Posts Tagged: expressions
Sly III
Sly - final
I finished my final version of Sly. See the graphite drawing of her and the monochromatic version in the previous posts. This one was done using a limited palette of 4 colors – cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue and sepia. My teacher thinks I have a natural aptitude for glazing technique and had me do this portrait by painting about 50 thousand glazes of mostly water.
6″ x 6″ (15 x 15 cm) watercolor on paper
Geb
Geb
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. The name was pronounced as Geb from the Greek period onward or as Keb. He was the husband of Nut – the Sky, and fathered 4 children with her – Osiris, Set, Isis and Nephthys. As deity, he became associated with the habitable land of Egypt, it’s cultivation and harvest. (More on Geb in Wikipedia).
I imagine if Geb had ever taken a form of a man, he might have looked like this. Isn’t mythology great?!
In reality the story is much more prosaic. As told by a fellow artist from WetCanvas, the man worked as a guard at the temple complex of Karnak, Egypt. He was one of those guards who, when no one is looking, would show you all the places no one else will show you (of course!) and then ask for money, and that’s when you realize you’ve been had. This man was better than others though, he did not blatantly ask for money and agreed to pose for photos. He is now known around the world as many have drawn and painted him for the wonderful worn face full of character.
I’ve been working on this portrait since November 2009. Had to pause for a time to teach myself negative drawing – I couldn’t get the white beard/stubble right by any other method. Then I waited for Hi-Polymer 0.3mm graphite leads to arrive, because my regular 2mm lead pencils were too fat and too shiny for the task. This is the third version of the beard, not counting numerous trials in my sketchbook. As it sometimes happens to me, I was afraid this drawing would go unfinished because my skills were not up to this challenge. It looks like I was wrong.
7.5” x 9” (19 x 23 cm) Graphite on Bristol Smooth 300 Series.
Sly – monochromatic
Sly - monochromatic study
The same face I worked in graphite a few days ago – Sly – now in watercolor, a monochromatic study in preparation for painting a full color portrait. I find her face and expression rather out of the ordinary and complex. Interestingly I have heard quite diverse takes on her expression – sly, crafty, furtive, beautiful, b!tch, bored, boring, playful, coy, cunning, just to name a few. It is very rewarding to me to take in all these different reactions, perhaps it means that I produced a portrait complex and unorthodox enough to cause them.
6″ x 6″ (15 x 15 cm), Burnt Umber on Fabriano Soft Press.
Sly
Sly
sly (sl
)
Too bad about my paper. I chose to draw on Stonehenge with the thought that this would be only a study. This paper is a bit too rough for a young skin like that and shows too much tooth. Bristol Smooth paper would’ve been much better.
6″ x 6″ (15 x 15 cm), graphite on Stonehenge.
Never fear!
Never fear!
It is finished. It took a month, dozens of glazes, and I have given up (and resumed) twice in the process.
I’ve been using a traditional glazing technique under instruction of my teacher. There were three hues used – Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Yellow – single color glazes. I am not sure anymore how many glazes it took, I’ve lost count after 15, the total is probably as many as 25 in some places and as little as 2 in others.
The painting looked amazingly ugly until the very end. And this is why I have given up on it two times. I just didn’t have the heart to continue and be faced with my inadequacy. Interestingly I have been reading Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland while I was struggling with the glazes. I think this book is a must-read for every artist, it gives an insight what the fears are about. And while it doesn’t give a cure from the fear, it leaves you with a conscious choice of how to face it.
In the end I chose to persevere. I really wanted to know if I have what it takes. The other thing that kept me going was that I soft of knew that the ugly color splotches must gel into something coherent at some point (and everybody was saying so as well). I wanted to reach that point and see for myself. It happened in the evening of Dec. 9th. I painted the pupils and while they were drying was working on the background. And then I saw it – something happened to the painting, some threshold got reached after all this time, – there was skin where moments before I could only see color splotches. It was an amazing thing to experience. In honor of that moment and the book that helped me along I call this painting “Never fear!”
On a technical note, my teacher had me do several studies for this painting. I am posting them as well, my daughter aptly called them my “little monsters”: a graphite study, a brush drawing and 2 monochromatic value studies.
Quite a ride this was. While this work is rather wobbly and unsure, there are a couple things I am pleased with – I managed the likeness, expression and correct age.
5.5″ x 5.5″ (13 x 13 cm) on Arches CP, Cotman pans colors (these are my dad’s watercolors. It pleases me to no end that I am painting with my dad’s pigments!)
“Like a rolling stone”
Like a rolling stone
New portrait is complete. I probably spent 30 or 40 hours on it, but that’s over the course of 4 weeks. I don’t know who the guy is, the original photo is by amazingly talented Christine Lebrasseur. I had Bob Dylan continuously sounding in my head while I was drawing, and therefor the title is “Like a rolling stone.” My fellow graphite artists from WetCanvas! Drawing & Sketching forum have helped me tremendously by giving constructive critique in the most gentle and useful way.
3H-6B pencils on Stonehenge paper, size 6.25″ square.
“Now what?!”
Happy apples and honey to everyone who celebrates New Year today! Interestingly enough this year Jewish New Year coincides with the “Talk like a pirate” day. So if you are a pirate of Jewish persuasion or a Jew aspiring to be a pirate here are some pointers: Shana Tova, matey!
I finished another study portrait. At least I think it is finished because at my current level of skills I am not sure what else I can do. A little over 6×6 inches in size, graphite on Bristol Smooth, it took about 25 hours. The original photo is by a French photographer Christine Lebrasseur.
Now what?!
Go west, young man, go west
Go west, young man, go west!
I am undecided about this sketch. On a positive side I got the likeness in under 3 hours, that’s good. On the other hand nose needs work, and there are other problems. I can go back and spend some time working on the nose. But my goal was to do quick portrait sketches to practice features, not perfecting them. I got the likeness and I got the facial expression, perhaps I should stop while I am ahead.