One of the bounced emails was to a client for whom I'm drawing a family group in coloured pencil - it had progress pictures attached for her to review and because of the computer glitch we lost a few days - I'd expected it to be finished by the weekend. Never mind, all is now well. The portrait is approved but just needs final tidying up over the next day or so.
Whilst waiting to hear from her, I didn't want to start the next commission which will be in pastel, so I slotted in this coloured pencil portrait which will be 'an example piece' for next week's exhibition at the Horsebridge Gallery, Whitstable .
David thinks I have too many wildlife pictures to display and need a coloured 'human' portrait to balance thing up so I decided on this 'celeb'. It took a couple of afternoons and is drawn in coloured pencil on white Mellotex card which is not recommended for coloured pencil work - the card doesn't hold many layers of colour and is best used with graphite, but I like its smoothness and lack of 'tooth' and enjoy a challenge now and then! It was drawn specifically to fit an existing mount and frame - the mount is a rich mottled gold and cream colour and the frame is sort of matt brass colour which works beautifully together I think. I'll do the final 'tweaks' tomorrow and then she will be framed, ready to go!
Oooo... very nice, I like the choice of mount as well, they go very well together.
ReplyDeleteHope you're computer stops playing up, there's nothing more stressful than a computer that refuses to play nicely!
Looks very nice Sue. The lips and eyes especially turned out real pretty. I wouldn't have thought one could get such good results on mellotex with cp, but there you go...you just never know until you try. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow Sue, I love this one. Can't believe this is Mellotex. What pencils did you use? What size?
ReplyDeleteThis is so effective Sue - especially the eyes and mouth!!! Do you have a preference between drawing people and animals? I personally find animals more relaxing because there isn't the pressure to get an absolute likeness!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amatheya - I upgraded my computer as the old was reliable but slow. Now I have a new fast machine which forced me change my email and photo-viewer programmes, hides things (like my blog follower list) if I view in IE8 so I have to run Chrome and IE8 and they 'fight' with each other. Its worse than having a couple of naughty children!!
ReplyDeleteHi Chrissy and Pauline. I set myself a target to 'make this work' within a couple of days or switch to using pastels on sanded paper for speed. I really wanted a very bright white paper to help get the 'glow' I was seeking.
ReplyDeleteI used mainly Prismacolors for the eyes/skintones, smoothing with tissue and blotting with blu-tack. To get the hair as dark as possible I tried using Zest-It solvent on the base layer of Prismacolor - it didn't really work so the final layers of hair colour are done with Derwent Coloursoft with a light layer of fixative between applications. Its all a learning curve. I don't see that using cps Mellotex should be any more difficult than using cps on drafting film - but it is!!
Yes, Karen - animals are definitely my preferred subjects but in the 4 month run up to Christmas my order book is about 50/50 humans -v- animals/pets.
Gorgeous, gorgeous! This is fabulous. So sorry you've had computer problems, I was wondering what happened to you. Hope they're all sorted out now.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan
ReplyDeleteI finished it this morning and she is now framed. Weather is horrible here so I haven't got a great photo but will probably post later.
Computer problems are eased - not cured. David found some online help re. Chrome and has done some tweaking. Fingers crossed!
That is incredible! It looks so like her.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the computer problems, pc's are supposed to make our lives easier but can be so frustrating sometimes!
Well the mount is gorgeous and so is the drawing of Angelena, She is such a mysterious sort and you captured that completely. Computers can make things more complicated if not doing what they are suppose to, but in my case it is the inefficient operator most of the time! lol
ReplyDeleteVery, very beautiful, Sue! You do people as well as you do animals. Congratulations on being booked for Christmas! Good luck with you Galery show!
ReplyDeleteThank you :o)
ReplyDeleteComputer still not playing nicely but I've learned to manually save work regularly and to double check my email receipts.
Looking forward to my next piece which is a cute JRT puppy
You did a gorgeous job on Angelina.
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