Face #211, Weekender Project

Face #211 started with a sketch on lined notebook paper (not shown here), and then I went on to redraw it (below) on 18" by 24" drawing paper. You may be able to see the faint remains of some erasures, the indication of different poses I considered before settling on this one. This second sketch was then transferred onto 24" by 36" matt board by very primitive means. I would have just redrawn it yet again, but the matt board does not take erasures well...so a transfer method using tracing paper was the way to go. While the transfer worked well within certain limits, by the time I add some color with the soft pastels (below), I realize this is just a foundation and I will need to do some more work.After doing some more work, I am almost tempted to leave the mermaid in this sort of nondescript state where there is only a subtle personality to her face (below), and her covering.  But I pressed on, extracting the detail that I knew was hiding somewhere in that matt board (below). It's not quite finished (below). I would say I have about 2 more hours of work, minimum, to add the rest of the background and to do more polishing overall. I had hoped to complete it over the weekend, but then I am particular about working in natural light for a piece such as this. As the sun went down yesterday, I knew I would need a little more time.I hope to get to finish the piece over the week, but have a lot going on, so we'll see! Hope all have had a good weekend, and enjoy the upcoming week. Until next time.

Bargains, Faces, & Goals

I went to "Michael's" the other day to replenish my dwindling paper supply, and landed on a great bargain. For anyone who has not had the occasion, "Michael's" is a large chain of art/craft supply shops located throughout the US. While I was there recently, I wandered past an area where the acrylic paints are located and happened to look on the bottom shelf. There were these boxed sets containing Winsor and Newton table top easels. I couldn't find a price, and asked a clerk who happened past. For twenty five dollars, I bought the Michael's exclusive Winsor and Newton boxed set containing the easel, a great pad of paper, a mannequin, 10 pencils with leads of varying intensity, 10 colored pencils, a small pad of sand paper, an eraser, some vine charcoal sticks, a metal pencil sharpener, and eight soft pastels. For twenty five bucks!!! The Winsor and Newton easel alone has been worth the purchase. I used the paper for the following colored pencil faces (Faces #194-#197): Face #198 and Face #199 (below) are colored pencil and ink, and of a more experimental nature:

Face #200-Face #210 are pencil (below):

 I am now one fifth of the way to completing my goal of a thousand faces, and it has crossed my mind that perhaps I could be focusing some of my drawing energies on more than just faces. I can just as easily post any additional pursuits here on this blog, along with more faces. I haven't reached any concrete decisions about this yet...just entertaining some new ideas.

I am playing with some ideas for a weekend project which I will be sure to post about on Monday if possible. Until then, have a great weekend!

Happy Presidents Day

"Nathan", Face #191, 9" by 9", pencil on pastel paper

I remember people telling me before my son was born, that my life as I knew it would be over forever once he got here. Kids have a way of changing everything. And for the better. Where I was once self absorbed, you could say I became child-oriented, and that shallow part of me went away once I had my son. As a parent, you tend to always be thinking of someone else's interests, most frequently ahead of your own. It doesn't change even when they get older. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my son recently, and was going through his baby pictures the other day. I decided I wanted to draw him from one of the many pictures. The result is above. As I have said before, I generally do not work from photos or use models (but I can). This is only the second time doing so on this blog. This is a very good likeness of my son at about 6 months. I will be getting this piece framed.

I also have a piece done in pastel, and another done in colored pencil for today's post.

Face #192, 18" by 18" soft pastel

Face #193, 18" by 24", colored pencil

I had a lot of other faces in pencil I also got done since my last post, but I will be posting them next time. Until then, take care!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

I wasn't going to do a post on just one face, but the time has really been getting away from me and I have been extremely preoccupied. In between the madness which is my life these days, I have picked away at a whimsical collage.

The focal point of the collage is an 18" by 18" pastel painting.

Face #190

All the elements are pasted to a 24" by 36" piece of matt board. I had a lot of problems photographing the finished piece so that the light was consistent, and there wasn't a glare off some of the shinier components. But the above is a good general idea of the finished piece, anyway. I see more collages in my future and had fun with this one. 

Hope all have a great Valentines Day!

Girls, Curls, And Acrylic Revisited

Up to this point I hadn't done any faces in acrylic for this blog. I had a ten year run working with acrylics, but when I found soft pastels some years back, I fell in love and the acrylics just gradually disappeared. Nevertheless, I have had a couple of blank canvases hanging around and last night I propped one up on the easel. This face is painted only using four tubes of acrylic; a black, a white, a primary red, and a primary yellow. I mix as I go and don't use any color or value charts, just winging it as I go...

Face #186, acrylic

Next up, are two faces done in soft pastel...

Face #187

Face #188

Finally, here is a face done in charcoal...

Face #189

Although I haven't gotten an extraordinary amount of faces done for this post, I have enjoyed working on these. 

Have a great day, and thanks for visiting!

Happy February

Happy February!

Face #178 is done in soft pastel on 18" by 24".

This face is at a scale larger than life size.

Faces 179-181 are done in colored pencil on 18" by 24" drawing paper. I enjoyed using a drawing paper for my colored pencil faces, instead of the sketch book paper I had been using. The colored pencils were delightfully buttery against this larger paper, which also let me work at a larger scale.

Face # 179

Face #180

Face # 181, (still in progress)

Then, faces 182-185 are pencil...

Face #182

Face #183

Face #184

Face #185

For those out there who would think my now up to 185 faces as of this post still a humble number, consider this: I had already drawn well over a thousand faces before ever starting this blog. But to do it (again), and make a documented record of it this time, was a primary reason I started this blog.

There are people who didn't regard recent digital work I had done as having any merit in the drawing department, although my digital efforts largely involved drawing with a mouse which is yet more difficult then what I do here. Nevertheless, it was another reason for this blog which consists of only non-digital work.

Finally, although there are a lot of nay-sayers in the world, that wasn't the reason my comments have been turned "off ". I began this blog with a clear cut objective and goal in mind. Not unlike a mountain climber, I didn't feel that I needed comments (good or bad) every few steps I made on the way upward toward my objective! This is, after all, a personal goal to draw a thousand faces. But I am still grateful for anyone out there who is silently following along!

Have a great day!