The African Headgear III, 8.5" x 11", Mixed Media on Card.

This is the third piece in my series of paintings and drawings to celebrate the beauty of the African Headgear.

This particular piece all started off without any preliminary drawing, I just decided to go into into it with the pastels used with the broad side.

THE AFRICAN HEADGEAR III, 8.5" x 11", Pastel, Crayons, Coloured pencil and Oil Pastel on Canson Card, 2013

 

 

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Because I started this way, I was left starting off without any accuracy at all and a long process of corrective drawing. But it was quite fun as I enjoyed watching the repair process materialize into a finished product I was satisfied with.

Below are some of the Stage Shot photos I took while working though it.

STAGE 1- That bold start that got me frightened, I thought, what am I doing here? No preliminary drawing, just broad strokes of pastel on the card.

STAGE 2- I blend the broad strokes together, just for some clarity.

STAGE 3- Introduce the darks, this changes everything, but I'm still timid, not sure how this will work out.

STAGE 4- I slow down and keep my focus on correcting the faulty areas, adding more rich smaller strokes of the pastel.

STAGE 5- Here I am a more confident, the corrective drawing helps and slowing down is a reward, as it is often said, "Haste is the Artists' Worst Enemy"

SPECIAL QUOTE

“A portrait can get awfully hot when the artist thinks in terms of flesh and blood, rosy cheeks, lips and ears. This is particularly so if there are cools surrounding the subject such as a blue curtain or blue shirt... don't forget that some of that cool might very well be bouncing into the face and figure”- Harley Brown

AFRO XXIX, 9" x 11", Pastel, 2010

This is number 29 of my current Afro Series. The model here is my 9 month old daughter Kezia.


This series focuses on the variety and beauty of natural black Afro hair.



I have gone a bit wild with my colours here, and that's one of the advantages of pastel. You don't need to mix, it's just pick, paste and go! For this I used the 72 Soft Pastel set by Winsor & Newton on a thick watercolour paper prepared with a light yellow orche wash.

Cuteee, 20" x 16", coloured dust and coloured pencils on watercolour paper, 2009

This is another commission, I got this one while sketching my beloved tree II. This couple stopped while driving past and were quite impressed with my sketching in such cold conditions, they asked if I did portraits and I affirmed, they had a look at my sketchpad and agreed to have me do this piece of their granddaughter. I have had many good experiences when delivering portraits, but nothing came close to this one! Just revealing the piece out of its handmade envelope almost brought Grandma to tears! She gave me a hug and thanked me for a good job done! I won't go on to tell you more....the beauty of this sort of job is that you get great feedback. But yesterday, last night at church, my Pastor said we shall get instantaneous and exceeding answer to our prayers! I never knew mine would come this soon!




This was done in the same way I did Lady Tee. The only difference her was I used more sanguine than sepia.

Lady Tee, 16" x 16", Coloured dust and coloured pencils, 2009

This is the second commission done and dusted. If you've been reading this blog you'll remember my post on the little boy. Well this is his mum and that makes two out of 4 done! Yeee pee! I'm taking the bull by the horn now and I am really learning new possibilities with this Coloured(sepia, sanguine, black) dust and coloured pencils medium.




This one went through some changes but now the client is satisfied!

This was done with sepia, sanguine and black dust with a variety of brown, red and black coloured pencils on heavy watercolour paper to keep a monochrome and tonal feel to it.

AFRO XXV, 8" x 11", Mixed Media on Watercolour paper, 2009

This makes number 25 in my current Afro Series. This time it was inspired by the weekly challenge on Karin Juricks DSFDF.




I wanted to show the contrast between this sweet little girl who attends my Sunday School class and the wigged mannequins in the background. But she kind of stands boldly as if to say, " I am also.............." I won't give it all way....

Now this was done first by mixing grey pastel dust and water to form washes for the initial block-ins. Then an oil base pencil, graphite pencil, wax crayons and intricate watercolour washes were used to bring out the details. I used Arches watercolour paper here for the first time and it was a good experience!

EMOTIONS VI, Mixed Media, 10" x 8", 2009

I was divinely inspired to do this piece this morning while I knelt down with my little boy Josh in morning prayer. I let him pray and he prayed those simple lovely prayers that children so innocently pray about...bless mummy, bless daddy, bless mummy's baby(because Ruth my wife is pregnant) bless auntie Funmis baby(because my sister is pregnant too)....that's all I can remember.





And as emotions rise today with the New President of America, we can also pray with this little girl I have depicted here for the New President, America has given birth to!

This piece was done with watercolour, coloured pencil, pastel and wax crayons on heavy watercolour paper.

AFRO SERIES IV, 14" x 21", Pastel/oil base pencil, 2008

This is the 4th in the Afro series. This pose was naturally taken in to by the model.............I thought the pose she took was brilliant!

The Builder, 11" x 14", Pastel/Oil base pencil, 2008

I met this guy recently at a building site and he looked immediately fantastic! I couldn't resist asking if I could paint or sketch him. He had little time available, so with his consent, I snapped him and worked on it three days after in my sketch pad.

I really couldn't stop looking at him. Almost reminded me of some figures in the ancient times!

Afro Series III

This is the latest Afro series done in Pastel and coloured pencil. I almost got carried away by the overall design and not the hair but I'll be back to basics in the next one

Emotions, 15" x 11", Mixed Media, 2008

Trapped indoors due to a continuous nagging headache, since Friday last week. I can't go out to sketch today, seems I need to slow down!

Well, I devise a plan, I get some old sketches and take it out on them, with all my emotions!

This was completed on canson pastel paper, with ink, coloured pencils, pastels, gouache, acrylic and watercolour...........

Study of Laurence, 17" x 13", Gouache.

I met this wonderful girl in London at Abbey Wood Bus station. I later got talking with her and she agreed to have me paint or sketch her. This study is done in Goauche with a few hints of grey tombow wash pens and pastel.

"Duet" Watercolour study

I got down to do this study, a plan for a larger painting.It seems I am enjoying the watercolours again. You can see how I completed this step by step on my blog with winsor and newton.

Day Dreaming

I recently, have decided to get back into my watercolours and this time again I still cannot keep it as a pure watercolour. This turns out to be a mixed media work with chalk pastels, wax crayons and coloured pencils involved. I was particularly pleased with the outcome which wasn't quite what I planned to have it as, but when it came to the time to stop I had to hide the work before it got detailed with further destruction.

I will be showing how I worked out this piece from the beginning to the end on my blog via my blog with winsor and newton.

AN EXPERIMENT WITH PASTEL /COLOURED PENCIL

Recently I was passing by this shop in Chelsea, it had these model manikins wearing clothes for sale. I was particularly interested in the light that fell on this models face and how it portrayed the feminine strength in her. I took some pictures and then I went on to work on it, attacking it a bit emotionally with wild strokes and colours with pastel and coloured pencil, the result was quite fascinating. I have titled it "Feminine Strength".