This Charcoal Drawing, titled ‘Soulful’ is the latest Artwork to feature in my ‘Stylised Portraits’ category.
Some titles come to me really quickly when painting and drawing but at other times I can literally agonise over choosing just the right one. (More on the subject of troublesome titles in a future post!)
I probably ought to have called this little beauty ‘Self Portrait’ but had a sneaky feeling I might not have got away with it?!
I initially used a photograph as a basic reference to begin drawing from but, as I so often love to do, I soon put the photograph away and carried on working to see what developed.
I felt she needed nothing more than pure and simple Black and White on a Grey background, any added colour would have detracted from her simplicity and I hope that her eyes speak volumes.
Looking closely you may just be able to see the natural flecks, fibres and textures on the recycled paper I used for ‘Soulful’ and the rest of my ‘Less is More’ series.
I really do love these paper textures. They are clearly visible on my Original Paintings, Drawings and Prints in this series of artwork and add another dimension, rather than just a flat plain grey background. I would like to add that all the people who have seen this paper in the flesh have commented on how much they also love it!
*If there are any other artists reading this, I would love to hear your views on textured and recycled papers. Do you love them or loathe them? Please DO leave a comment at the bottom of this page, we ’arties’ are such a helpful bunch! If you’re not an artist, I would obviously also welcome your views and thoughts on this piece too! Different people have seen different emotions in her face, I would love to know what YOU see?
For anyone interested, ‘Soulful’ is available as a Print in two sizes, A4 and A3 and available as a Print on Canvas in a variety of sizes. The Original Drawing is SOLD.
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Very nice Miggs!
Thank you Liss! X
Having followed your work for some time, for me this is one of your best works. Such depth of feeling in her expression and she gets one thinking what is in her mind. Love it. I don’t know how you get so much into what appears to be just a few lines…. do you work quickly or was it a long study? Honesty
I am so glad you love her and that she gets you thinking. I too am not quite sure what’s going on inside her head, there are some deep emotions in there.
I do work fairly quickly but always take my time when working on the eyes and find the merest mark here or highlight there can make all the difference to a feeling or expression. The mouth plays an extremely important part too, once again, the tiniest ‘tweaks’ can make a huge difference.