Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Homework


I'm trying to be a good student, actually doing some of the homework as assigned in the Kate Thompson online portrait class I'm taking. I'm trying to just relax and let them be learning experiences as I work with different lighting and materials, and not get all invested in the results as my perfectionist self tends to do. 


Partway through the first one I realized that I was supposed to have put a layer of matte medium down before painting, which explained why the Golden Retarder I was using was acting nothing like Kate's was.






As a break from portraits I painted this in my fabric journal to practice with the retarder.




Practicing sketching - she's more worried here than in the photo - I have that effect!



So, this is my first ever self-portrait - in spite of having been assigned many in prior online classes, I never actually did one, definitely not in my comfort zone.  But, trying to be a good student and all I went ahead and tried it, holding a hand mirror while I tried to sketch.  I suppose if you can set aside self judgement and take advantage of having a live model available to draw from it has it's benefits, This isn't quite me, I can't pinpoint exactly where it's off, but it was a good experience.


4 comments:

  1. A fantastic collection of work - I love the light and shade in the top one, she's illuminated beautifully. I also love the textured background of the flower and the delicate veining on the petals - you have such a wonderful eye for detail. The drawings are beautiful and I love the look of concentration on your self portrait!

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  2. These are wonderfully wistful/emotion filled images...you are doing amazing work. I think we all struggle with selfies. Try using a ballpoint pen and scribbled lines, that way it is quick and rubbishy and you can get into "not seeing" yourself and just playing :D XXX

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  3. I love the depth to your work Terri.... I always get inspired over here :)

    Karen x

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  4. How interesting. The light on your first portrait is amazing. And "Hello!" to your self portrait :)

    x

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