Dubuque Artist, Heather O'Neil, works from her own photography to create timeless portraits in black and white.  To many people, her works appear to be charcoal portraits, but O'Neil finds soft pastel to be her preferred choice.  In contrast to works in charcoal which can appear "muddy", her soft pastel portraits have a smooth, clean appearance with contrasting of shades of a truly black medium against the white background.