are as comfortable with you as you are with them is quite a challenge, having set up a few photo shoots so far with varying degrees of success. So when you have two willing models that understand the need to create and what is being asked of them, it obviously makes it a whole lot easier to create a much more symbiotic relationship between artist and model. We have always had an incredibly close bond and I feel so honoured that they are happy to pose for me.
They both possess a certain something, something that has eluded me. They have a quiet confidence – it’s difficult to explain but I feel absolutely compelled to try to capture it. It’s quite ironic to think that Imogen modelled as a child to gain some much needed confidence.
Sometimes the reference for my portraits come from a fleeting moment. For instance, the reference for Modern Man came about two Christmases ago whilst staying with my children in London. Alfie came into the living room wearing a blue face mask as casual as if it was an everyday occurrence and as soon as I saw him I knew it would make a great painting so I ushered him to a plain wall as a back drop, turned him to a strong light source and snapped away using my iPhone and the rest is history.
Abstraction of Light was another chance opportunity. Imogen happened to be home for the weekend and I’d actually asked her to take a photo of me at my easel but as she sat down, the light from a close-by window was so strong across her face that it made me catch my breath, so instead of me being photographed, I turned all my attention to focus on posing her to capture that precious moment.
My latest piece, a triptych using Imogen as my muse, was a planned photoshoot in her bedroom in London. I used a bright lamp as the only light source to capture the nocturnal feel I was looking for. As I don’t see my children as often as I’d like, I try to use every opportunity thrown my way to take photographs as my reference, either whilst walking or casually lounging around. If I see a new portrait in the making and if the light hits one of them right – that’s it, my iPhone is out and I am hastily taking photos, sometimes grabbing a piece of material to use as a scarf or asking for clothing to be adjusted to get just the right vibe I’m looking for.
Consequently I use my children as models a lot – but I’ve come to realise it’s more than just wanting to paint them. I feel a sense of togetherness as I make them appear from nowhere; I want to make a pictorial diary of them and my love for them. They’ve been through a lot and I guess this is my way of making things good – to honour them with my aptitude of drawing. Today where every precious moment can be captured on a digital device, I want to use that technology to preserve that snapshot in time, helping to immortalise the history of my two precious children by way of an indelible mark in pastels forever.
I tend to work on just one piece at a time enjoying the order and totally commitment this allows. I begin my working process by selecting the right photo or sometimes photos that I feel will work best for what I want to say. I play around with cropping the image in different ways until I’m absolutely happy with the composition.
Sometimes things don’t work out how you want with the photo alone and that’s when you need to use your skill to experiment. For instance, with SKIN, I had taken many photos but felt that something just wasn’t right with the composition. When I rotated the image a quarter turn, it suddenly gave me the intensity of emotion and tight framing I wanted.
Using my iPhone or iPad as a guide and sometimes a printed reference, I then begin drawing out the image with either a light coloured pastel pencil if I’m working on a dark substrate, or a dark pastel pencil if I’m working on a light tone.
I work the pastel colour in sections covering up the areas I’m not working on with a sheet of paper to keep those parts clean and free from pastel dust. I am left-handed therefore I will generally start from the top right-hand side to minimize the mess. (Graphic design roots – I hate mess!!). This doesn’t always happen though, for instance with my portraits, I must admit wanting to go straight in to work on the face wherever that is situated in the composition.
I often turn my work upside down throughout the process to check that I am seeing the shapes and their relationship to each other. I also stand back a lot, even walking away from my easel without looking at the piece until I’m around 2 or 3 metres away. Then when I turn around, I’ll see it with fresh eyes and make any necessary adjustments. Once I feel the piece is well under way I will hold it up to the mirror to check for any glaring errors – I find this also helps with checking the tonal values.
