Self Portrait in coloured pencil

Friday 27 April 2018

Walter 2


Walter 2

I did a lot of work on Walter today. I have blended his far eye, undercoated his chin and neck, and started on his scarf. I have made a change from my reference photograph. He had the strap of a bag around his neck. You can still see part of it in the sketch. But I decided it wasn’t doing anything for the portrait so I am painting neck there instead. 
I still haven’t painted his moustache! And his mouth looks odd but I know what I am doing. Don’t worry!
I am sorry this is such a short post. I have been busy with other things this evening.


Friday 20 April 2018

Girl in Profile


Girl in Profile

I have been enjoying painting this portrait of a girl in profile in oil on canvas. She has a very elegant nose. 
I have a bit of a thing about noses. Blame my mother for that. She had a slender Roman nose and she was proud of it. She would tilt her head and show it off, saying she was glad she didn’t have a snub nose. In case you are wondering, I have a cross between her nose and my father’s and I am very happy with it.
I took a lot of reference photos of the girl, but I had to reject all the full face ones because she had her eyes screwed up against the sun. 
I have finished the girl’s face, and last time I worked on the portrait I started her clothes. I would have liked to paint her hair, but I have to wait for paint to dry because I will need to rest my hand on her face and I don’t want to smudge it. Obviously. That is why I only painted the left side of her jacket. I don’t want a red hand when it is time to work on her portrait again.
I still have to finish her neck and paint her hand, which is resting on the back of a chair. They will wait until after I have finished her hair.



Friday 13 April 2018

Lady in Sunglasses 2


Lady in Sunglasses 2

The Lady in Sunglasses is beginning to show her lovely friendly character. 
You may be thinking that I have indicated her eyes, but I can’t see her eyes at all in the reference photograph. I can only see myself and my camera reflected on the lenses and I am not going to paint that.
No, she hasn’t got a big earlobe. That will become her earring. 
I am still working on 10 portraits at once. I paint a bit more on three or four paintings a day. I have to rest my hand on the canvas because my arm and hand are weak due to polio. That is why I paint from the top left to the bottom right so I don’t smear the oil paint - except when I do it on purpose of course. If I need to go back over a higher part of the painting, I have to leave it to dry for a day or two. 
Meanwhile, I am ready to set up my next 10 portraits. There is a portrait of a deerhound calling to me ...



Friday 6 April 2018

Brighteyes


Brighteyes

This portrait of a little boy, in oil on canvas, is coming along nicely. 
I started to paint his blonde hair full of different shades. I was mainly using gold ochre and raw umber. The hair was fairly dry by this morning so I thought I should put in the highlights. Then I had an idea to make the colour more subtle by mixing in transparent white. I had never used transparent white before. It is definitely different from ordinary white oil paint. So I painted transparent white over all his hair and I am leaving it to dry to see what happens.
Talking of hair, after I put him on the picture shelf to dry, I took down the portrait of his girl cousin who has an elaborate plaited hairstyle. I didn’t take a photo of her portrait because it hasn’t yet got sufficient nose or mouth to stop her looking like an alien. I don’t want anyone to see her looking like that. 
I was puzzling about how to paint her hair, when I remembered that my hairdresser was coming today. So I left the girl’s portrait on the easel and my lovely hairdresser, Sue, explained how the hair should look in my painting! I hope to post the finished result next week.
I am so lucky with the technical help I am getting with these portraits.