I have a customer and fan on Etsy who admired my Joyce Carol Oates and asked about some other specific writers, so I decided to paint one today (no obligation to buy). I thought I would hark back to a couple of years ago and use some of my Daler Rowney inks for an interesting background, but I have forgotten how I did them / lost the knack. (I need to go back and review my Deb Weiers lessons.) So it's mostly just a wash of purple ink glaze that shows up everywhere in the portrait as an underlayer. The rest is watercolor and Uniball pen, with a few white highlights here and there. I included a quote, since that's what I have done with previous author portraits, and here she is,
Virginia Woolf.
I didn't get the angle of the face quite right, so it's a little wide at the temple and cheekbone level—it doesn't quite reflect that long, slightly horsey face. I also struggled with the sizing of the drawing and ended up making it a bit larger than planned. But otherwise I'm pleased with the likeness. I kept staring at her lips and finally realized that her mouth reminds me of actress Geena Davis's. I like this bookish quote.
"Virginia Woolf"—Acrylic ink, watercolor, Uniball, and Signo pens (oh, and gesso and stencil for the collar), on 12x12 Fluid coldpress watercolor paper. Available.
And now I'm starving, because I forgot to eat lunch and it's 4:00! Time to fix that.