I use a combination of soft pastels and pastel pencils, building up gently to create the perfect blend of colours. I use my soft pastels very lightly and follow with my sharpened pastel pencils, pushing the pigment into all the tiny areas needed. I must admit I really don’t like the feel of pastels on my skin so for me, wearing gloves is a better option. I sharpen my pastel pencils with a 10A blade, liking a combination of sharpened and blunt pencils for the different effects and textures I want to produce. Most of my portraits have taken a couple of long days from start to finish. If I’m totally in the zone, it’s not unusual for me to work for 10 hours a day on a piece.
My favoured size is 16 x 16 in which makes the portrait just about sight size. Maybe this too has a subliminal meaning, allowing me to feel the presence of my children here in the studio with me. I love working on the skin tones, combining colours to get the specific complement. But for me, it’s all about the eyes. I want them to be as realistic as possible, to see me and follow me as I move around the studio. Once I have the eyes just the way I want them, I feel happy to continue around the face. If the eyes aren’t correct, I will persevere until I’m completely happy. It’s not just about drawing a true representation of the person, it’s about capturing the spirit of the soul – that for me is one of the most important things.
My substrate of choice is Clairefontaine’s Pastelmat. It’s a delicately sanded surface that allows for the detail and realism I like in my work. It has many colour variants which I have found all react slightly differently. Therefore I favour the anthracite and burgundy colours. I use all sorts of pastels but my go-to pastels are Unison Colour and a combination of pastel pencils.
“I believe in living an art full life. Everything we do from the way we raise our children to the way we welcome our friends is part of a large canvas we are creating.” Maya Angelou.
Such a beautiful quote from such an eloquent, inspirational icon. As an artist, I want to be able to have my say, to express my voice, so when someone connects to my work and ‘feels’ something, I feel a real sense of purpose, a feeling of shared understanding. It is wonderful to be able to connect with people through my work.
Whether time spent sketching as a child or coming up with the solution to a design brief in the middle of the night or channelling inspiration for my next portrait, I enjoy the hypnotic pull of the ‘blank canvas’, the feeling that anything is possible. I hope that my passion for what I do shines through my portraits of Imogen and Alfie almost as an extension to my nurturing them as babies and small children. I have tried to guide them to adulthood with plenty of time and a listening ear, a love of life, an ability to look with their eyes wide open, and the sincere hope they can walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before judging too quickly.
Our home is always open to friends and family, as long as they are prepared to put up with the distinct possibility I’ll probably be drawing while they are here!
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Incredible huh? I don’t know how Michele Ashby has the patience to create such detailed pastel paintings!!
And now we’d LOVE to hear from you. What’s your reaction to Michele’s work? Do you use your relatives as subjects? And if so, how does that influence your work? Do you have questions for Michele about her process, her technique, her ideas? Is so, please ask!
Until next time,
~ Gail
PS. In case you’re curious!
55 thoughts on “Michele Ashby – My Children As Muse”
Another goody Gail.
So glad you found it so Glenys!!
Your children are indeed beautiful, Michelle, and your portraits of them are extraordinary. Thanks for sharing them and your process with us. They are lucky to have such a devoted (and talented) mama! And thank you Gail for sharing Michelle’s work with us.
Wendy, that’s exactly what I thought!
Thank you Wendy for your very kind words – I’m glad you enjoyed the blog. Gail is brilliant at putting it all together isn’t she!!
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments Wendy! I enjoyed the process of showcasing my portraits of my children – I’m glad you enjoyed the blog!
Michele x
Absolutely loved reading Michele’s story Gail and hearing about her kids and what they are doing and I especially enjoyed seeing her old drawings. Reminded me of when I was studying, now I want to hunt out mine, don’t think I will be lucky enough to find them. I so enjoy her work and I hope to meet her one day.
Glad you enjoyed it Rose. Thanks for mentioning Michele’s early drawings. She sent me a few examples and I had to make some hard choices. I love seeing the evolution of an artist!
I’d like to find my old work too. I think they’re around here somewhere….. 😀
I too look forward to the day when I meet to this wonderful artist and human being and can give her an in-person hug!!
