Portrait Art Show

Want to go to an art gallery with me? Yesterday, my daughter and I went to the Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth GA for the Fall Juried Exhibition of the Portrait Society of Atlanta. Here are some of my favorite portraits in the show (but to be truthful, I really wanted to photograph every one of them!) I must apologize in advance for not getting the artist's names. That is an oversight I really regret.
This one was (obviously, as you can tell by the blue ribbon) the Blue Ribbon winner. I tried to imagine what it would be like to judge this show. All the work was so good, that it would be very difficult to pick. I think what made this one a stand out was the way the art almost seems lit from behind the canvas...it appears to glow, as you can see in this photo - and if you can see that in this photo, you can imagine how wonderful it is in person! The framing is perfect, with the gallery-wrapped canvas recessed into the modern frame - the frame didn't distract from the artwork. A too fancy frame can sort of compete for the viewer's attention sometimes.
Ballerinas are a favorite of portrait artists (I think because Degas was known for his ballerina paintings) but I think the layout of this painting is wonderful, and as you can see, painting white isn't just white - the artist has to have an eye for all the different iridescent colors that are reflected. The frame is ornate, but just the right touch to complement the art and subject.
It was hard to photograph some of the portraits, because of reflections. This is a pastel portrait that was really breathtaking. Unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice. I was blown away by the baby's eyes especially. I wish I could show this better to you. Of course, I am kind of partial to dry media (dry media is stuff like dry pastels, graphite pencils, colored pencils) and wet media is stuff like watercolor, oil paints, acrylic paints - makes sense, right?

This was a small artwork for a pastel, only about 11x14 to 14x17 which made the amount of detail even more impressive (because pastels tend to be large, it's hard to get small details). This probably would have gotten a ribbon of Merit at least if I had been judging - just for the wonderful eyes if nothing else - but people do tend to dislike a composition that "cuts" a person in half, I've found it's even more disliked if it's a child's portrait. Framing it so that the frame ends the image, instead of the baby floating in the middle would help that. One hand is covered by the mat, that hurts the composition. Regardless, clearly the artist is very talented!
Here is a view of the gallery. Isn't it beautiful?

I urge you to try to visit an art gallery this month.

Portraits of buildings as gifts

I received an email today from someone asking about a portrait with several homes on it. It's a great gift idea to have a drawing (or several drawings) showing different houses someone has lived in over the years.

That reminded me of this custom pencil drawing I did for Parrish-Hare Electrical Supply, located in Dallas, Texas. They wanted a work of art for their company lobby that would portray the company's various locations. I was a bit intimidated by drawing the logo at first, but once I started the logo, it wasn't as scary as I thought, but it did take a lot of time. This was my largest artwork ever - measuring about 3-feet by 3-feet at least, if memory serves. I ordered a huge roll of Strathmore paper so I could do this art commission.

One of the difficulties in this project was trying to train the paper to stay flat. I usually work with paper that comes in pads - this size paper of course didn't come in a pad, so once I cut the paper to the right size, I used painter's tape to tape it to my wall for several days. ( I know the more obvious solution would be to put the paper in between stacks of books on the floor to flatten it...but that doesn't work for someone who has young children!)

So up onto the wall it went. I still had to fight the paper's tendency to roll up unexpectedly and bop my hand as I worked. Again, the painter's low-tack tape came in handy. I loved working with the folks from Parrish-Hare. It was a great experience and everybody I dealt with was very nice.

But back to house portraits - I can do drawings of buildings together on one sheet of paper as I did in this case, or I can do them separately. If you want to honor someone with portraits of their previous homes and there are several to be done, you could order one or two to be done each year - for a birthday or for Christmas gifts.

It's still very thoughtful, no matter how you decide to do it.

Child pencil portrait special

NOVEMBER 15TH IS THE LAST DAY!

I'm opening up this child pencil portrait special to everyone now (previously I just shared with my mailing list and Facebook followers) but now it's being shared everywhere...if you are interested, get in touch now so I can "pencil" you in! Excuse the pun!

This is my lowest price ever in years for this special size (9"x12") pencil portrait of one child subject. I want you to be able to get a portrait for your children and grandchildren!
Click here for details

House portrait in pencil

Here is a house portrait I recently completed in graphite pencil. This artwork is 14"x17" on Strathmore Bristol paper. The portrait will have the address and the dates the client lived there handlettered and centered in the grass area. It really had a lot of details - stonework and bricks.

