Girl by a Blue Washed Wall

You may remember this - I originally painted it with soft pastels.  This is a cropped version and painted on canvas covered board.


I am trying out various different grounds and can't say I really like this one (Loxley Canvas Board).  There isn't nearly enough tooth.  It was actually just right for the charcoal underpainting, but too "smeary" for a pleasant painting experience.  The result is a vibrant painting though and I do like it a lot. I hope you do too.

Girl by a Blue Washed Wall
Oil on Board
30cm * 25cm

Available to buy on Artfinder for £280: View on Artfinder

Brothers

Two Boys, One Shadow

Oil 18cm x 24cm

This was painted from a photograph I took at the weekend whilst walking on Clapham Common - my two boys engrossed in conversation (no idea what they were talking about, no doubt Pokemon or computer games).  I have been experimenting with different techniques and painting surfaces.  This was painted on Jackson's Clear Fine Linen on MDF.  I covered it in a coat of OMS before painting and then painted with no medium.  I actually really love this picture and am certainly going to use this technique again.

So Many Things

Well, it's been a while since I've posted.  I have been VERY busy on my website and pastel pencil drawings so apologies for the radio silence.

I have so many plans for so many things that sometimes the only things that get done are things in my brain!  However, I have been experimenting with all sorts of techniques and methods in oils.  I have a strong idea of the kind of thing I like and the kind of thing I'd like to produce, but at the moment I have so many ideas, I'm like a kid in a sweet shop (although I always preferred the stationery shop - oh those rows and rows of felt-tips and crayons do so much more for me than haribos and black jacks.)  I guess we all need to experiment, it's what keeps it fresh.

So, here are a few I've painted over the last couple of weeks.

Royal Gala Apples

Why did I choose Royal Gala apples?  Oh the complicated layers of reds, pinks and yellows.  I'm always up for a challenge, but as this was the first oil I'd done in a while, that was challenge enough!  I am really not happy with certain aspects of this and I went from precise, to impasto knives to medium, to no medium, to dry to Oh I don't know what.  In the end I was reasonably satisfied. At least it's the best of all the versions I wiped.  And I do like the way the light breaks through between the middle two apples.  I expect to use this in future compositions - look out for it.

Tuscan Trees and Fishing

Two little (6 inch square) ones.  I really loved painting both of these and found them so do-able in just a few small hours.  In fact these have inspired me to paint a lot more in oils.  I will keep you updated!

Hippo Love

Hippo Love

For Sale on Art Gallery for £1050.

This took around 3 weeks to complete over many sessions.  There are several glazes and all sorts of textures, which you can see a hint of in the close up below.

Girl by a Blue Washed Wall

Girl by a Blue Washed Wall, Soft Pastels on Sennelier Pastel Card
Size 11 x 15 inches
£85 / $120



Another in my cropped soft pastels series. I was attracted to the original photograph by the blue of the wall against the deep red/brown shades of the little girl's skin. I also love the way the blue reflects on the skin making the shadow around the sides of the face glow.

Kitten's Wonder

Tilly, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm
£250 / $350



This little kitten seemed to have such a huge collar in relation to its head, so compared to the original photograph this collar is much smaller. Even so, I was worried it might overwhelm the tiny creature. However, I think the huge eyes and whiskers grab enough of the limelight that we overlook the dark collar.

Extra care was needed with the white whiskers - when you have to keep a pathway clear it's a little harder to be expressive with the fur. But, perseverance paid off and my reward was in the eyes and the soft fur around the chin.

Tilly

Tilly, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm
£250 / $350


Pet portraits hold a special joy for me. Those huge orbs of eyes next to the softest ever fur - my ten year old son told me he just wanted to cuddle this cat (he'd just eaten crisps so the answer was NO!).

Dog

As promised, here is my first canine in sanguine pastel. Many more to come!

Dog, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm
£250 / $350

Cocoa

So many people have requested pictures of animals, I thought I would start with this elegant horse. Isn't she gorgeous?