I’d love to see your old drawings Gail – I’m sure they will give an insight to your current work. Your comments make me blush, you know I think you too are an incredible artist and super wonderful being – let’s hope we can meet for a ‘hug off’ sooooooon!! x
Soooooooon!!!!!! xo
Hi Rose
Thank you for your comments – I have kept a lot of my old work even from school! I have also kept just about every drawing both my children have ever done lol!! Try and dig yours out – you too Gails it’s lovely to look back!
This body of work evokes such love! It’s stunning in its beauty. I remember first seeing “Quiet Contemplation Makes For Better Understanding” and being struck with the composition, the light, the brilliance of the artist. And Modern Man! well, it’s just perfect.
You said it Marsha! Love is evident in every square inch (or centimetre) – not just for her children but also for the painting process. Two for one!
And I think perhaps Modern Man may be my favourite of this collection if I had to choose. It’s such a great composition and so unusual. Brilliant really.
Hey Gail – I didn’t know Modern man was your favourite from this collection, thank you!! Great minds… I know Jamel is still your fave fave!!
Love your comment ‘love is evident in every square inch (or centimetre)’ x
I LOVE the imaginative composition AND the surprise of it!!
Hi Marsha
I’m pleased you enjoyed the blog and I’m so happy that you’ve picked up on what my portraits of my children mean to me! Modern man is one of my favourites too – unortunately it hasn’t quite made a juried physical exhibition but I’m working on it!!
What a great blog post! I was enthralled reading through Michele’s very open and moving record of her art and family life, not to mention seeing some of her student work as well as reminders of the fabulous work she has produced in the last few years. I’m so pleased that she and I are personal friends too.
Thanks Ruth! Reading about an artist’s early life and seeing, in the work, how they evolve is one of the thrills I get reading guest posts and certainly, Michele’s words didn’t disappoint. I’m so warmed by her evident love for Imogen and Alfie and her capturing of that and them in her work.
I’m looking forward to the day I meet Michele in person (and you too Ruth!!!).
Yes Gail, it would be great to meet you too. Sure we will one day!
Ruth what can I say… thank you so much your comments lift my spirits as you know I’m really struggling at the moment. So glad to have a good friend like you at the touch of a button! It won’t be long til we see the Sorolla exhibition too!! x
Did someone say Sorolla???!!
Yes! At the National gallery London until July!
Darn. Why couldn’t it be on in 2020?? No matter, something amazing will be there to see I’m sure!!
Yes indeed myself Paul Lynn and Ruth are going next month!! 😬
Ohhhhhhhhhh I wish I could join you all!!!
It’s what friends are for and I meant every word! Sorolla is in my dreams and I can’t wait!
Talk about synchronicity! I’m a portrait artist who works in pastels. I returned to portraiture recently after a long absence. Just yesterday I discovered Michele’s fabulous work on the “Women Artists & Their Art” Facebook site. I’m so happy to know more about her. She is a true inspiration and a guiding light for me. Thank you, Gail, for this very timely blog post.
Ohhhhh I love synchronicity and how the universe works – we are in need and if we are open, we receive. So happy this happened for you Tena, with someone who inspires you.
I’m happy also to hear that you’ve returned to doing portraiture 🙂
I love a meaningful coincidence, it’s an extra fizz in my glass half full!
Hi Tena
Synchronicity indeed as I really haven’t posted much to that group before.
Now you can see all of my W-O-M-A-N series together! Thank you for saying such kind words I really appreciate it.
Michele, I think you already know that I’m in awe of the portraits you do! And, to read from your own words about them: how they came to be, what it evoked in you, etc. helped it come full circle. I’ll look forward to seeing your future portraits and maybe Gail will invite you back in a few years to blog about them!!
Elaine, it’s fascinating, isn’t it, to learn about what goes into creating a painting or a series of paintings?! And I’ll look forward to a future follow-up post from Michele in the future 🙂
Thank you Elaine I’m so glad you enjoyed the blog, your comments are so appreciated. I promise there will be more work particularly portraits in the future but for now I’m taking my time – this art business is a journey right not a sprint? 🙂
I’m so honoured to have been chosen once by Gail as there is so much talent out there to pick from.
