'MARLENE'

At last!....I've finally finished my drawing of 'Marlene'   - pencil on watercolour paper

 I have been studying the work of rhe Pre-Raphaelites and this drawing was an exercise in using layers of coloured pencils - on blue Fabriano paper.

 Master copy "Portrait of a Lady"   after Dante Gabriel Rossetti , 1870

PRELIMINARY COLOUR STUDY

This year I am going to work as much as I can with pastels and so this is a quick study of  'Ha', my beautiful Vietnamese friend.  I used a combination of soft pastels and coloured pencils.

Preliminary sketch for master copy

I began this preliminary drawing of Leonardo Da Vinci's "La Scapigliata" after having visited several art galleries whilst on a recent visit to New York and Philadelphia.  The proportions aren't quite right, but I think I shall re-work this as a master copy when I have more time.

Baby Orangutan

I've been wanting to find more time to practice working with pastels and had a first attempt by copying this image of a baby Orangutan.  I love the way I can apply layers of colour and create both incredibly smooth and also heavily textured effects with this wonderful medium.

"Val"

I think it was Leonardo da Vinci who once said that an artwork was never finished only merely abandoned...and so I am abandoning this one for a while as, although I have been working on it a little at a time over several months now, I am still not happy with the hand which has so much hair falling over it.  I think it might be best to come back to it later when I can see it with 'fresh' eyes.

"Jay"

Ever since I first saw a beautiful black and white photograph of Jay taken by Steve Horsfall, who is an amazingly talented photographer, I wanted to do this drawing of her.  After some initial sketches I worked the drawing  in venetian red and dark brown pencil on cream paper and I hope that I have captured the essence of Jay, just as Steve did when he took this lovely image of her.  (Drawing reproduced with the kind permission of Steve Horsfall).