Portraiture and Colour – two difficult concepts!

self portrait 1Last week we did portraiture…our own.  That was way more difficult than you can image.  Look at yourself in a mirror and draw what you see.

I sent the final product to my friend Wendie and my daughter Olivia and said “what do you think”.  I got responses like – it’s too wide across the cheeks, the chin is too narrow, there’s something not quite right but I’m not sure what it is and my favourite – it looks too young!

During the week, I tried again, added lots more lines/wrinkles, made it less wide across the cheeks but it still isn’t right.  Then I discovered why Olivia said “there’s something not quite right but I’m not sure what it is” when I stood in front of a mirror and held the two sketches up and realized …duh…the self 2sketches are what I see in a mirror, not what Olivia sees when she looks at me.  So, I’ve taken some pictures of myself and will try and do another sketch from them.  Here are the original two.  I will add a third when I get around to it.

 

This week:  Colour!  Sounds like fun, right?  Conté and different types of pastels; sheesh, is it messy and dusty and smudgy and…frustrating!  I’m actually kind of glad that’s over and now Olivia can have back the conté she lent me back at the beginning…not likely to play with that again.  Bring on paint!

 

My conte effort
My conte effort
And my pastel effort
And my pastel effort

Published by J. Liz Saunders

With over 30 years of experience, J. Liz Saunders delivers exceptional office and sales support to a wide range of businesses. More importantly, she does so with creativity. Her ‘can do’, ‘can solve’, ‘can source’ attitude results in the most efficient and effective completion of her clients’ requirements every time. Upon first meeting, Liz’ her most notable quality is her energy. When preparing for and running the Toronto marathon in 2004, Liz channelled this energy with discipline and determination. She uses those same qualities when organizing her many clients and delivering high quality support services in a timely manner. As a virtual assistant, Liz cold calls and generates leads for sales people; researches sites for meetings; schedules appointments and provides client support; offers transcription services, manages broadcast emails, arranges printing, handles basic bookkeeping; writes correspondence, proposals, quotes and invoices for clients; and acts as a call centre taking registrations for seminars. Liz is a certified Virtual Assistant with extensive experience in Microsoft Office. She has a BA from the University of Toronto and studied Fundraising Management at Ryerson University. She has experience in legal services, construction, insurance, real estate and facilities management. Liz builds her business based on trust, quality and a commitment to exceptional results.

One thought on “Portraiture and Colour – two difficult concepts!

  1. I should have thought about that mirror-thing… That’s right. You wouldn’t look right… Can’t wait to see the next ones you do…I know how you feel about conte but it does have it’s place and it can work well with watercolour paints, as can pastels… That’s where I use them….Keep at it.. YOu’re doing great!

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