Portrait Sketches

Here are a few more portraits I sketched while taking Gillian Cox's portrait class. She taught us a lot about how to sketch from reference photos.

These are taken from my sketch book so the quality isn't the best. In class we were then supposed to work from our sketches and build a painting. I haven't done paintings of any of these yet but I'm really happy with the sketches themselves.

I did do a final painting in the class. I used an earlier oil portrait I had painted as reference and then painted another one. Here is the original painting I had done years ago:

Here is the new version this year (both done in oil):

I'm not thrilled with the photo. It's hard to photograph a painting! Ugh! But you get the drift of it. It's actually a lot more vibrant than this.

I would like to eventually start paintings on the sketches I've completed in class. I have to be in the right mindset to start a big project like that. So far, I'm still sketching small studies in my sketchbook.

Sketchbook Skool!

Oh yes! I have entered Sketchbook Skool. I LOVE it! I'm trying to establish a regular habit of sketching every night. So far, so good. These are a few of the sketches I've done while in the classes. The top one is probably my favorite. It's a sketch of one of the teachers. She gave us a PDF of her using different expressions. I LOVE sketching expressions and had a blast with this one. :)

Here is another one I did and practiced sketching with only a little color added (with colored pencils).

Here's my calico cat while she was sitting beside me one night on the sofa.

I love creating little characters out of the top of my head. She popped up when I glued down the "hair" that I cut from a magazine. Even SHE looks happy with her new do! :)

I just started a new class called "Seeing" to get us to really look at the world around us. I can't wait to see what it brings forth in my sketchbook. Stay tuned!