Brilliant blog as always! I absolutely love Michele’s work and know how hard she works on each beautiful painting! So wonderful to see her getting the recognition she so richly deserves! Bravo!
Lynn I know Michele will appreciate your warm congratulatory words! Thank you 😀
I really look forward to Gail’s blogs, she challenges us all to look further and deeper for a better understanding into an artist’s life and work. Thank you Lynn for your compliment, I’m really looking forward to seeing you again very soon x
Michele, you say such wonderful things, words to lift the spirit and keep me going!!
I’ve been following Michele and her beautiful work in the HTP Facebook group since I joined a couple of years ago. I am constantly amazed by her ability to capture incredible detail with amazing results in her fabulous portraits. It was nice to hear a bit of her back story. Her children are beautiful and they sound like they are beautiful inside, too. Probably a lot like their mother. Very much appreciated learning more about Michele here on the blog. Michele, hope you are doing well!
I agree Ruth! Michele’s children sound like wonderful human beings. Evidently, they take after their mother! And yes to Michele’s incredibly detailed paintings. I still don’t know how she does it!!
What beautiful comments Ruth – this journey is turning into quite an emotional rollercoaster! x
Your blog is like a gift from a friend, Gail.
Thanks for sharing your talents,and the talents of other pastel artists, with those of us learning to love this medium.
Thank you soooo much Linda. That’s such a lovely thing to say and warms my heart.
Yes Linda isn’t Gail the best! She must spend so much of her time putting all of this together.
We salute you Gail!!
Michele you know how to make a girl blush!!!
Once again thank you Gail … for choosing Michele’s work.
She really did open her heart to let us in both emotionally and physically by detailing the beauty of her children through shadow and light.
I have been particularly inspired to try liquid metallic on Pastelmat, as I’m sure it gives a wonderful glow to a background, which isn’t obvious in print.
You are so welcome Barbie!
Thank you for mentioning Michele’s use of liquid metallic. I’m fascinated by this and would love if Michele would say more about this process. Michele?
Hi Gail
Regarding the liquid metallic acrylic I simply brushed it on as a background colour and when I got close to the edges of the hair I was careful to use a more stippled technique allowing the dark colour of the substrate to come through then I went back over with light touches of whites and greys so that the hair didn’t have that ‘cut out’ stuck on look.
Hope that helps x
Helps for sure!! can you tell the brand of the acrylic you use?
Hi Barbie thank you for your compliments – I’m really glad you enjoyed the blog. To be honest I wasn’t sure whether to be as open but I felt it important to my children and that’s what this blog was about.
Regarding the liquid metallic – give it a go its a beautiful medium to use especially with pastel!!
Well written, beautiful photos and portraits, and leaves us with a thorough sense of Michele as a person and artist. I too would love for Michele to be invited back for a more technical post about her work. Encore? 🙂 Anyway, great choice Gail.
Ohhh so glad you enjoyed it Pam!! And if you have a technical question for Michele, go ahead and ask it here as a comment…
Thanks to you Gail and to Michele of course, for an excellent blog. These insights are always a joy to read but, as I’m lucky to have become friends with Michele in recent times, this was extra special.
Knowing first hand the levels of drive, determination and passion she has for her family – coupled with her remarkable talents – it’s wonderful to see her receiving the accolades she truly deserves.
Ahhh Gareth, I look forward to the day I can meet the lovely Michele in person (next year for sure!!).
So happy you took so much away from her warm and informative blog post 😀
Great piece!
… the connection with her children is so evident that, even if she didn’t write this fantastic blog, it comes through in her work.
Love her paintings
So glad you popped by Aidan with your appreciation of Michele’s blog.
And yes, I think it’s that evident connection between her and her children that got me thinking about approaching Michele with the theme for the post!