Portrait in colour pencil, step by step

The finished artwork.

This commission was from a student of mine, of both her grand children. I drew the grandson first (see here for the stages of that artwork http://juliedouglasdrawingpaintinglearning.blogspot.com/2018/03/childrens-portrait-commission-in.html), partly, I think, to put off the wooly hat! However, once I got to it, I realy enjoyed it. 

The next photo shows both the line drawing which I bagan with, and the first stages of the face. 

Apologies for the different 'white' paper colour in the photos. This is because some were taken in the evenings, some in the day. But they are close enough for you to see the process I use.)

I like to complete every colour and tone before moving on to the next area, and NOT do an all-over base layer. This is because I think the base layer approach, in coloured pencil, can make artworks look flat and 'samey'. For the strand of hair across the face, I gently apply the colour and carefully put the flesh colours right up to it. I don't remove areas with a rubber. The photos below show this a bit more clearly.

The wooly hat was jolly and colourful, but I left the details soft and suggestive. If I had made the hat sharp-focussed, it may have detracted from the face - and it wasn't a portrait of the hat! SO soft focus and generalities do the job better. 

Ths phone above shows the two portraits side by side. 

I use Bristol paper (but not 'extra smooth' as it is plasticy and slippery) and mostly Carna d'Ache pencils. 

For portrait workshops, and workshops in oil painting, life drawing and water colour please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk for programme information. Classes are held at Belfast Academy of Realist Art, and there is a life drawing class two Friday evenings a month. 

Drawing in Mount Stewart House, County Down

It is always great to draw on location. Apart from the benefits of a change of environment, which keeps things fresh as an artist, it’s a wonderful way to become more familiar with the riches surrounding us. 

Even on a dull day, Mount Stewart is beautiful, and the gardens have burst forth with gusto in the past couple of weeks. 

The roof of Mount Stewart House peeping over the foliage

I was delighted to hear that the beautiful statues had been reinstated in the main hall, after the completion of the restoration of the floor, and early in the week I took some students to draw there. The staff were extremely welcoming and after a tour through the servants area, and a peep in the family Chapel, the door to the hall was opened, and we took our places before the statues. 

The private Chapel

The beautiful new floor, and a view of the statues.

My demo drawing

A demo drawing of one of the busts

Another demo drawing of a bust

 We spent the whole morning drawing, and I look forward to going back very soon to do more. 

Jeannie working away, with Ben behind the pillar!

Students drawing the bust

Seasonal watercolours - little apples and gourds in my Moleskine book

I held a watercolour workshop yesterday, and it just happened that all the students who attended are regular weekly students of mine. My familiarity with their past experience meant that I was able to increase the pressure on them (aw!), knowing they would rise to the challenge, and also gave me the opportunity to sit with them and do a little bit of painting myself, in between demonstrations. In a workshop situation, this is Luxury Personified!

The table, showing my artwork next to the cake stand.

The students painted a lovely seasonal still life of yellow and orange Gerbera flowers with gourds and berries, and I decided to paint the remaining gourds which had been on display on a cake stand. I love gourds, and I also love the cake stand! The top and bottom plate have white spots, the middle plate has stripes.

Autumn colours in the garden, while I was setting the table for lunch.

I drew the objects freely and loosely - partly because I didn't have time to be overly careful (with more than half an eye on my students needs), and partly because I love being relaxed about watercolours. Of all mediums, I find watercolours the most instant and user friendly.

This is as far as I got during the workshop

 The Moleskine paper was fairly heavy, but it did absorb the pigment as I went along, requiring many more layers than I had intended. By the end of the workshop, I had about half of it completed, but the light had gone and I put it away till the next day.

A little while painting the following morning

 I painted for an hour or so, until I could resist the bright crisp day (and the dog, begging) no longer, donned my wooly hat and headed to the shore at Holywood. It was very cold but very beautiful.

White sails from Holywood shore

Across Belfast Lough from Holywood

Finished artwork. 

I spent another hour on the painting -the best bit was mixing the colour for the plate - a lovely mix of Lemon Yellow and Cerulean Blue with a touch of French Ultramarine here and there. 

I enjoyed working in the sketch book - it feels like a free space, and I may do an oil painting of the subject now that I've done this little study. 

Preparation is almost everything.. David Gray's workshop in Belfast 2016!

In July and August this year, I organised two painting workshops in Belfast. The first was with David Gray, painting the portrait from life. Students traveled from all around the world - Canada, Florida, Finland, Greece, Italy, England, Dubai, Sweden and France as well as closer to home, Dublin and Northern Ireland. 

