Monday, January 13, 2014

Two More: Portraits with Texture

8x10 inches, graphite and colored pencil on toned sketchbook paper
Barbara, for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

8x10 inches, graphite and colored pencil on toned sketchbook paper
Wally, for Julia Kay's Portrait Party

I decided to play around some more with portraits in graphite, white pencil and a bit of warm terracotta colored pencil, combined with textures created by using rubbing plates (like quilters use) for texture.  The patterns are much more visible in the portrait of Barbara than in Wally's picture.  There is some texture in the top right corner, bottom left corner and in his curly hair. though most of it was obscured as I added layers of pencil.

I have mixed feelings about working this way.  One one hand I like the modeling this technique achieves, and the glow the added warm colored pencil gives.  On the other hand the drawings seem very tight, and take quite a long time.  

I may just have felt like that about Wally's drawing since I sat on my eyeglasses and had quite distorted vision while I was working.  I had to soldier on though, since it was Sunday, and I was working at an art retreat away from home.  Today my eyeglass fixed them without a word of approbation.  He told me three other people did the very same thing last week, so now I feel less dorky and I can once again see reasonably clearly.

1 comment:

laura said...

I think they're really beautiful, very sensitive and subtle (not tight). But I hear you about pencil taking a long time ... I tried colored pencils and it's a lot of work: they don't just flow on like watercolor!