Stages of a portrait. Part 3.

Today was a good and bad day with the pencil and I made a bit of progress. As I worked the portrait somehow started to feel off, not quite right and I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was/is.  Instinct and eye said I'd done something to change the mouth which altered the appearance of my image.  Further close peering and puzzling resulted in me thinking that something else was 'off' too.  So, I went back to measuring and made adjustments to the eye at the left of the page and the shape of the lips. Very hard to do and I was packing it while doing it in case I wrecked everything.  It is an improvement but is still not quite 'right' to me so will require further consideration and adjustment as I finish it.  I've started on the texture of the fabric in the skivvy and think I'll focus on that tomorrow and leave the face alone for 24 hours before coming back to it.  Hopefully I'll have some answers and the ability to fix it and produce an image of a quality I'm happy with.  Without further ado....

Stages of a portrait. Part 2

Day two of working on my portrait for homework.  I toughened up this morning and made a start on my expensive artists paper instead of fluffing around on ordinary (and cheap) bond paper.  Can't play it safe forever!  Here is my work space on the table with tools of the trade, including my brand new glasses which might help me see what I'm doing a bit more clearly!  I use a masonite board on the table as my work surface. It provides a smooth, clean support to work on.

Here is a close up of what I've achieved so far today. It's taken a few hours as I've been building up layers and even gazing at things with a microscope to see the detail in them.  There is obviously still a lot to do and much refining to occur. I'm not particularly happy with the 'spider leg' eyelashes I've created but it's too hard to rub them out.  I haven't done any blending either so the face shading is very rudimentary.  This is on the agenda for tomorrow or later tonight if the whim takes me.  Feel free to click on the image, I think it makes it bigger.

Stages of a portrait. Part 1

As mentioned in an earlier post, we've started our portraiture unit in my art class.  This week we are combining all of the features studied to do our first complete portrait.   We are working from a photograph of a child (daughter of course founder) for this exercise.

From this photograph we work in stages to develop our portrait.  After much measuring, squinting, peering, comparing and general staring, you come up with the following odd collection of lines that make up the 'bones' of the image.

All of the lines and shapes revolve around a central axis which runs vertically through the head. This is not traced from the photograph. I have used measurements, my eye and free drawing to create this framework to work from. The nose and lips have been created using construction drawing (where you use shapes to represent areas).  Once happy with this you do this again on paper and begin to fill in more details to create the outlines of shapes, where shading and highlights occur etc.

I am really quite happy with this and am surprised by the likeness I've been able to achieve. This image is transferred onto good quality artists paper and the fun or stress begins!  I was a bit tired today and rather scared about putting pencil to paper so I have started by doing a 'draft' on plain photocopy paper. I've only done the hair so far.

I learned quite a bit doing a rough practice first, discovering how the angle of the pencil effects the quality of the line being produced etc.  I'm not entirely happy with some sections of hair and will have a play around with them to see how I can improve upon them before putting my pencil to the good paper for my final piece.  I think I'll complete each stage of the image in draft form before moving onto my final piece. It means I have to do the picture twice but perhaps I'll learn twice as much!  Check in over the next few days and see how I am going.

Menu Plan Monday

Time for my next menu.....

Mains

• Chicken and Leek bake with mustard plus steamed veg 
• Slow cooker chicken (whatever I throw together) and veg served in gluten free crepes for change.
• BBQ steaks, potato bake (or mash) and mixed sauteed greens and carrots.
• Banana Curry Chicken foil packets, veg and quinoa cooked in the rice cooker.
• Steamed ginger fish, udon noodles and stir fry veg
• Spaghetti bolognaise with whatever pasta I have on hand
• Fend for self/leftovers/boiled egg night.

Baking

• Mini cupcakes - one batch of plain, one of mocha. Take some to art to share for morning tea.
• Apple crumble for the freezer so I can pull it out and simply heat it up one night for dessert

This is how I write up my menu plan. Main meals are seen at left with a space to the right for notes such as where to find the recipe.  The far right of the page is where I jot down lunch and snack ideas for the week.

 I organise my shopping list by writing my menu plan at the top. This stops me getting sidetracked and buying the wrong things!! It also has proved very helpful if I have to make substitutions due to availability once I hit the shop.  I always shop my pantry, fridge and freezer first and this usually helps me write my menu plan as well as my grocery list.  The list above is only partially done.  There we go. That's how I attempt to keep organised.

We are actually starting the week with the slow cooker meal as it suits what we have going on today. I'm pleased to say that it's already working away doing it's thing and making me dinner while I do other things.  Just gotta love those indentured servants.  My other well loved household servants are my rice cooker, my washing machine and dishwasher. Am SO grateful to have them.  They free up so much time to do other things.

Having a very slow start to the day here in the long house.  It's 10.45am and I am 'gasp', still in my pj's which is almost unheard of!  It's a public holiday here so things are rather slow.  I've spent the morning writing in my journal and curled on couch with a steaming hot cup of tea and the most recent book in The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.  Bliss.  Now though it is time to get back into the fray and do my routines.  

