FIRST SKETCH FINISHED

I've successfully, somewhat, finished the first preliminary study of Cheyenne's portrait and have posted it for any critiques or comments. I'm still working on the model for the actual pose in the portrait itself and came up with another country gal idea. After a little cutting and pasting to set the stage for the pose I came up with this charming idea.



















I still have to finish off the blouse and add a better still life on the table but on the whole, I like the beginnings of this study.

Now it's time for me to get ready for today's Liturgy at church. More later as the project develops.

A FRESH START

This is my little friend and my favorite artist/model, Cheyenne. Remember her from a previous post? Now I want everyone to look at this incredible face and tell me why a little girl of ten years old would think she's ugly. She's not fishing for compliments or reassurances. She really thinks she's an ugly duck and no amount of persuasion from me or her grandfather can change her mind. Be that as it may, I thought it time I did a portrait of her and maybe in time she'll come to appreciate the gift God has given her. Then again, if she begins to see herself as the beauty she really is, and uses it in the worse possible way, that would be an ugly trait. Maybe God knows what he's doing and we should leave sleeping ducks lie.

Anyway, I started working on a preliminary of Cheyenne's portrait and thought you all would be interested in seeing what I've done so far.



















It's not done by a long shot but I think I've got a pretty good start on it.

More to follow as the work progresses. Happy Labor Day's weekend everybody!

FINISHED AT LAST!!!

I woke up early this morning and went immediately into the studio to visit the portrait. It was my intention to do all my oblations first then get down to business but the urge to work quickly overtook my trip to the water closet.

And here it is, complete for the time being. I'll look at it again tomorrow or the next day to see if I'm still under the impression that it's truly finished. So far I like what I see but one needs to view one's work with "new eyes" to know for certain.

Now it's time for that morning shower and a good nutritious breakfast from the Nutrisystem cupboard.

PREPARING FOR THE NEXT "MASTERPIECE"

The portrait of Senta is nearly completed. I'm just taking a break from it for the night and finish it up tomorrow morning. I always dread facing the closing of one project and not having another to follow it to keep the engine running. So I've been trying to avoid that by recognizing when the end of one project is near so I can at least think about the next one. And here's what I've been thinking about.

I have a little friend who visits me off and on and brings along her own journal to draw in. She thinks it's so cool to know an artist. She also thinks she's ugly. Now normally I'd say that when a little girl says this she's fishing for a compliment. Not so my little Cheyenne, she really does think she's an ugly duckling. So I ask you, take a look at this face and tell me if this is the face of an ugly duckling:



















I'd love to do a portrait of this little ten year old but after the long stretch on the previous portrait, I need to get away from them for at least a little while. And so Cheyenne's portrait will have to wait. Instead, I'm going to do a relatively easy work with this photo as my inspiration:



















More of the same plus the finished portrait of Senta tomorrow.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT... SO FAR

I spent a good portion of the early morning hours (when the rest of the world is quiet) and finished up on the portrait aspect of the drawing. Now I need to place something on the left side, like a vase of flowers?, to fill in the void. I may even put in a large window with flowers. Haven't figured it out yet but then that's the fun of art, problem solving. And as this is still only a study of the painting to come I can experiment with several different solutions as to what to put next to Senta. Perhaps tomorrow's blog will have that solution.

ART IS GREAT THERAPY

As I'm still trying to overcome the shock of losing my Dad I've found that my creative outlet is, indeed, great therapy. In fact, I'm not sure if my father's death has anything to do with it but I've found a very comfortable niche in which to create on a prolific level in the form of negative space drawing.

For several months now my friend Andrea Pratt and I have been experimenting and progressing with negative-space images. So much so that I decided to try my hand at doing a portrait. First I needed a lovely face to work with. Another friend, Senta Moses (from tv's Greek) agreed to let me use her image.



















After a couple of sketches I was satisfied and confident enough to proceed with the first finished study. I can't afford models nor rent costumes for them to wear so I did the next best thing. I loaded a DVD on my pc of a period piece movie: Wuthering Heights. I found the perfect dress for Senta to wear and did a capture frame of it. Note the dress all the way to the right.











After cropping this photo on Photoshop 6.0 and mounting Senta's head on it I was ready to do some serious drawing. After the first eight hours or so I came up with this likeness:














You can look at the photos to the right of the study to see my references including the Photoshopped head on the body. I should have the entire composition completed by tomorrow evening in which I'll post the final drawing.

I'll be posting more of the same in upcoming blogs.