Cay Denise

This has been a two-day effort--yesterday and today--and is based on a painting from what I believe was done by Fra Filippo Lippi in the 15th century.  The problem with the source is that there is only one person having posted a photo of it to Pinterest, and I can't find a legitimate source for it anywhere on the internet beyond that.  That said, it appears to be close in style to what Lippi may have done.  Regardless I really like the image. The entire drawing was done with mechanical pencil (HB lead).  The scarf lines were colored over with Signo White Pen, because I found that the pen ink acts as a resist to the watercolor, so it would show through after painting over the lines.  The hardest part was the scarf portion behind her that is the darkest part at the bottom of her face.  I used one watercolor for dark lines when painting it, and that color wouldn't blend after being applied.  So, the area had to be camouflaged to look more believable and f...

Last night's practice was doing a watercolor face to figure out skin tone color-mixing for a new piece I'm working on.  That new piece may end up being done with acrylics due to the challenges with detail work in watercolors. Tonight's effort is a fun drawing of a face with my new Blackwing (Matte Black) pencil and mechanical pencil (HB lead).  Additional tools used were a PenTouch Gold Pen for the caps on the teeth and a Signo White Pen for pupil and teeth highlights.  The background, clothing, hat, and ornamentation has been done with watercolor.  The grey shirt is not uniform in color, but hopefully the eye isn't drawn to that but rather is drawn to the face first followed by the hat and/or beadwork.

Wednesday's effort is based on a painting by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson's 'Portrait of Jacques-Joseph de Cathelineau' dated 1822. I chose this piece to work from mainly to see if I could draw the eyes so a sense of roundness to the eyeball comes through, since the glance of the subject is to his upper right and the face is at the 3/4 position.  I'm satisfied with them knowing that with more practice -- drawing this particular glance and position will only improve.  The drawing was done with mechanical pencil (HB lead) and a Signo White Pen was used for the pupil highlights.  The face is actually shorter in length than the one in the painting.  But as I said, I was more interested in the eye work on this one.   What I particularly enjoyed was coloring in the garment with my Japanese watercolors.  I loved the ensemble the subject was painted in, and the color choices I made work well.  

Tuesday's effort was based on Ceruti's 'Portrait of a Smoking Man in an Oriental Habit' dated 1740. The face was drawn with mechanical pencil (HB lead) and the rest of the piece colored in with Japanese watercolor.  The original painting is an older man while this one looks younger.  But I like the face just the same.  

Monday's effort was my take on Giacomo Ceruti's 'Portrait of a Country Woman' dated 1730.  The drawing was done with mechanical pencil (HB lead) with pupil highlights done in Signo White Pen.  The background, hair and garment have been painted with Japanese watercolor.  The scarf, done in pencil, has a bit of colored pencil added from Caran d'Ache Supracolor IIs (gray and light blue). In this drawing, the head ended up being cropped like an earlier one but this time because the face outline was done too high on the page for the full hairstyle.  What I'm happiest with is the ear (shape and shading).   

Thursday's effort was based on Ghirlandaio's 'Bust-Length Woman Wearing a Coif' dated 1489-90.  Ghirlandaio did his drawing with black chalk on cream-colored paper.  I've done mine in black Muji pen on sketchbook paper.   What I've said before is that once you've committed a stroke in pen...it's there and not going anywhere.  In this piece, there is depth/form in the face.  However, the areas of her head and the coif are much more unclear.  Those marks are quite busy and there are a range of different ones that don't blend well to create continuity with the face portion.  The head and coif are also in values that are too dark and light.   This is a face in 3/4 orientation, and that in itself was a valuable study to do.  

Yesterday's and today's efforts are based on Domenico Ghirlandaio's 'Portrait of a Lady' dated 1490.   Yesterday, the pencil drawing was completed though colorless, it didn't look right.  So today, I painted it in with watercolor.  The face, neck and hand have intentionally been left in pencil.  Only the pupils have been colored in with black Muji pen and white Sharpie was used to highlight them, and a ring on the hand was painted with watercolor.   I'm pleased with the watercolor except for one area that is a rework.  This medium is finicky, but it can yield beautiful softness and gentle transitions.  It was captivating to see the changes as different colors were added.  I love the simulated mountains and the red dress as well as the flower and leaves. Note:  Additional face shading and hair work has been done and the newest version is the bottom photo.

Today's effort is a drawing based on Pierre-Auguste Cot's 'Portrait of a Young Woman' dated 1869.  The face/body have been drawn with mechanical pencil (HB lead primarily with some 2B lead), white Posca pen for the pupil highlights, and the areas surrounding the image were filled in by activated Caran d'Ache Supracolor II watercolor pencils with the beige from Japanese watercolors.  In drawing the face, I started with the ear first going down to the chin and then up to and around the head to complete the outline.  Next, was the hand that took a number of tries.  The first few resulted in fingers and a hand that were much too large for the face.  This version is much better and the hand's pose--believable.   I also experimented with fringe, and with patterns in the various 'cloth' elements to suggest folds and the discrepancies in the connections of the pattern that result from one fold to another.  Doing shading and highlights of multiple folds is...

