Spring Blossoms

After a cold snowy winter a very welcome spring has arrived. Last week's mild temperatures and sun brought out the blossom on some of the trees and some spring flowering plants. As I am working - but nothing ready to post yet I thought I would share some photos of the garden. I hope you enjoy seeing them :)

Miniature - Graphite Study of Jenny

Still enjoying experimenting with the dura-lar film in the evenings, here is a new graphite study of a very pretty young girl called Jenny. I could not resist transferring her serenity from a photograph (she lives a long way from us) into a portrait. People are more of a challenge to draw/paint but very well worth the effort. This image is much enlarged - the original is 3" x 2.5".

Miniature - 'Aragorn' Graphite study

I am a big fan of Tolkein and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films so when I was looking for a small study to try out some Dura-Lar film this one of Viggo Mortenson as Aragorn seemed a challenge - because of the look in his eyes. The original is 2.75" x 2.5". O.K. I know it is not my copyright but I have no intention of using this experimental image anywhere but here.

By the way I thoroughly recommend Dura-Lar Acetate alternative, it is archival quality and a pleasure to work with. Just a shame that I had to ask a friend in the US to send me some as it could not be found here in the UK. There will be more graphite studies - I will be going back to Arabians and other animals very soon. These studies are a useful change in the evenings when taking a break from larger commissioned oil work.