29 Faces, Day 22
Last night, while watching some Shakespeare on television, I sat in my comfy chair and sketched this portrait in my recycled book journal. I generally gesso these pages before doing anything else, but decided to just "go raw" this time and let the text show through. It was a good exercise in multi-tasking; paying attention to the Old English spewing from the television enough to get the gist of it while getting the nose centered between the eyes and above the lips. Using just the "TV light", I picked up my box of Caran D'Ache Neocolor II and began laying down color. I strained to see the color of each crayon but then decided it didn't matter as long as I had the value right. I love using a water brush to spread these colors as it can be done anywhere with little to no mess. Great for traveling! In the end, as King Richard lay dying, I turned on more lights and took a look at my work. I was fairly happy with the results but thought it still needed something. Then I remembered Kate Thompson showing how she always adds pencil marks after completing a painting. That was my finishing touch.