My Mother

This is a drawing of my Mother.  She passed away about four years ago.  I was trying to decide who to draw for this medium (I wanted to try charcoal and white) and she seemed like the perfect subject. I also have some old photos of her that I think would be fun to draw - from her college days.  But, this is how I remember her - before she got sick, before she lost weight.  This kind of captures her - the beads (she wore beaded necklaces a lot) and the big smile - she so often had a big smile on her face.
When I started this drawing, it looked like a man with a helmet.  I would walk by it and think, "how is this ever going to look like my Mom?"  But it evolved and then there was a point where I suddenly looked at it and said, "oh, there she is!" and it was finally her. It was kind of cool for her to suddenly be right there in front of me, as lines and shapes suddenly became more than that, and became my Mother.  Maybe she helped me with it a little :)

Summer is here

Summer has officially started. My kids are out of school. And, despite the fact that I tried not to overschedule my summer, I am finding it to be very hard to get time to draw.  This happened to me last summer, and it wasn't good for me. Doing art is my outlet, my serenity.
I am currently working on, oh, at least six portraits. I have a big list of other things I want to draw too. I want to try another landscape - I haven't done one in awhile. I want to do another one of my "moments" drawings. But, really, I need to just finish something.  One drawing is going pretty well so far. Another one is causing me enough anguish to make me want to tear it up and start over. Others are just sketched out, and one is just barely getting started.
My art class is going well. I am bummed though - my teacher is moving at the end of July. She has been great - I have learned so much from her.  I kick myself for not going in and starting classes sooner, but what can I do now, except to try to fit in what I can before she moves.  My next assignment, I think, is going to be a self portrait done by looking in the mirror. It ought to be interesting. I have kind of put off doing myself. I don't know if I want to examine my face that closely - all the wrinkles, etc. :)  But, it would be good for me to try it, so I will.
Hopefully I will figure out how to get more time to do art. Otherwise, this site may be quite sparse this summer. We shall see. I did say I would post photographs on here too. (As in pretty pictures I took with my camera, not photographs of my art). Maybe I will get some nice ones of the Oregon coast or Yosemite.  We shall see....

New portrait

"Henson"

Trying something new...

Lyle

One day in my art class, the teacher, Anna, and I were talking about different styles of portraits and she was showing me various pieces that she or others had done. She showed me this style, and I really liked it. The next week she showed up with illustration board and sepia charcoal, and she taught me how to do this. 

You start by rubbing the chalk all over the paper. Then, you rub it in to get a more solid background. Then, you sketch in the person you are drawing, and then you start lifting color out by erasing. And as you go, you add in darks and erase out lights until you get the right look. So, it is kind of like working backwards.  It takes a different way of thinking and it was a really good exercise for me. 

I think this was probably one of the more challenging pieces I have done because it was a new way of working, but I also learned a ton, and I learned a lot about shaping the face using the lights and darks, and I learned a lot about different shadows and proportions and seeing shapes better.

I will have to try this again soon. Lyle has a brother, so I want to try a matching set. We will see how it goes...

New Pastels

One of the things that I have been mourning lately is the lack of a really good art supply store near where I live. We have some smaller ones here but they don't carry a huge variety, and they are often more expensive than online stores. There is a great store called Blicks that I love and I really wish they would consider starting a store here.  I have been there once, in Ohio. But, it was when I was first getting back into art, and I didn't appreciate the magnitude of their supplies then.
Now that I am getting more into portrait drawing, I decided I wanted to try some of the higher end "artist grade" pastels. I looked at all kinds of reviews, but it really comes down to personal preference. I found a couple of online stores that will send a sample of their top selling pastels to try, though, and that is what I did. I am so glad I tried it. First of all, it was really fun. And it was very helpful. My kids kind of laughed at me "ooh"ing and "aaah"ing at the various consistencies. They were good sports when I had them try it too - to see what I was so excited about.

