Model, artist and mate Natie popped into Creative Bubble on Saturday and posed for me so I could practice drawing a portrait. I’ve never been a formal portraitist, life drawing is about anatomy for me, not about getting a likeness of the model’s face. But I’m working on an idea for my next biggish exhibition and I need to get better at capturing likenesses. It’s better to practice with a professional model and / or fellow artists because you can come up with all sorts of weird stuff while trying to get to a likeness, and non-professionals can end up getting very insulted.
In this I’m trying to get the components of the face in the right place and familiarise myself with all the bits, so I’m not that bothered about subtlety and finesse. Luckily, Natie didn’t seem to mind. I used chalk and compressed charcoal onto a discarded cyanotype on Bockingford paper that I found in the bin at the print workshop. It’s about 20cm square. It will feed into a larger piece eventually.
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I love blue and this is a s blue as blue can be.. great portrait..:)
This is a very striking sketch. Love it! There’s something about blue that feels very deep and moody too.
Thank you. The cyanotype chemicals give such a gorgeous blue.
Thanks. The cyanotype chemical process gives that intense blue. The portrait says more about me, i think, because she’s a very jolly, bright person.
Lovely string drawing 🙂
I am also intrigued about the small alien wormhole forming just above where you put the date…!
Sorry, that was supposed to be ‘strong’ drawing, not ‘string’!!! It is quite hard to draw with string, I imagine!
hahaha I don’t know. My little nephew managed it last time he came round 🙂
ha yes, that’s me trying to disguise my signature lol
OK it’s a cyanotype rather than a piece of coloured paper, but I was wondering if you get the same ‘block’ when you are faced with a sheet of coloured paper as opposed to a piece of white. An excellent portrait! I love working with black and white on coloured paper. Must do it more often!
Thank you. No, I don’t get the same block. I only get that with white. It already has a tone laid down so in a sense, the piece has already been started.