A couple of days ago I was told to watch a movie called, “Tim’s Vermeer”. I wasn’t sure I wanted to, some myths are not meant to be solved, but at the same time the concept of what Tim Jenison was proposing intrigued me. At the end of the day Vermeer was a master, whether…
Another portrait
When I look at my first ever portrait and my most recent of the same subject I have come a long way. The choice of paper for the first sketch was very coarse sketch book paper because it was all very experimental. The coarseness of the paper tends to catch a lot of the graphite of the softer…
Drawing hair
When I start a portrait I spend a lot of time identifying a photograph that will make the best portrait, studying it and understanding the balance between the light and dark contrasts (which will help create the 3D shape) and positive and negative shapes and planes. Ideally it is better to work from a few…
Tips for selecting a photograph for a portrait study
Since starting to draw portraits good source photographs are sometimes a challenge. Usually I get the client to come here and my daughter takes the photographs, or we go there. With internet orders this kind of service is not always available, especially if you live far away. So here are some pointers to consider when…
Blue Hibiscus
A bit of artistic license has been used in this painting as the instructions were very specific. It had to be a hibiscus, and it had to be blue. I certainly don’t have a blue hibiscus growing in my garden, and to be honest I am not even sure if there is such a cultivar….
Another Strelitzia
I love the variety of my work. I never have a chance to get bored with subject matter as there is always something different I am asked to create, and another mile long list of inspirational ideas and plans I still want to try out! My love of flowers continues to flourish! Here is my…
Prolific portraiting alert….
The last while I have been doing more portraits in pencil than I have been painting and there are more portraits to come. I’m not complaining, as I am thoroughly enjoying the process. I have posted these with the photographs supplied to me by the subjects Mum’s (with permission of course). Photographic source material Pencil…
More portraits…
Just before Christmas I was busy with portraits for various gifts and commissions for gifts. Some I could post and some I couldn’t. Here are the ones that could only be posted after the gifts had been dispatched and opened. I had so much fun doing them. And my challenge for 2015… Is translating sketches…
Golden Delicious
This was an exercise in creating a shape from developing the light and shade to build the form of the apple. For the coloured ground (the yellow under painting I apply to the white canvas before I draw on the shape and begin painting) I used the following: Yellow ochre Cadmium yellow light For the…
More botanicals
A recent commission. I will never get tired of being asked to draw flowers. I love them, and I loved drawing these three. They have to be among my favourtite flowers so I was excited to have an excuse to draw them too! Hopefully they have found a happy home back in Ireland. Magnolia Pencil…
In Flanders Fields…… 11/11
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In…
Portraiture Challenge
School was probably the last time I drew a face with any degree of seriousness, and that was 3 plus decades ago at the very least! About a month ago I decided to give it another try. I have always been fascinated by faces, how different light affects the expression and how to use tonal variances…
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