This is what my kitchen table looked like yesterday. I pulled out all of my types of papers, including the new pad I just bought (called Pastelmat - great ratings on this, so I figured I had better check it out). I had 14 pastels to try. Some I immediately did not like - including a brand that is supposedly the most primo and most expensive brand out there. It was really gritty and I just didn't like it at all. But some were SO smooth. If you have never used pastels, it is hard to explain the difference. Some were gritty, some barely "caught" on the paper, making a really rough textured look, some felt very chalky, and some just felt amazing. There is one brand in particular that I truly love. When I drew with it, I immediately said, "oh wow!" Unfortunately, it is about twice the cost as most because it comes in half sticks instead of full sticks, but costs roughly the same as the others. And, because it is so unbelievably soft, I am afraid they would get used up really fast.  Maybe if my business really takes off....
In the mean time, I  narrowed it down to four brands. Then I looked at prices and color availability and decided on Sennelier. Supposedly the guy who designed them, Mr. Sennelier himself, made them for Degas back in 1887, and they kept the same formula. Of course, some other pastel company claimed something similar, so I don't really know if it is true.
I also plan to get some nupastels - a mid-level harder pastel that is also a good brand (and more affordable).
And the paper - wow - what a difference. This new paper is beautiful. Again, unless you have used them, it may be harder to tell a difference, but this paper absorbs the pastels into the paper and makes a smooth vibrant color come through. I love it.
I am excited to try out these new supplies and see how it really is doing a portrait with them!  Fun stuff!

You know I had to try drawing him...

I drew the kids, and then people (including  Jeff) have asked when I was going to do Jeff.  Well, I did it. I put if off for awhile because it kind of intimidated me. I didn't want him saying, "oh... do I look like THAT?" if I did something like made him look bald or fat (in fact, I had the hairline way wrong at first - making him look like he had a seriously receding hair line - good thing I caught it!)
I had fun doing this one - it had some good challenges (five o'clock shadows are always tricky). This photo of it makes it look like he has a white line across his cheek, but it doesn't in real life. One of these days I will figure out a better way to take photos.
Now.. I probably need to do a self portrait to complete the family. Hmm.... I don't know if I am ready to examine my face (translate wrinkles) that closely.  :)

It's Official

After much thought and consideration, after getting more requests for portraits drawn, and after a lot of time doing research in person and online, I have made the decision to officially  start doing commissioned portraits.

It is a little scary and a little exciting all at the same time. I have set up a new blog which basically runs as a website (meaning, I won't post regular entries like I do on this blog).  It links to this blog and I will still post my updates on art here.  The new website is racheljensenportraits.blogspot.com. 

As I have done more and more portraits, for me and for other people, I realized that I really like doing it.  And, as I learn more, my technique is improving, and I hope to continue to develop that skill. I just got to where I was getting enough requests that I figured I needed to be organized and set up an official "business" if you call it that.  I have no idea how this will all work out. I will probably do a lot of tweaking to the website and to my policies and procedures as I go until I figure out how to work this. I have gotten a lot of ideas from other portrait artists though, and I think I have a good start.

So, wish me luck.  :)

I am working on three portraits at the moment, so hopefully I will be posting some new entries soon. Getting the website set up this last week occupied most of my art time, and now I am ready to get drawing!

Family portraits

I really liked doing the pastel portrait of Jonathan, so I decided to try it again, this time with my friend's family of four kids.  I learned that freckles are pretty tricky, red hair is really fun - so many colors in it, and that it is hard to get skin tone to match from one portrait to another. It is also interesting to draw people from the same family - I see patterns in features - like the eyes or noses are similar, or they all have a thin upper lip, or something like that. 

 I was originally going to have them on a blank background, but the paper I chose was a tan color, and it didn't allow the faces to stand out much. The skin kind of blended in. So, because these were from outdoor portraits, I put in a green, nature-ish kind of background, again having a hard time getting it to match from one portrait to the next.

 But, all in all,  I really like the portraits.  I think they look pretty close to the actual kids (I hope so) and I feel like I learned a lot along the way.  The baby is the youngest child I have drawn so far, and that was a fun new challenge.