Portrait drawing and colour study, 'Christie, graphite pencil.

One of the most important parts of my painitng practice is the preparatory drawing stage. If I skip this  step and go straight to paint, I am always sorry. And in many instances I will put the painting on hold, and complete a drawing study before returning to the painting. 

Why would you bother?? Because 'drawing' is 'information gathering'. 'Drawing' is familiarising your eye with the subject, both in shapes and in tonal variations, and on a subconscious level it helps you make ALL the decisions that you will have to make during the painting stage - but minus the colour. The better your drawing, the better your painting will be. Bearing in mind the millions of decisions being taken while producing a painting or drawing, it is NOT quicker to sidestep the drawing stage. Instead, it is more painful, as all the decisions are being made at once. 

These photos show stages of my drawing of my son Christie. A very handsome fellow, I know! 

The drawing took many hours over several weeks. The fabric took the longest time! I drew using 2H, and F pencils, on A3 cartridge paper. The next stage is the colour study, and this is the BEST fun! 

The point of a colour study is just that - it's not a mimiature version of the final artwork. This little painting, around 6 inches x 3 inches, took about 45 minutes of blobby heaven, and is much more detrailed than need be. I showed it to Christie, who thought he looked like he'd been stung by lots of Bees. Well, perish that thought! This is straight to paint, no drawing, just mixing colour and setting it down, keeping planes clean, and separate from each other. 

With all that preparation I am sorry to say that I have started the final painting twice, which is one time too many!! I oredered linen, but it was thickly toothy and I didn't like it. I put down an under layer, which took about 3 hours, but decided to stop. It's so much better to listen to your own gut - and quicker to start again early in the proceedings, than torture yourself for days before conceding. 

Upcoming workshops- portrait drawing and painting 22 - 26 July

Oil painting 22 - 26 August

Life Drawing Friday evening 19 July

Life Drawing weekend - Fri 26 & Sat 27 July

For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Hair and beards! Portrait drawing prep before painting, graphite.

Sometimes I will see a wonderful face, in the street, in a shop - even singing in a choir!, and I know I'd LOVE to paint it. 

The first time it happened,  over twenty years ago, it was a young woman with her mother, quietly browsing in a book shop in Rye, East Sussex. She had milky-white skin and very long, burnt orange wavy hair. She ALREADY looked like a painting. But I was too shy to approach her, and have regretted it ever since. So now, I just go for it, and politely compliment the person on their interesting 'head' (I notice that I tell them I like their head. Rather than 'face'), and would it be ok to draw them? So far so good, its always been a YES! 

Soft tones showing the gentle textures on the skin. 

On a recent trip to Bath and Wells, there was a lovely-looking gentleman staying in the same hotel. I mentioned my admiration of his looks to my traveling companions, and was almost immediately sorry, as they pointed him out so often I was nearly 'morto', as they say here. Just before we left, the lovely man was checking out, so it was now or never. 

"Er... excuse me, I couldn't help notice your lovely head..."

And so my new best friend is the wonderful Vernon, who was traveling with his wife and very happily sat for me. Here are some progress shots of my drawing study, and a small video. 

for scale - the drawing is on A2 paper. 

I enjoyed working on the flesh areas, but the beard is a challenge. It isn't finisehd yet, but I thought I'd share the progress so far. 

Hmm. The beard... 

Pencil is so difficult to photograph - the camera doesn't like all that white paper. So I did the video to try to show it better. 

And yes, it seems I have trouble speaking, thinking and drawing at the same time. 

More as I progress... 

Drawings by Julie Douglas, Belfast Academy of Realist Art (B.A.R.A.)