The more house portraits I draw, the better I am getting at drawing plants, trees, bushes, etc. It's always a quandary what to do with the sky. I don't worry over that so much anymore. I have learned to just use the side of the pencil and a soft touch, gradually building up graphite. Then I use my chamois to blend it so it's soft, followed by the kneaded rubber eraser to lift out the clouds.

You might wonder why someone would want a pencil portrait of a house...I think people just love the look of architecture, and some clients like to create a wall full of art of all the houses they've ever lived in. It's a nice housewarming gift, and a nice momento for people of the home they lived in as a child. There are as many reasons as there are people :)

Click here if you'd like more information about my house portraits. Every house is different, and I'll be glad to give you a quote without any obligation to order anything. Maybe you're just curious what I'd charge. That's okay. Email me anytime.

Ott light discount

I love my Ott-light! I just found out that Joanne Etc online has Ott lights for 40% off retail:

40% Off OTT-LITE Lamps & Accessories

Pencil portrait of Chester

Here's a dog portrait of a mixed-breed dog. My client said she was told that Chester was a Labrador/Dalmatian mix. I think I see some Great Dane in him, though - especially in his snout area. But whatever he is, he's a gorgeous dog, and I really enjoyed drawing him. I used 2B and 4B Tombow Mono-Homograph pencils and a mechanical pencil for this artwork. Blending with chamois, erasing and highlights were done with a PenTel Clik-eraser and General's kneaded rubber eraser. Paper size: 11"x14," Strathmore 500 Series Bristol 2 ply paper with Plate (very smooth) surface. To see more dog pencil portraits, go here and here.

Pencil portrait drawing paper

I saw that Michael's has Strathmore 300 Bristol Pads on sale for 40% off this week. It made me think about sharing a bit of what I know about paper.

Strathmore 300 is nice for basic drawing, but it's not as good for long-term preservation as Strathmore 400 or 500 grades are. If you want cotton paper and acid free paper, go with 400 or 500 grade.

Then, you will notice the Bristol papers have other descriptions on them, like "Vellum," "Smooth," and "Plate." I used to think Vellum meant smooth. It's not smooth...it has a bit of texture. "Smooth" is smoother than Vellum, but Plate is the smoothest.

What about Canson brand Bristol paper? In my opinion, even their "Smooth" grade Bristol paper is too rough. I have found too many inconsistencies in the texture. It really matters when you are blending pencil.

But overall, Strathmore papers are good, so if you just want a pad of paper that's nice to draw on, and permanency isn't a concern, then why not try some at 40% off?

If you have any questions let me know.

For more on drawing paper recommendations, see: http://www.squidoo.com/drawingpaper

How do you set up a pencil portrait business website?

The answer to this question depends on what you want. If you want a very quick store that you can set up, with ability for checkout, then I think signing up for a website like Etsy or ArtFire would be the quickest and most efficient option. Here is my Etsy shop, so you can see how it sort of looks like an online store. You can add a banner to it. In February, I interviewed John Jacobs, the CEO of ArtFire.com, so check out that interview here if you'd like to know more about ArtFire.

If you want to have a free place where you can show your art, but you don't necessarily need the ability for customers to checkout - you just want an online showcase where can direct people to see your art, then ArtWanted would be a good place for you. It's free at the basic level, but you can only upload a certain number of images per month at the free level. You can upgrade to a paid account to be able to upload more images. Keep in mind that your username will be part of your web address (URL) on Artwanted, so keep it short, catchy, or your real name (if your name is easy for people to spell and remember!)

You can get free websites at Tripod, Homestead, Weebly, and GooglePages. Unless you upgrade to a paid account, you may have ads on your website pages. The last time I checked, GooglePages did not have ads in the pages, but surprisingly, my GooglePages site doesn't rank very well in Google! You can see what I did with it here. I found it pretty easy to work with. My own pencil portrait art website is hosted on Tripod. That doesn't mean that it's necessarily the best for me or for you. I've just had it there a long time, so I'll probably just leave it alone.

The main thing is that you provide the basics people need:

• Your name

• Contact page

• Pricing page or info on how to get a quote - people want to know how they can pay, do you ship internationally?
  

• Recommendations (or even a link to your eBay feedback, to show you are dependable)

• Examples of your art