Today's effort is a drawing based on George Gower's 'Sir Thomas Kytson' dated 1573. The face was drawn with Muji pen; shading was done with mechanical pencil (HB lead); pupil highlights were done with white Posca pen; the garment first layer was water-soluble crayon and second layer was black Posca pen decorated with gold PenTouch marker and Golden's Iridescent Pearl; and, the hair and aubergine color framing the face was done with watercolor. There are a couple of lines that don't belong, and the neck is a bit too big in circumference.  That said, overall I'm satisfied with the result.  Plus, I'm learning more about how to draw the neck ruffle--not that this one is perfect--far from it, but it is a bit better than others I've done.

This effort is based on Botticelli's 'Head of an Angel' dated 1495-1500.  It has been done with mechanical pencil (HB lead) and white Posca Pen for the pupil highlights.  I also used a new Artist Chamois to smudge some of the pencil marks, and it worked beautifully! This was an interesting project in that I started drawing the image from the left shoulder down to the left hand and then up.  By the time I reached the neck, there wasn't enough room for the head in full even with the face tilt.  That's why the crown of the head and hair is outside the paper frame.  Also in my drawing, the figure looks more female than the painting -- that figure looks more androgynous or could be male.   I have some work to do in being able to draw draping with more realism (e.g. the fabric the angel is holding).  For this piece, I tried a couple of different ways to represent it--neither worked well.  That means some fabric drawing studies under different light...

Today's work is from a reference photo of a painting from 1633 of a young woman.  The painter is not identified. This was done with mechanical pencil (HB and 2B lead) plus white Posca pen for a few highlights.  The garment has a lacy design even though it may look like armor instead.

Today's effort is based on a painting of St. Joseph by El Greco dated 1577-80. This is definitely a different pose than I've tried before.  The position/angle of the eyes, and trying to create some contrast between the man's white/dark hair and light skin tone were challenges.  The face/figure has been done in mechanical pencil, and areas were painted with watercolor.

Sunday's effort was an exercise from Ardith Goodwin's Geometric Watercolor class that I recently downloaded (13 short videos plus pdf).  I've learned that watercolor is much more challenging than I thought.  Plus like most students, I haven't been using enough water to dilute the pigment.   For the class assignment, I set myself up for a lot of work with the number of geometric shapes in it as well as their positioning.  There are eight different color sections radiating from the center (4 with red/pink and 4 with yellow/orange).  Gradations appear in the shapes within the framed area with the light source from below and to each side. I'm no pro at this by any means, and now I have a much greater appreciation for watercolor artists and the artistry of their work with this medium!

Recently, I led a zine-making session for the Push Past Ordinary Society of Creative Dreamers with a Valentine's Day theme.  We had such fun folding and decorating our own version of a zine filled with favorite art, poetry, quotes, thoughts and of course, hearts (and bits of glitz too)!  I love the additional bags that I can use to tuck a zine into to keep it clean or as a nice way to gift it to others!    

Today's effort is based on a 1915 painting by Sir John Lavery of 'Lady Gwendoline Churchill'.  It doesn't look like the painting at all.  In this drawing, I'm not liking the hand shape and it is too high spatially in any case.  A better decision would have been to leave it out.  Aside from that, I am liking the use of line to suggest fabric direction/layers...an idea for the future. Tools used were mechanical pencil (HB lead) for the face and hat, Muji pen for line work, and watercolor.

Today's effort is based on a painting of 'Anne of Bohemia and Hungary' by Hans Maler dated 1520.  Tools used include mechanical pencil (HB lead), Muji pen, white Posca Pen, gold PenTouch, and watercolor.  The face looks narrower than the painting, but there is still a resemblance.

Today's effort is based on a painting by Thomas Hickey, done in his later life (between 1775 and 1819), of Prince Azim-ud-Daula. The primary drawing was done with a Muji pen, shading with mechanical pencil (HB lead), flowers in watercolor, eye highlights with Posca pen, the pearl elements embellished with Golden Fluid Acrylic Iridescent Pearl (Fine).  Thank you Pegret, for the recommendation of the iridescent paint!  It worked beautifully.

Today's effort is based on the painting of 'Auguste Hilber' by Stieler dated 1827.  This was completed with mechanical pencil (HB lead).  Some erasing has been done to create the sense of design in the hair ribbons.  No other tools used.

Today's effort is based on a 'Portrait of Prince William of Orange' by Adriaen Thomasz Key dated 1579.  My focus was on the face rather than costume though I've included a ruff around his neck. The face is done in pencil, hair in Muji pen, hat and ruff in watercolor, and white highlights on pupil/iris with a Posca Pen.

Monday's effort was based on a selfie.  Again, primarily mechanical pencil with watercolor for garment and a tiny bit of pen plus Posca pen.  I'm not 'in like' with this as the face position, proportions and some elements are off.  Because of that, I'll probably do this over.  Nevertheless, at least it's practice.  That said, I've completed something every day of January except for one day when I made two zines.  I'm pleased with my efforts to show up and do the work.  Good for me!!