I’ve mainly been completing ‘people’ portraits in recent weeks, many as gifts for Father’s Day. These seem to be growing in popularity which is exciting as I always viewed animals as my strength but I’m pleased my clients love the way I portray their family members. I draw rather than paint people; I find the softer nature of watercolour base washes overlaid with coloured pencil tones and details gives the outcome I desire. It’s quite a nice working pattern for me as an artist to alternate between capturing animals and then people. Keeps me on my artistic toes (fingers??)!
I really enjoy trying to capture and recreate facial expressions and always aim to have an emotive quality in my work through mark-making and using colours. When copying my clients’ photos, I am essentially looking at scenes of love and happiness and I feel those elements needs to show in the art. Photos are of special moments and even more special people so there’s no point having a realistic artwork that lacks atmosphere and soul. One thing that always disappoints me is that photographs never capture the true colours and all the little details of my artworks. This is only negative in terms of publicity as I can never truly ‘show off’ the high standards and quality of my art through social media. The positive of this though is that my clients are always thrilled when they see their commissions in the flesh where the difference between the photo updates I’ve sent them and the real-life art is clear.
I can’t quite believe how quickly this year seems to be flying by…it was the longest daylight day of the year yesterday. It always amuses me that perfect light comes at the cost of working in hot conditions. Even with windows open and a cooling fan on, it seems impossible to stop the paint drying before it hits the page on some days! That’s another benefit of working with watercolours and coloured pencils…much more forgiving in heat than painting with acrylics.
Thanks for reading. Have a great day! Linda
Linda Rodgers Art & Design 