Lots of concentration needed for this stage ... unusually for me I decided to have a practice on a spare sheet of paper to see which method of portraying the moustache/beard works best on the Derwent paper as it isn't one I've used often
In the end I decided to indent using the end of a large paperclip as my tool. The problem with indenting on white paper is that its then impossible to see where you've made impressions. I got round that by lightly shading over the surface with a grey pencil to reveal the indentations
When I get to the main section of beard I'm going to have to do a lot of 'negative' drawing, filling in the shadows to make the whiskers stand out .... quite a challenge
and the darker the clothing the more the indented whiskers show up. Had to scratch out the colour on the hat where I'd filled in the indents but managed not to tear the paper surface
It didn't seem as though I'd made much progress today, despite spending several hours on this, but comparing it to the last WIP photo I'm happy to have got this far.
In theory one more day should see this portrait finished (pending later 'tweaks' of course) and so I need to decide which of my 'Fuerte characters' will be the next subject. I need to have works available to enter into exhibitions at Easter and June/July when the Canterbury Art Society stage their Spring and Summer Exhibitions. Although I work faster in pastel, I want to stick with coloured pencils as I will then be able to enter them into UK Coloured Pencil Society exhibitions - hedging my bets!
In the end I decided to indent using the end of a large paperclip as my tool. The problem with indenting on white paper is that its then impossible to see where you've made impressions. I got round that by lightly shading over the surface with a grey pencil to reveal the indentations
When I get to the main section of beard I'm going to have to do a lot of 'negative' drawing, filling in the shadows to make the whiskers stand out .... quite a challenge
and the darker the clothing the more the indented whiskers show up. Had to scratch out the colour on the hat where I'd filled in the indents but managed not to tear the paper surface
It didn't seem as though I'd made much progress today, despite spending several hours on this, but comparing it to the last WIP photo I'm happy to have got this far.
In theory one more day should see this portrait finished (pending later 'tweaks' of course) and so I need to decide which of my 'Fuerte characters' will be the next subject. I need to have works available to enter into exhibitions at Easter and June/July when the Canterbury Art Society stage their Spring and Summer Exhibitions. Although I work faster in pastel, I want to stick with coloured pencils as I will then be able to enter them into UK Coloured Pencil Society exhibitions - hedging my bets!
This is looking sooo good, Sue! When you think of a Spanish island, you think of brown eyes so it's something of a surprise to see these blue ones.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jan.
ReplyDeleteI don't actually know what nationality he is .. he could be German or Scandinavian I guess - he has been around for many years though.
i'm almost speechless. this is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIt really is coming along beautifully. Such an interesting face too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer and Jo
ReplyDeleteGenerally because the weather is warm he's sleeping on a bench when we see him but this time because the weather was colder he was more active so I guess we noticed him more. We gave him a few euros in return for me photographing him. I will try to find out more about him now
I can see the handsome guy this man must have been when he was young. He's still a nice looking man despite all that facial hair! LoL He's a gorgeous painting, Sue!
ReplyDelete