Cocoa, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
£250 / $350


The combination of textures - the velvety face and neck, the dark mane and the leather straps - were an absolute joy to work with. I love to see the 3D form take shape and I think this is particularly evident on the nose strap, neck and nose. This is a challenge I will rise to again, but next, I'm thinking a dog - and I know exactly the one to start with.

Artist's Mother-in-Law

Wyn, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)

Our house guest (my mother-in-law) has now returned home. However, on her last day we went for a lovely walk in the unseasonal sunshine and she kindly obliged me and my camera. I took several pictures in the shade. None were very inspiring but I thought I'd be able to make something of them. However, as we came out of the trees, with our backs to the sun, the light caught Wyn's hair and I just had to capture the moment. The result was a lovely photo which Wyn approved of too.

The frames of the glasses are unframed so it could be tempting to draw in edges where they aren't obvious or leave them out altogether. None of these approaches would have worked. I just trusted that observing the same level of detail as always, that something of value would happen - and indeed I think it works. Hope you agree.

Off Skiing

Off Skiing, Soft Pastels on Sennelier Pastel Card
Size 11 x 15 inches
Artist's Collection

For this, I used a reference photograph of my son I took in the studio a couple of weeks ago. He'd just returned from a skiing holiday, so the hat and scarf seemed apt. I love the way the turquoise of the hat brought out a similar colour in his eyes.

I don't normally crop for my head portraits, but this really called for it - Those shapes would have been so much less interesting if they'd been allowed to remain whole.

I am really happy with the palette I chose - the deep red, turquoise and yellow ochre. And although I used a lot of greys on the skin, I think the variety of other colours keep it fresh and I believe the whole thing fits.

I hope to create more of this style in the very near future.

Ten Year Old Boy

Ten Year Old Boy, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)

I took the photograph for this close to a wall away from direct sunlight. It means there are no harsh shadows (or squinting) but that the shade is harder to find. Subtle shading can be quite hard to render and if completely absent will make the features look flat. It is important to include just enough darks to give shape to the face and to include that all important shine in the hair.

Hair reflects light better than skin can, so there will always be a lot of contrast in the hair. Even in this short crop you can see how the blocking of light in the hair shapes the head. I do seem to have a bit of an obsession with hair don't I?

For more of my portraits or to commission a painting, see my website wendybooth.co.uk or keep abreast of my portraits on Facebook.

Lavender Heads

I've had very little time for painting recently, but today my husband took our house guest out for the day, leaving me a few hours to do what I love most.

Lavender Heads, Soft Pastels on Sennelier Pastel Card
Size 11 x 15 inches
£85 / $120



This is the first of my lavender pictures. I expect to make a series of 4 or 6. Purples are so inspiring - those deep tones and fresh highlights. Here they are contrasted with the lights of the grass.

The out-of-focus look to the background pushes forward the more refined flowers. This is something I'd like to work on and in future iterations maybe refine the flowers more. But, I'm happy with this and I love the way the flower heads just bob in the foreground.

Grandma Wyn

Grandma Wyn, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)

When drawing from a photograph, it's easy to get bogged down in the detail. If you know the person you are drawing it can make it far easier to portray the personality rather than an array of wrinkles and blemishes.

This is my husband's Grandmother. She turned 100 last year, but I've never known anyone so happy and she's so full of life! This lady really is so much fun! I hope I caught the mischief in her eyes.

Some areas of a portrait I will copy faithfully, other parts, such as wrinkles and blemishes will generally be downplayed. This is not to flatter the subject - but because I am capturing a likeness, not drawing a map. The texture of the skin can usually be hinted at without even referring to individual lines. This impressionist approach takes practice, but I love to capture something in as few strokes as possible - if nothing else, it adds a freshness and vibrancy.

Hu

Hu, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
£250 / $350

Honey

Honey is drawn from a picture I took of her in the studio. We experimented with all sorts of lighting. The photo I chose is this one where she took a very natural pose in a window recess between shoots. We took a flash over to her and held a reflector on the other side. This asymmetric lighting is just what I need for drawing - rather than the usual lighting you may use in a studio which eliminates all shadow. I love the way there's a natural kink to Honey's hair and I captured this with careful study of the light and dark tones, bringing in occasional single hairs to remind us of the texture.