Stay well and happy everyone!

FLYing

Today has been a cool, overcast and at times wet day. After popping up the coast to run a couple of errands and to share a coffee with my sweet man I came home and pottered.  As I've got back into 'Flylady' I use my time much more effectively. As the kettle boils or microwave runs I find myself spot cleaning the kitchen, running the swiffer over the floor, putting a couple of things back in their place, rebooting laundry etc. I've also been using the power of 15 minutes again. I set the timer as per Flylady and set to work.  We came home to a dog cushion torn to shreds and spread from one end of our verandah to another.  I grabbed the wheelie bin, set the timer and got to it.  Not only did I clean up the explosion of padding, I swept a small area of the verandah, cleaned off the duchess at the back door, returned some shoes to the shoe rack, did a poo run (picked it all up) in the immediate back yard (we have more than one), wiped the cobwebs off a large pot, brushed down the chairs and table of the outdoor setting and returned the wheelie bin to the side of the house all within 15 minutes.  The difference is amazing and once again I doubted I'd make such a difference in just 15 minutes.  I SHOULD KNOW BY NOW. 

The rain had stopped and I was still feeling ok so I decided to do another 15 minutes outside.  My vegetable garden has been an appalling mess of late so I decided to attack it.  I had 4 big rosella bushes to dig out as well as the stump of a pawpaw. I set the timer and not only did I get the bushes and stump dug out, I managed to weed 2/3 of the garden as well. This included putting all of the garden waste in our green waste pile further down the yard.  I think another 15 minutes tomorrow and I'll be able to fertilize, mulch and be ready to plant my next crop.  Brilliant.

This is the pawpaw tree I didn't pull out.  It's loaded! I'm thrilled as I've had NO luck growing pawpaws here in the past 10 years. This is rather odd as they grow like a weed and happily grow with little attention.

Portraiture

This past week in art we've started on our portraiture unit.  So far we've broken down the face into individual features, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and drawn those.We've also learned about the proportions of the head and placement of features.  It's been very interesting and quite enjoyable.

 I've also been slowly working through the backlog of work that built up while I was in hospital and laid out on the couch.  Below you will see the exercise I completed on vertical f fabric folds.  I am now clear to begin work on my final assessment for my shading unit.  Will post THAT particular piece when it's done. I'm sure it's going to take MANY, many hours.

What's for dinner

Since coming out of hospital I've had my wings on again and been 'Flying' as per the lovely Flylady.  I've done little bits and pieces each day to match my energy and the consistency has really paid off.  The house is quite presentable, laundry is done, there is very little clutter, meals are planned and my grocery list matches my menu.   I've even been able to tackle a couple of cupboards and clean out my wardrobe too. Brilliant!  It made me realise that I have VERY. FEW. CLOTHES.  Really. I don't usually have heaps of clothes but having lost weight and moved down a size I have even fewer. I'll have to do a wardrobe post for you at a later date because today I'm putting my menu plan out there.  So, what is on the menu this week here at Heart's Landscapes?

• Garlic Lime Chicken with brown rice and a mix of greens and red capsicum
• Oven baked salmon, my rosemary smashed potatoes and mixed greens with garlic, honey and balsamic dressing.
• Chorizo and vegetable frittata with a large mainly green mixed salad.
• Cranberry and Orange Pork chops baked in oven, mash and steamed greens.
• Tacos with salad, avocado and possibly sour cream
• Maple herb steak (marinate steak in a squirt of maple syrup - enough to coat - and fresh herbs from garden), Michelle Trute's low fat macaroni cheese, salad and apple crumble with custard as a treat.
• My seafood marinara  - as previously posted here.  Fruit for dessert if we so desire.

Lunches options consist of :

• leftovers
• A salad of some type with fish or chicken or a vegetarian protein
• a Mission Mini wrap (wholemeal) with salad or hot veg such as capsicum, mushroom, spinach, eggplant etc with or without a protein.
• Soup as is or with a cheese scone or slice of bread.

Snack options:

• Fruit
• Small cheese such as Laughing Cow segment, Babybel, or cheese stringer
• Nuts (8-10 only)
• Yoghurt
• Fruit parfait (with yoghurt and muesli)
• Home baking
• Air popped popcorn

This weeks baking:

• Madeira cake and lemon poppy seed muffins (due to the overwhelming number of lemons on my tree), will freeze some or even all of the muffins.
• Jam drop biscuits from the classic Day to Day Cookery.

So, that's our food in a nutshell and it has already made my day seem so much .... easier.  I'm yet to do the baking.  Our lunches and snacks never change much so I won't post them again but I'll work on organising myself enough to post my menu plan each week so that I have a record of it and so you can take a peep too of course!

I'll do an update on my art tomorrow so you can see what is coming out of my pencil at present.

Stay well and happy everyone.