Portrait of Rebecca....finished

I've been a bit quiet recently.....due to a family illness and bereavement....but I'm getting back on track now.

I've now finished the oil portrait of Rebecca......and here it is:

Her mum has seen it an loves it.....and as for Rebecca herself, well she just gave a coy little smile when we showed it to her.

I've also been working on a pencil portrait of a beautiful semi-long haired German Sheppard dog. Unfortunately he is no longer with us and his owner was heartbroken when he died. She only had an old, poor quality photo of him, so her husband commissioned me to draw him from the photo.... I do hope she likes it.

Here he is:

Portrait of Rebecca

Well, after an enforced break from the current portrait commission I'm working on to draw the Stallion below, I find my oil painting has dried enough to let me continue with the next layer.......unfortunately, this painting pre-dates this blog, and so I didn't start off doing it as a work in progress, so have no photos to show you of it yet. As it's almost finished, and is a commission, I'll wait till it is done and the client has seen and approved it before posting a photo here. However in the mean time, here is a photo of an oil painting of a yellow Labrador dog I painted a couple of years ago. Although alive at the time I painted it, Sebastion is sadly no longer with us.....but what a beautiful boy he was.....and very well known in the village where I live....everyone knew Seb, moreso than his owner Mandy, who walked him every day in the village.....he was such a friendly boy and without exception, when he was out with his owner for a walk, everyone used to stop and say hello to him. I miss seeing him around the village now.....but the good news is that Mandy now has a lovely chocolate labrador pup...and he is starting to become as well known as Seb was.

Work In Progress...........completed....I think

Stage 5

Well, it's now just short of 2am and I've finished.....I think!!

I've spent another 7 hours, in two sessions throughout the day and a third late this evening. I'm a little tired now, so I'm going to leave it for now and put it away for the next couple of days and then I'll have another look at it with fresh eyes. I find this helps to me to see anything I'm missing at the moment because I'm "too far in".....unable to see the wood for the trees...that sort of thing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed this little insight into the evolution of a drawing. I've enjoyed doing this work in progress.....might think about doing another one soon.....just have to find a subject.

Work in progress......the next installment

STAGE 4

Here is where I'm up to now...... (9 hours in total....so far.)

As you can see, I have laid down a lot of the face shading....I'm still thinking I need to go darker, but needed some kind of reference point other than the eye, so I've left the shading and started on the halter. Actually I was glad to stop the shading of the face....was starting to become tedious and my hand was starting to ache.
From the last stage to this took approximately 4 hours (not in one sitting I might add). You just can't go too quickly with the shading or you end up with marks you may want to erase, but can't. I do a layer, sit back and have a good long look at it again compared to the photo, then start again. However, I am starting to feel that we're getting there. I think the next posting might be the completed drawing...we'll see.

Work In Progress continued......

STAGE 3

Well, here is the result of today's efforts. As you can see, I have been working on the area around the eye, working outwards from the eye. Working in layers, I lay down soft light strokes - following the contours of the face and direction of hair growth. For this I use the 9B pencil - it is very soft and leaves soft strokes that are easily blended using the paper stump or my finger. I haven't used the putty rubber on the hair yet, the variation in tone/depth is achieved by applying the various layers of graphite strokes and blending. I think it is bringing out the eye nicely....and what a kindly eye he has. The stallion is black, so as you can imagine, there will need to be many, many more layers applied to darken down the overall tone, but I think you can see already how the shading brings the face to life.
This has been another couple of hours work, so 5 hours in total so far. Not sure how much I will be able to get done over the weekend, but I'll post updates as and when I have them. Be back soon with the next instalment.......

Work In Progress...........

Well, I've done some work in progress articles before, but this is the first time for this blog....and another first.....I will be doing a 10 minute (or so) recording of various stages in the process. My son Dominic is keen on making short films, machinemas etc and I have finally caved to the pressure and agreed to let him film me. Strange.....I never gave in to "pester-power" when he was a child, but now he is almost 16yrs old and a young man.....well, maybe it was the thought of all those cups of tea I can "persuade" him to make me while I'm drawing.

Anyhow, The subject matter for this work-in-progress project is an absolutely stunning Tennessee Walking Stallion, called Watch Out Jose and owned by Delaine Freeman Smith.

On the right is the photo I'm working from:

I'm using artists drawing cartridge paper and a technical pencil, 2B, 6B and 9B graphite pencils. I'm also using a putty rubber to lift out some of the highlights and a combination of paper stump and latex pastel colour shaper to help blend and soften some of the graphite marks.

STAGE 1

I usually print out a copy of the photo, on grayscale for pencil work, to use as a point of reference.

I use a technical pencil to do a quick and rough layout of the main points in the drawing.

I draw this freehand - I personally don't like using projectors or tracing paper, although I know a lot of artists find them invaluable. I just think that I'm too much of a traditionalist .....or is that masochist??!!

On the left is a photo of the outline sketch.... hope you can see it, it's drawn very lightly so that I can rub out any bits I need to, later on.

STAGE 2

With the rough outline done, I now set to work on the eye. They say the eye is the window to the soul, and it certainly says a lot about us. It's the most important aspect of a portrait. Generally speaking, if you get a good likeness in the eye/s then you have captured the essence of the person/animal.

Here's the result.....about 3 hours work to this point, and enough for tonight, I think.........

Will be back with the next instalment/s in the next few days.

Click HERE to see my drawings on Affordable British Art

Just Lion Around....

"Just Lion Around" is one of my recent drawings......it was drawn in graphite (pencil) on Bristol board and was exhibited in a recent exhibition. It was drawn as a companion piece for another Lion drawing of mine "Old Timer"

(Below)

These are the first big cats I've attempted....my drawings tend to be commissions so are usually cats, dogs, horses, children etc.

However, I have enjoyed drawing them immensely and am learning as I go along. In fact, I am working on a series of drawings which will be available for preview at my Open Studios week in September....so if you are in the Aberdeenshire area, why not come along an see my work....it'll be a 2for1 event this year, as I will also be exhibiting with a talented Artist friend of mine, Angela Arnold. You can see some of her work on Affordable British Art -click HERE.

There will be lots and lots of different and varied work to see.....and I will be running some drawing and painting demos at various times.

Anyway, back to the Lion drawing.....Just Lion Around was intended as a companion piece for another Lion drawing: "The Old Timer" (shown here). They are available for sale individually for £185, or if you buy both together there is a 10% discount.

To see more of my drawings click HERE