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Tag Archives | portrait painting

Beaming Beth – a smiling child portrait in watercolour

Beaming Beth – a smiling child portrait in watercolour

Beautiful Beth was a little more of a challenge to paint than her sister Anna, as her big smile gives me another detail to paint – her teeth!

They can be difficult to paint, as I found with one of my self-portraits – giving myself a denture-like set of gnashers that was tricky to correct.

I think I pulled it off here – with watercolour it’s not too difficult to add the gentlest suggestion of shadow – assuming the shape is convincing enough.

She looks happy – so I’m happy!

Beth - smiling child portrait in watercolour by Debra Wenlock

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Watercolour child portrait – Anna

Watercolour child portrait – Anna

After a few days break in daily painting and daily posting I’m back with a watercolour portrait of Anna.

Watercolour seems to be the perfect choice when it comes to painting children.

It’s really important to keep the painting as simple as possible when portraying youth… no unnecessary lines or shadows and a minimal number of layers of paint – the skin must appear to glow.

I had a great subject and hope that I have successfully captured her character!

Anna - watercolour child portrait by Debra Wenlock

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Mary, Mary – Double Downton

Mary, Mary

Had a bit of a Downton day yesterday and grabbed an old pic of the three Crawley sisters from an early series of Downton Abbey. I had in mind that I wanted to create a Fauve style portrait – Lady Mary Crawley looked just the job! I set off with my oil pastel to make a nice bold face, just using the image as a starting point… Oh yeah!
Loved painting in the loosely grand backdrop.

Slapped on some skin tones and was pleased with a passing likeness.

Then got absorbed, a little too comfy, and too precious. Couldn’t resist trying to get it just right….

Well – Mary was all scanned last night and ready to face the world first thing this morning… except when I got up this morning I thought she looked a bit too grumpy and set about turning the corners of her mouth upwards – just a bit, mind.

Well, I’ve done it now, and that wee tweek of the corners of the mouth has gone and become a whole lipstick makeover. Lady Mary is morphing into Lady Sybil (no bad thing, if you think about it) and probably influenced by the fact that I also began a painting of Lady Sybil last night at bedtime?

Now I’m doubting Downton was a good move.

Here they both are –

Lady Mary Crawley, acrylic & oil pastelLady Mary Crawley acrylic & oil pastel by Debra Wenlock

What do you think – which is more Mary?

 

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Ruth as Steam Witch

Ruth as Steam Witch

I received some lovely photos of Ruth, all bewitched for Halloween Steam, at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s seasonal train trips with the message:

“She wants to be painted as the witch!”

That’s just what I like to see and hear – and I was most happy to oblige.

Probably the sweetest looking witch that I have come across – I have enjoyed making the portrait a little decorative and adding a few magical swirls to the hair!

Ruth as the Steam Witch by Debra Wenlock

 

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Portrait in Progress

Portrait in Progress

Today was one of those days when everything less important than painting seemed to take over…

I did mean to make my Daily Face a quick sketch, but somehow was lured by the paints. This one’s from a photo of my friend Nem, who lives in Austria, taken the last time she and her family visited Northern Ireland. I love the colourful hoody she wore that day and her expression was priceless. I hope she’ll forgive me for zooming in!

Sketched loosely with red watercolour pencil on canvas, followed by scarlet acrylic to define the outline and shadows. I try to keep the colours fairly clean and fresh to start with, working through to some subtler and more natual tones to complete the portrait. Too tired to finish this evening, I’ll restart and finish with a blast of enthusiasm in the morning.

Nem Portrait in progress by Debra Wenlock

And here’s the finished portrait!

Naomi Portrait by Debra Wenlock

 

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Amazing Face – Here’s… Grace!

Another Amazing Face!

I’m giving Grace a little guidance with her art studies at the moment and am so pleased that she agreed to pose for my daily face project.

I took the opportunity to make a couple of contrasting portraits. One in colourful acrylic, the other a soft watercolour, inspired by the soft texture & colours of Grace’s fur headband!

