Lady Graphite Portrait


This is already the fourth week of my course - and almost the end of January!!  Whoa, can we just slow it down a bit.   Just an update that even though we live in the "deep South" I am feeling like it's the Midwest.  Our snow never materialized, but the arctic blast sure did and here we are at noon and it still isn't above freezing.   I don't think this is supposed to happen here!!

Anyway, on to the lesson results.  Actually I lightened the photo quite a bit.  Even though I shot this outside it came out pretty dark.  So the actually photo, if you lightened the whites, looks more like this, it isn't nearly as washed out as it appears.

This lesson was a lot more in my comfort zone than last week's van Gough.  I started out doing portraits with this method - using a stump/tortillion to put the graphite around the painting.  It actually becomes  loaded with graphite and you can either clean or use it like a brush of sorts.  Always a tug of war adding and subtracting graphite.  I did have a new aid, a Tombow Zero eraser that is just a tiny little guy and together with the soft putty it really helped take me back to the white paper.  Have to say it always surprises me at how workable Bristol paper is and how many layers it can actually take.  I also used my silicone blenders and a cosmetic sponge to smooth and move the graphite around.   I also learned a different way to do hair and looking at it right now don't think I smoothed it enough in the bun - but oh well.  Bit take away from this lesson after watching Kellye's videos is that you probably need to keep going for another 4-5 layers once you think you are finished.  I probably still didn't really get the tonal differences that I should have.

Sheila, I now have no reason to procrastinate on watching the GIMP videos and working with it - wish I could say I was excited, but I know I will just end up pretty frustrated.  No, have to go with Helen's motto for the week - "Courage doesn't always roar; sometimes it is the quite voice at the end of the day that says, "I think I will try again tomorrow"   I am going to get this!!    Why, because I have an excellent teacher who knows how these thing work.  

thanks much for stopping by and taking a look





Comments

Helen said…
She is beautiful. I feel like I've watched you get better and better and better over the months.
I do love that quote about courage. I think credit goes to Mary Anne Radmacher (?) for saying it first.
January 30, 2019 at 5:31 PM
Sheila said…
YOU will get it Nelvia, and you already know more than you think ;) This is lovely. I love the halo effect. Don't know if that was your intention, but I love the implication that she is sacred. As all women are sacred ;) It can't be February already? How did that happen? LOL.
January 31, 2019 at 12:44 AM
hmuxo said…
Beautiful work Nelvia!! I agree with Helen....better with every piece!!
January 31, 2019 at 8:34 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
This is lovely Nelvia. I really like the skin tones you acheived - well done!
January 31, 2019 at 10:12 AM
Nelvia said…
What a wonderful thing to say. Am glad that you can see it, maybe I will finally get a bit of a breakthrough!! Yes Mary Anne may have said it first, but you said it first to me!! I am so enjoying them.
February 1, 2019 at 12:31 PM
Nelvia said…
I did do the halo, I wanted to have some difference in the dark tones and reemphasize the circular movement without being too distracting. I don't know where January went, it is pretty scary.
February 1, 2019 at 12:32 PM
Nelvia said…
Thank you Hilda, means a lot coming from you. If anyone knows, you know portraits!!
February 1, 2019 at 12:32 PM
Nelvia said…
Thanks Val, getting the smooth transition is the hardest part of this technique. But with using the bristol it is pretty forgiving to erase back some if you need it. I'll take any advantage I can get!!
February 1, 2019 at 12:33 PM
Log Cabin Studio said…
What a lovely portrait !
February 1, 2019 at 8:54 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bold woman's portrait

Image
Bold Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more