Tag / portraits

by Leonie Andrews

Two more portraits

I’m really enjoying drawing portraits of my friends and my partner. I missed posting last week, so now I have two portraits to post.

Last week I did a second portrait of my partner, given that I wasn’t completely happy about the first one I made.

Steve

It’s hard to judge this portrait. It is more realistic in someway, but not the best likeness.  I suppose the lesson I need to keep reinforcing is practice and keep doing it.

My second portrait of our friend has quite a few points of resemblance.  She looks rather dour, but in reality it’s the downside of sketching people during a zoom meeting. Everyone is fairly intent on their screen  which lends a seriousness to their face, which doesn’t necessarily reflect their personality.

I particularly enjoy using multiple colours of pencil to develop the darker tones. As we made our own selection of these pencils, we don’t have all the standard colours.  This is way more interesting I think.

by Leonie Andrews

Look first then sketch.

It is always so easy to slip into the habit of drawing what you think you see, rather than drawing what you actually see.

This could be a correct perspective if I was sitting a good metre or so below this woman.

A perfectly reasonable sketch except when I came to add other people in I realised that they would, if drawn in correct perspective, be scraping the roof of this alley way of shops. The rule of thumb is all heads of people, near and far in a sketch, should be on the same level unless you are sitting way above or below you subject.

This is the second version of my sketch this morning after I realised the woman’s head was below the jars of honey, not above them.

Sitting at the same level as this woman this is the correct perspective as she is sitting at the same eye line as me.

Side by side.

by Leonie Andrews

Everyday practice

Here are some sketches from my current ‘handbag’ sketchbook. I am trying to use up one of the myriad sketchbooks that seem to spontaneously generate in my spare room. This book isn’t too good with wet media so I mainly try and sketch in pencil. The pencils I am using are a Palomino Blackwing 530 and my el cheapo multicolour pencil I got in Japan at Sekkaido.

In rough date order …

Trying to get some more interesting perspectives into these ‘regular’ events.

From the car in a roof top carpark.

Sketching graffiti from a roof top carpark.

This is a work in progress. I do a bit more every time I stop here to collect the mail.

Again, trying to enliven a cafe sketch. It gets very busy at our local cafe on Saturday morning. There are lots of parents and kids relaxing after the kids football matches.

by Leonie Andrews

Face Painting

Here are some more watercolour sketches of faces of people in cafes.

26Jun2017b

My first sketch, which also included some pen and ink (note to self I find the ink lines rather distracting, even though they give ‘definition’)

As part of my ongoing strategy to disrupt lazy habits I decided to use only a Daniel Smith test palette for my colours. This palette includes a number of colours that I don’t have in my paint selection. The other benefit using this card is that it’s a lot easier to carry if you are traveling light.

Untitled-1

The John Orlando Birt colour palette for Daniel Smith

I was happier with my results when I ditched my pen and just stuck to the watercolours.

26Jun2017a

Man in a puffa jacket, 26 June 2017, watercolour

I think that this head of a small boy was the most successful on the day.

26Jun2017

26 June 2017, small boy, watercolour

Another day and another cafe, same watercolour palette. Three people who were sitting at the same table.

4Jul2017

Three portrait sketches, 4 July 2017, watercolour

by Leonie Andrews

Drawing the exhibition -Robert Hannaford 

On a visit to  Adelaide a week ago we saw the retrospective of the work of Robert Hannaford, a South Australian portraitist, at the Art Gallery of South Australia. It was fascinating to see what 50 years of work looked like, particularly the many self portraits Hannaford has made over that time. I also enjoyed seeing that he made the type of quick sketches in coffee shops and bars that many of us make, which are worthwhile in themselves.  

What did surprise me were two sculptures that were included in the show. His understanding of the figure in space I found to be even more compelling than his painted portraits. As I was with other people opportunities for sketching were limited.  I  sketched two versions of his bronze sculpture ‘Handstand’.

Rather wonky, but I couldn’t resist the dramatic shadow being cast by the left leg over the torso of the sculpture

You can find more of his work at his website.