Models vs Others

Following on from yesterdays post, I was talking about the difference between working with professional models and other people. Most are fine with sitting for a portrait sketch and are happy with the results, but there are some who find it hard to accept what they see. A few people want to be flattered and can get quite upset when you’ve drawn them “warts and all”. One sitter said crossly, “But you’ve drawn me with so many wrinkles!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I had drawn nowhere near the amount of wrinkles that she actually had on her face.

Then there are others visibly moved to see that they look like a parent or sibling and had never noticed the likeness before. That can work both ways, depending on whether they had a good or bad relationship with that person. Working with a professional model does away with all that, although I still like to work with others, as long as they realise that they might see something they weren’t expecting.

I have three linocut prints in the Miniprint Cymru Wales exhibition in Mostyn in Llandudno, North Wales, open until May 2nd. It includes one of my linocuts of our cat Bill, aka William Chatnoir.