Waiting

Drawing eyes can be a challenge but hugely rewarding.

Waiting, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
£250 / $350

The iris is a disc inside a reflective, transparent sphere. In eyes with little pigment, such as blue eyes, the obvious thing to concentrate on is the patterns in the iris. There are many techniques I use in this case, but it's important to remember not to follow a set procedure as each eye is different. Even so, we can make some stunning drawings where, even with a sanguine pencil on grey paper, the eyes can be made to 'glow'.

Dark eyes are different. Sometimes the irises are so dark they are indistinguishable from the pupils - as with this little girl. The eyes are so huge that I really had to make a feature of them - they are the first thing we see in the girl's face, the photograph and inevitably the drawing. So, what to do when there is nothing to see within the eye - as far as I could see the irises are featureless? What we can see however, which is often overlooked in lighter eyes, are the reflections. Young children's eyes sparkle and these huge marbles reflected so much light I could almost see exactly what the girl sees - the sky, the sun, the landscape.

Raspberry Bounty

I promised this would be a forum for experiments and trying out new ideas. Well, here is the first of a very loose style with soft pastels.

Raspberry Bounty, Soft Pastels on Sennelier Pastel Card
Size 11 x 15 inches
£85 / $120


Also available to buy as a postcard.

I have been using Sennelier Pastel Card for a while, but today my book of 40cm by 30cm pad of card arrived and I had to try it out! Other people have made comments (on Amazon) that there is too much variety in the book and it would be better to buy individual colours. At the moment I don't have any complaints about this.

First I used Antique White (a light sand colour) to draw a Fisher Price man. You won't be seeing this! Epic fail - as my kids would say.

Also today, some new pastels arrived. Amongst others were three shades of Unison 'Red'. They are a very cool red - approaching a deep pink. The colours themselves look edible and I knew there was one thing I had to christen them with - raspberries. I used a photograph I'd taken at a fruit-picking farm last summer.

The ground I used is a dark green - great as a compliment to the bright pink/red of the raspberries. The technique is much freer and more experimental than anything I've tried before, but I really love it. I stepped back several times - refining the blocked-in colours a little as I went.

Only when I hinted at the shape around the edges and added in highlights of a few of those little matt spheres did these actually begin to look like raspberries. I am very happy with what I've created here and it's a style I will definitely be returning to. Maybe tomorrow!

This painting will be sold without a mount or frame, but securely packaged under glassine and protected with Foam Board.

To view or buy my paintings, please check My Gallery.

Max

As mentioned yesterday - I just love to catch that shine in the hair that describes the shape of the head. I tried to capture this here, along with a little of the texture in Max's cropped hair.

Max, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
Available to buy as a canvas print and a greeting card.

When shooting for this portrait we experimented with various poses and lighting. The photo I chose to draw captures this twelve year old boy, who is generally nothing but sweet and lovely, with a look of insolence - possibly a glimpse of the future. The tagline I used on my website perhaps says it best: 'Twelve Year Old Boy - That Elusive Moment Between Innocence and Insolence'.

Shipping Internationally

I have had little time for drawing today. Apart from still being the school holidays here, I have been experimenting with different packing methods for my drawings so that whilst ensuring the drawing is protected, I may be able to bring down shipping costs, especially for international customers. I won't compromise on quality of packing materials - and I'm pretty sure my customers wouldn't want that either. So, I've done some research. I've compared prices for different shipping companies and I'm afraid it's bad news. The cost of shipping from UK to the USA just can't be done for less than £48 (about US$63). My portraits package up neatly and securely into a parcel which measures 73cm x 67cm x 13cm and weighs 2.3kg. I am happy to be proved wrong. If this can be done cheaper, please let me know below.

