Friday 27 August 2010

27/08: GREY HORSE - PASTELS ON SENNELIER PASTEL CARD

The weather has been grim today so I didn't want to work on my coloured pencil human portraits - its so easy to pick the wrong shade of pencil in artificial light and achieve some weird skintone effects .... The portrait (together with one other) is commissioned as a wedding gift in October so I'm going to put the final touches to it when back home.

This is a lovely grey horse I started work on ... its in pastel on a dark blue/grey sanded card. Unfortunately its been difficult to photograph as my camera always thinks it knows best. Whoever said Cameras never lie hadn't experienced mine!

here are some early Work in Progress pics:

Outline drawn with direction of hair in various places


I'm just building up base colour here, paying attention to direction of hair and where the highlights will be


This next picture is an example of my camera thinking it is an X-Ray machine .... I have had to darken all these photos as they all looked spooky/ghostly!   Interesting effect though - don't you think?


This is the same picture as above, but I tried to trick the camera by placing a mount over the paper to 'distract' it a little ... the colour is probably truest in this last picture.  At this early stage I'm not going to worry about adjusting the photos - save that treat for when I'm nearer to completion and its more critical.




This is going to be my last post for a while as we are visiting Richard in hospital tomorrow and then will be taking a holiday ... can't wait to see the sun again !

7 comments:

  1. This is interesting Sue. Quite a different effect! I look forward to seeing more. Love del boy!

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  2. Amazing the difference photographing it against white has made to the photo. Looking great, and good to see your working process.

    And..., ghost horse, get it in to the new drama commissioners at the BBC now ! Ha !

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  3. Hi Sue have just read through all your recent posts in one hit, sounds like you have been (and will be) very busy so hope you have a lovely break to recharge the batteries!
    I have just been laid up with a virus for a while (not much fun) so am playing catch up here :-)
    Del boy looks like you had fun and the grey is going to be a stunner!
    I must say I sympathize with the framing incident this happened to me before...........forced me to invest in a bradawl.;-)

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  4. Oh My ... I shouldn't be on the internet as I've got toooooo much to do tonight

    but thanks for commenting guys.

    Photography isn't my forte as you've probably worked out .. I bought an 'idiot proof' camera and may just have to challenge the dealers under the Trades Description Act !!

    So sorry to hear you've been under the weather Kay - hope you're feeling much better.

    I think everything is just about under control but we've had a long day ... and at nearly 9pm I haven't packed the bags (we only take hand luggage so not the end of the world)

    I really hoped to get a few hours sleep as I'm horrible when I'm tired but may end up just staying awake now through the night

    I'll be checking in regularly via the internet cafe in town so speak soon :o)

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  5. I always enjoy seeing your horse portraits so much. So, while I hope you enjoy your holiday, I want to see more on this!

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  6. Thanks all

    Am having to read-respond to these quickly from an internet cafe in town as the internet connection at our house is pretty rubbish!

    Weather is VERY hot here but I´m not really complaining!

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  7. Really enjoyed seeing your WIP's... always interesting to watch an artist at work!

    It's looking really good... onto more recent posts to see the progression!

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