Saturday, August 23, 2008

Work is (actually!) in progress

At last, after months in the doldrums, I'm drawing again. Of course, I've done the China sketches in the meantime, but I really wanted to get my teeth into a portrait. This is just a small section of it, and no doubt it will go through many changes before it's finished but it's a portrait of my brother Steve - yes, I have another brother! Anyway, this is going to be challenging I think, and it's in early stages, so I'll post a little work in progress to keep the blog updated. I'm using only Lyra Rembrandt pencils to get a feel for them (and to get away from using watercolour pencils) but I'm missing the Cretacolors for the Ochre Light and English Red combination that was so good for skin tones. The yellow especially as that shade was perfect but it doesn't seem to have an equal in other brands. With this portrait I'm trying out the flesh tones (I used Light Flesh for the first layer) and overlaying yellows, reds and using a lovely magenta for deepening and accentuating (I love magenta, I first used it for shading the skin in the opera singers sketch). I'm still not totally satisfied with the shades yet, so there is definitely potential for overworking this one if I'm not careful!

Lyra Rembrandt pencils on cartridge paper. Background music courtesy of Foo Fighters (Echos, Silence, Patience & Grace)!

5 comments:

Carolyn said...

I can't wait to see the finished work!

Sioux said...

Wow...looking good. I'm looking forward to seeing more of the WIP!

Lin said...

OH Felicity!!!! This is glorious!!! And so so glad you're sketching again! It drops my jaw, hon, what things, what reality you create with smudges of pencil -- absolutely amazing to me -- this is going to be another stunning piece! GO GIRL!

Serena said...

Great to see you sketching again, Felicity! I am so impressed with the realism you achieve in your pencil work and I'll look forward to seeing this one finished.

caseytoussaint said...

Felicity! I'm thrilled to see you doing portraits in colored pencil again. I really think this is the perfect subject/medium for you. Can't wait to see this finished!