Amazing Grace by Debra Wenlock Grace Face, Watercolour Portrait by Debra Wenlock

 

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Helen and Michael – vintage car portrait in gouache and oil pastel

Helen and Michael – vintage car portrait in gouache and oil pastel

Sitting in the recently restored Riley vintage car after it’s very first outing (if not under it’s own steam quite yet!)

Helen and Michael - Motoring, Vintage Car portrait by Debra Wenlock

Sketched in oil pastel and coloured with gouache… An unusual pairing of media, but I like to experiment.

* Update 24th October 2014

Eventually the car itself was painted orange, which gave me licence to add some complementary colour to this portrait and a glimmer of a glow to the faces – I think it worked well!

The car certainly goes magnificently – having completed a 1000 mile trip round Ireland in September 🙂

Riley TT Sprite in Bantry with Debra Wenlock

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Me, Me, Me – More Self Portraits

More Self Portraits…

This time a couple of “blind contour” selfies!

Created by looking at the subject and drawing without looking at the paper…
I came across this little ink sketch yesterday and remembered how much I enjoyed the unpredictability of making these drawings and decided that I’d make one to colour-in!

Blind Contour Self Portrait Sketch, Debra WenlockBlind Contour Self-Portrait by Debra Wenlock

I’ll have to own up to just a wee bit of cheating, having made a couple of non-focused glances at the page to reposition my oil pastel.

(The colour is Winsor & Newton drawing inks – a Christmas present.)

Some wonderfully Picassoesque results can be stumbled upon using this method (without the furtive glances) and it’s a great fun way to loosen up to portraiture!

Here’s a couple more –

Blind-Contour-Self-Portrait-Debra-WenlockMaroon-Me, Self Portrait Blind Contour, Debra Wenlock

I do these as a limbering or loosening up excercise… they are always of me – for my sanity and amusement. An attempt to escape my perfectionist tendencies for a while.
A fun way out of an artistic rut maybe or a way past blank page paralysis!
I’m sharing the kind of stuff you wouldn’t usually get to see – celebrating the wonky wonders of creativity.
Not all art is born perfect.

What do you think…?

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Selfie Portrait from Life

Selfie Portrait from Life – Wax Crayon and Watercolour

This self portrait sketch had a time limit… loosely though, I can’t be too hard on myself… within an hour. I think I managed it in 40, maybe 45, minutes. Sitting on a cushion on the floor in front of the mirror wasn’t the most comfortable and helped speed things up rather well!

Selfie Portrait Wax & Watercolour Debra Wenlock

Hmmm –  I hadn’t really considered before that being slightly uncomfortable motivates getting finished quickly. I do find that I paint  more swiftly and with sharper focus when I stand… and I absolutely love to paint on the floor, which invariably leads to sore back, sore knees, paint on the rug…
There’s a mini secret here that I wasn’t even looking for – if I get stuck or slow up – move, change position, get out of the comfort zone.

Working with wax crayons and watercolour is one of my favorite mediums. I sketch with the crayons, often choosing contrasting colours that burst gleefully through the fluid paint as it is applied fairly loosely over the initial drawing.

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Daily Faces for January

Daily Faces

After a month of sticking to my commitment to post a painting every day for the whole of Advent and creating a collection of paintings of animals and birds that I loved working on, I set myself another task…

In lieu of New Year’s Resolutions I decided that I would choose something that I’d like to be painting, and stick to doing that every day for at least a month, far more productive potentially than invariably short-lived resolutions.
As I’m intrigued by faces and love portraiture it’s going to be faces… Again, I don’t want to restrict myself at all and would like this project to evolve at it’s own pace. I have already put out a call for volunteers as it would be great to meet some new faces along the way.
So if you are feeling bold, I’d love to see some of your facial expressions – send me your mug-shot… inspire me!

I do know that I don’t want to get too serious or to be taking formal commissions – for this project at least – let me show you what I can do. I’d like to have some freedom for fun as well as looking for likenesses and mess about with different media.

To set the tone a little with my first couple of paintings, I threw vanity to the wind and painted myself – complete with flying hat and goggles.

Self Portrait with flying hat & goggles, acrylic painting by Debra WenlockWatercolour Self Portrait with flying hat & goggles, Debra Wenlock

 

 

 

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