Sunday, November 22, 2009

Graphite Portrait of Gomez


Another cute little puppy portrait of a yellow lab. This was done rather small 5"x7" on heavy-weight cold-press smooth drawing/watercolor paper. I used different hardness of graphite, hb to 6b. Wonderful surface for graphite, it glides across and melts like butter in the darks. Love it.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Pastel of Nala

Cute little doggie belonging to a friend. This is pastel on velour paper about 8"x11" The challenge is a reference photo where much of the defining features are in shadow. Animal art is another whole skill set as I've mentioned before. I admire the work of Lesley Harrison and have her book "Painting Animals that touch the heart". She is a master at pastel on velour and wildlife and an inspiration to me.

On this, I worked on a gray velour using 3 different pastels, hard pencil pastel and Nupastel and soft pastel.

updated with final 11:01pm

Just in Time for the Holidays - - Tim Allen as "The Santa Clause"


This was fun to do! I added the snow globe since this was taken from the 3rd sequel, not the first and was significant to the story. Graphite on white paper, approx size 4"x4". I'm doing these fairly small, in a dimly lit room, in my lap! LOL They look so much better up close and not in these digital files. Eventually I will figure it out.

A word about this Blog. I don't really know if anyone visits it and reads these things or not. But, just the fact I've made this commitment, whether I manage to accomplish, or not, is always on my mind. I've done over 26 portraits in sketches, oils, etc of people and pets in the last couple months. That's more than I've done in the last 2 years! So, I feel pretty good about that. Anyway, if you are reading this, THANK YOU. I've have 3 pet portraits lined up to do...still. I'm hoping tomorrow is the day :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Graphite Sketch


This is another pencil sketch while watching a movie "Hitch" and is supposed to be Eva Mendez. Not the best likeness, she moved around alot, very animated in this film. Size 5"x6" on white paper. I am having trouble getting reproductions of my graphite drawings to be true. I've tried scanning and photographing. This one is a photo. I will keep working on that.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Grecian Costumed Model from Life

This was done in charcoal and white chalk on a light greenish-gray toned pastel paper from life at a Portrait Artists of Arizona work session October 31st. The model Elizabeth Claret posed in a costume I created by draping some ivory fabric tied with gold cording and an ivy garland for her hair. I also started an oil painting of her but it still needs some work and finishing touches before I post. I love the classical theme.