The amount of planning putting together this kind of event is on the side of Enormous, but as I’ve been teaching workshops for many years, the main difference was that it wasn’t at my studio, but in a lovely large venue in town. I am indebted to my student Mark ‘what-can-possibly-go-wrong?’ McDonald, who went above and beyond the call of duty - not only did he help setting up the studios (checking that every easel was useable etc), he also constructed two stages for the models to sit on, AND helped transport everything. We didn’t travel light. 

Mark strapping down easels, chairs and the stages in his trailer. 

Easels, extension leads, drawing boards, canvases, clips, spare canvas rolls, masking tape, paint... This was just the first of many trips up in the lift. 

Fighting the jet lag at Helen's Bay beach

David arrived from Seattle with a couple of days to settle in and to approve and amend the studio set-up. Here is he having a walk along the lovely County Down coast, and experiencing his first Guinness (under a very Oirish green light!)

David with a local Guinness - he wasn't this green really..!

And so, the workshop began. We had two rooms with a model in each, so we split into two groups,   spent three days painting one model, then swapped models for three days more. The first day was spent putting down the grisaille underpainting.

The first demo

The photos show the stages on David's demonstration painting of the lovely model, Monty. He encouraged everyone to keep going with the process to get the first painting complete, even when folks were frustrated (!), knowing that we had another complete run-through immediately afterwards. 

David roughly marks key points

David's initial 'map'

                                     

the beginning of the underpainting

Hopefully you can see David's careful 'tiles' here

The completed Grisaille

Day 2: the start of colour

Colout tiles

The addition of hair

Below - students hard at work.  

It was tiring work, and we relaxed together at the end of each day. 

Students Sari, Bill and Mick from Finalnd, Florida and Dublin!

Martine, Pauline and Dermot

Me with Nick from Dublin 

Images from the second half of the workshop in my next post!

Watercolour Study: Black and white, as well as colour

This week it was watercolour in my studio, with students attempting to complete two small paintings of the same subject, in just a couple of hours. This is a tall order, but time limits are an excellent way to speed up our decision-making - often we will be much braver and just cut out the worry-time, and get on with the painting.

This is my demonstration painting - both artworks were side by side in an A4 sized Moleskine sketchbook. I did the drawing first, and then drew the 'frame' around it, and not the other way around.

I did the 'Black and White' using Payne's Gray only, diluting it with water to get the lightest tones, and never using white paint. It is possible to use white paint in water colour, but it gives all the colours  a horrible greyishness, and stops it beging transparent. The transparency is one of the most delightful features of watercolour painting, so I don't use white. I started at the aubergine stalk, in a pale tone. It is nearly imposssible to judge the first tones correctly as so much of the paper is still white - white is a loud and dominant tone, which fools our eye! So choose a tone to get going, and remember to keep going back to check the relative tones, all through the course of the painting and altering where necessary. 

The advantage of drawing the 'frame' is that it neatly encloses the image. This is a tonal study, rather than a finished artwork, and I prefer drawing a freehand line, no matter how wobbly, rather than using a ruler. The second painting, in colour, was much quicker, seeing as I'd done all the tonal working-out already!




The whole lot took a couple of hours. Below are some lovely student examples of their work in progress.

Susan C, student

Trevor, student

Carolyn, Student

Next up - Colour Pencil weekend workshop, Life Drawing workshop, OIls weekend and Watercolour Landscape workshop.

For information email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

www.juliedouglas.co.uk

Heaven is a place in Holywood..

.well, it was until I bought all the gourds in town, and now Heaven is in my house!

On display at the shop... I want them all!

Although I am not overly attracted to Orange things, in autumn it's an eye-catcher that can't be ignored - jolly, warm and hopeful, with the colour of fire. I love autumn, it's abundance of colour-contrasts, berries and seeds, a last gift before nature takes a rest. 

colour contrasts: orange leaves,  blue sky

As well as the leaves slowly changing colour, gourds begin to appear in the shops in the run up to Hallowe'en. With their twists, stripes and warts, they are like nature's joke - they aren't edible, purely for decorative entertainment.  

Abundance of warty temptations.. Be careful to check for mould as you want them to last as long as possible. 

They make the most brilliant subject for drawing and painting, and aren't offended if you add extra bumps and lumps. 

Safely at home 

Colour pencil drawing in my Moleskine Sketchbook

Warts and all

Drawing these is all about surface pattern. Great fun. 

Upcoming workshops in Oils, Water colour, portrait drawing and Colour Pencil. For info email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk