Smiling

This little sketch is an oldie, a quick slice of some watercolour portrait practice I was doing in 2015. I think I pinched the picture from a magazine; I was captured by the look of  spontaneous joy on the boy’s face, and the feeling of cold imparted by his ruddy cheeks and bobble hat. Given how much time has passed since I painted this, this chap probably looks quite different today.

I do remember trying to figure out the flesh tones, and trying to calculate just how dark the darks needed to be under the chin, in the mouth, eyes and nostrils – and how to make them. Interestingly, I think it’s the darks which have been the most helpful in pulling this little sketch together.

Although it’s far from perfect, there’s something about this I still like, and it makes me smile.

Facing Fears

I find people difficult to paint in watercolour. Just knowing which combinations of colours to use is a puzzle, and then if working quite small, the merest miscalculation can change a face from recognisable to someone else.

I thought it was time to face my fears and do some practice, so I found some appealing royalty-free images on the web and went for it on a piece of A4 watercolour paper.

Because I’m left-handed, the top right pic came first. The original was of a child about 12 years old – I’ve accidentally added at least a decade, plus a rather haughty air, poor thing. The young lady with blue hair is a little closer to the way her photo looks, and she was painted next. I love her hair! The man on the right followed. He looks like he’s in a catalogue (which he sort of was). He’s a bit bland, but I wanted a face-on image… The last one I painted was the chap on the bottom left, an unusual pose. His head was shaved and he was very stubbly, which I enjoyed doing. This is the sketch I’m most happy with. I added the background colours afterwards, and they bear no relation to the original photos – I just went with what I fancied.

What did I learn? Well, I’m getting better at getting face proportions roughly right. I’ve discovered a combination of yellow ochre and quinacridone red which gives a nice skin colour for white flesh. Shadows are still a challenge, but they are improving I think. I sort of wish I had used reference photos of people I know, but knowing them would probably have made the exercise harder. Maybe next time.

Seriously

My husband is learning to draw and wants to start to sketch people. When I suggested he could do worse than have a try at a self portrait, he commented that he thought it felt a bit vain to do so. That surprised me; I hadn’t looked at it that way. I countered that I think our own faces are the ones we are know best, and that at least we’re always available to model for ourselves. Anyway, in my limited experience, self portraits are rarely flattering, given the fixed stare, frown, clenched jaw and compressed lips which result from the intensity of effort involved.

It was a series of self portraits in pastel which prompted me to kick off this blog just over a year ago. It was a good adventure, and one which taught me a lot.  I’ve done a couple in watercolour since, but today was the time for a proper selfie in acrylic.

I got the mirror rigged up, paints out, and off I went – starting is often the scariest bit. The board (30x40cms) was prepped by a light sanding and then propped on my tabletop easel. Having sketched the basic features in pencil, I worked from the background forwards. For once I did have a plan for the background, inspired by the black glass of the oven behind me (I like to paint in the kitchen).

The skin tones really gave me food for thought, how to mix the right colours; it took quite a bit of trial and error, and I’ve still come out somewhat more tanned than I am in reality. The shadows on the face were especially challenging. What colour is that? The chin is definitely a bit odd (I might revisit that). The bit I like most, and tellingly which took least effort, was the ear. If the rest of the painting was as loose and yet still as convincing as that I’d be really chuffed. I found that the acrylics actually dried a little too fast for me to achieve the smoothness of skin tones I was hoping for. I can see how oils would be a bonus here. Yet the acrylics do offer a sort of coarseness which is appealing.

I’d hoped that using my 3/4 in flat brush throughout would help me to paint more loosely, but in fact it created some problems where detail was necessary, particularly round the eyes and nose. Rightly or wrongly, I persisted. I’d be interested to know what brushes other people use for portraits, all advice gratefully accepted!

As has been the case with every selfie I’ve done, this sort of looks like me, but doesn’t really. Having looked at my previous attempts I think that I am getting better at this business, although my stern expression seems to confirm my opinion that self-portraiture is a very serious business indeed.

 

The Sketchers

While we were staying at the lovely Mas Bernad  there were a few moments where I had my pick of unwitting models to sketch, as everyone was busy drawing or painting. That’s why the subjects are all looking down, with their concentrating faces on!

It was very good fast sketch practice, using just a few pencil guidelines and trying to let the paint work for me. In some cases this turned out better than others. As you see, I attempted to rescue the face on the bottom left by adding definition in black fineliner; I don’t think this was particularly successful, but sometimes you have to try these things.

The models were very kind and didn’t grumble at all about the portraits, however unlike them they turned out. I noticed that it was less of a struggle to capture some likeness of the people I knew best (the top two characters, Andy and Suzie) than to sketch Jackie, who I met for the first time that morning. The experience brought home to me how much subconscious processing our brains do with subjects, building up familiarity and a library of shapes and shades through observation over time, even before you think of putting pencil to paper. Food for thought…

Patience

I thought yesterday was going to slip away without me getting a chance to make a sketch, but just before my son went to bed I managed to scribble a fast little one of him playing patience and listening to Harry Potter on his headphones.

I had to scrabble around a bit first to find a soft pencil, it’s been so long since I’ve drawn in graphite in earnest. I do think my practice at drawing in ink is paying off, as I managed only to use the eraser for a little tidying up, and although there are some issues with his anatomy, as a very quick ‘live’ sketch I’m encouraged. Maybe patience is being rewarded?

 

Quick Draw

At the swimming pool this morning, waiting for Ted, I grabbed the chance to complete another page in my funsize 3x3in sketchbook. The objective was to try to capture any kind of likenesses of the swimmers having their morning dip. Faces, arms, bodies, whoever I could see was up for grabs. In particular I couldn’t resist a quick pic of the man with hardly any hair at all who used the pool hairdryer very briefly… he made me smile inwardly.

It struck me again how difficult it is to draw people who are just going about their business, moving fast, changing position and expression with no warning, oblivious to the plight of hapless sketchers.

So, this became an exercise in trying to look very hard at the chosen victim for a couple of seconds, and then attempting to transfer the whole image down in roughly the same time, without being able to grab a second look or verify any uncertainties. I don’t think any of these people would recognise themselves from these scribbles. But I’m sure that it’s a good process for me to go through, and it was liberating working so very small, as I worried less about details and tried to just jot down overall impressions. I finished the sketches off at home by adding in a little colour using Tombow markers, which brought the page to life.

Once again, fellow sketchers who draw people in everyday scenarios, I salute you!

Band Substance

It’s Saturday again, so I’m back at the music school, listening to the brass group rehearse. This time I took my Tombow pens with me, and had fun jotting some quick sketches of a couple of players and the conductor (again).

I’m finding the motion of the players, and particularly their conductor, really very challenging, but it’s definitely good practice at trying to convey quickly a sense of the person. I haven’t really spent any time before sketching people, so I’m enjoying getting my teeth into these. It’s not often you find a captive, relatively stationary, group of people who are almost oblivious to your sketching – I recommend it!

There will almost certainly be more sketches like this one to come as I try to get to grips with capturing fleeting stances and expressions.

Saturday Band

For us, Saturday morning means Saturday Band at the West Norfolk Music Centre. Adults and children alike are welcome, and join together in a sometimes harmonious ensemble.

Today was the first day for my son joining in the brass group, so I had time to sketch while they played for half an hour. I had packed light – just a watercolour sketchbook and a sepia fineliner pen. However, when I came to start I didn’t fancy using the sepia, so I dug around in my handbag and found a ballpoint, which answered my need much better. It wasn’t too bad sketching out the players and conductor, as they kept relatively still while they were actually playing, entirely focused on the music.

I noted down the colours and completed these with watercolours when I got home. I really enjoyed this sketching session, and think that I might try to use these spare moments (complete with captive, oblivious models) more often on a Saturday. It’s not bad, drawing with a live soundtrack!