UPDATE: Well, after quite a bit more research I have found I can substantially reduced the cost of US postage by shipping the drawing in a tube. This means the buyer misses out on having the picture mounted ready for framing. I urge buyers to take care with their purchase, but because this is a drawing and not a 'pastel painting' the artwork is resilient enough to be rolled. Customers in the US and Canada can now buy my 40cm by 30cm drawings with a shipping cost of just £15 (US$22). Unfortunately, there is little difference in postage costs in the UK - although I am yet to look into domestic services, so there may be more good news to come. Watch this space!

Hu's Hair

I love drawing every part of the human head - there isn't a part I dread or dislike. But, if I was FORCED to pick a favourite part, it would be the hair. Everybody's hair is different and betrays a huge part of their personality. Even with Hu's hair tied back, there is still so much to work with - the tendrils that frame her small face, the texture of those scraped back sides and of course - the huge fringe (bangs).

Hu, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
£250 / $350

The gloss of a person's hair describes the shape of their head. Perhaps it's not something we think about before we begin to study art, but the play of light on the hair shows you the curve and imperfections in their cranium. This is one of the most satisfying ways I find of showing volume and Hu's dark smooth hair is a great example of this.

In my pastel pencil drawings, I work from top to bottom - see this Demonstration for a description of my technique. This means I almost always draw the hair first (at least the top part of it). I'm a saving-the-best-til-last kind of person so this goes against the grain slightly, but getting the hair in does give me great pleasure and gets the whole portrait off on the right foot. For Hu's head I started with the scraped back sides and the fluffy flyaways. This gives her character straight away and gives a great contrast to the perfectly smooth fringe which covers almost half of her head.

The fringe itself has three distinct areas - the dark at the top, the light sheen across the middle and the dark at the bottom which tells us the curve of the hair. Each 'block' gives way gently to the other and none are a perfectly smooth transition - this is hair after all, not silk. I have hinted at the texture of the hair by slicing in individual hairs and chunks of hair. I would never draw each and every hair - but just hint at them by drawing (for instance) dark hairs towards the edges of the sheen. In this way I am cutting into that smooth texture and we can almost see where the comb has separated Hu's fringe.

Lastly, the tendrils, which may look like accident but are vital part of the composition. Each side curves differently and the left one comes right down and points us to the lace of her collar. We follow the collar and then our own is drawn back up the hair on the other side. I studied the texture of these hairs carefully and as you'll see even though they take only a small fraction of space on the page, their importance is not to be understated.

I loved drawing Hu. To see a full sized image or to commission a portrait of your own, please see my website.

A Wry Smile

Eventually this blog will be my platform to experiment and try out all sorts of new things in different media. However, portraits are my first love - and my bread and butter - so in the first place I plan to share my latest portrait drawings and tell a bit of their story.

A Wry Smile, Pastel Pencil on Strathmore Paper
Size 40cm x 30cm (mount size 50cm x 40cm)
£250 / $350

Here, the photograph very clearly showed a man with an asymmetric smile. This gives a huge amount of character and adds humour to the face, and definitely never something I would try to disguise. As we get older our faces become less symmetric and in many ways make us more endearing. In fact, this always puts me in mind of one of the most beautiful literary quotes ever:

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” Roald Dahl, The Twits.

However, just as you've learnt to draw a mouth so it looks 'right', now it seems we have to draw a mouth that's off-centre. How can that ever look right? I find the trick is to observe all the other features very carefully. If a mouth is raised a lot more on one side than the other, then this is invariably because the muscle of that cheek is contracted more than the other. This will cause several clues that you should see in the sitter/photograph and can then be used in your drawing as clues to the viewer. eg, one eye more closed, a crease and increased volume in the contracted cheek, facial hair pushed higher up on the elevated side.
There's only one way to learn to create a believable asymmetric mouth and I'm afraid, that's good old-fashioned practice, but I hope that my tips will help you achieve your goal just a little bit quicker. The above pastel pencil drawing can be purchased for $350 and as with all my portrait drawings it will be mounted (matted) to a size of 50cm by 40cm.

Watch This Space...

I am a Portrait Artist, taking commissions for my pastel drawings. At some point in the very near future I will start posting my regular paintings here. In the meantime please check my website for more drawings like this: