Delivered for Christmas - Click Each Image to Enlarge

Graphite Portraits (Almost Always) In Progress

I always seem to see drawing or painting parts that need revision when I am readying photos to upload to my blog or website. Below you will find photos of the three drawings (portrait commissions) I am currently working on. First you will see a new photo of Reilly, with very very minor, but necessary, changes to his right eye and his mouth. I will post the first photo next to it so that you can detect the changes I made. Next will be Monica, almost finished. When I looked at the photos in photoshop, I realized that Monica's upper lip on her right side has too hard a top edge; it definitely needs softening ans transitioning into the fleshy area above it. I also want to deepen the value of the inset on her shirt - it is too light and too close in value to the skin tone right above it. I will post this again once I have made those and any other revisions I determine are necessary.
The last drawing is of Clara, and as you can see it is still underway. Perhaps you can tell that the values are heightened or deepened in stages. Right now, her eyes look very dark and hard edged. I will be softening them but also adjusting other values which will make the eyes appear not quite so dark in comparison. This drawing is not complete in any area. It is a work in progress and I work back and forth into and out of areas of the face, adjusting one value in relationship to another.
These drawings are done in graphite on a Strathmore plate finish paper - one I have never used but wanted to try. The plate finish is much harder than the medium textured drawing paper I usually use, so I have to work harder at keeping pencil lines in tonal areas from "looking like lines."
Click on a photo to enlarge it. Please feel free to post comments or questions!

Reilly, Revised at left

As originally posted on 11/15/07 below

Monica, In Progress

Clara, In Progress

"First Painting After Surgery"

Golden Field, copyright Pat Aube Gray

I put the title of this post in quotation marks because that is the name employees gave this painting when I put it in for framing! And then they called the next one I completed, not surprisingly, "Second Painting After Surgery."

"Golden Field," the correct name of this first watercolor, was completed as a demonstration of a foreground treatment in a watercolor workshop in late October. I sprayed water and used salt for texture in this piece. It was painted out of my head (aren't they all?) but certainly based on the recent local landscape I get to see every day in these beautiful North Georgia mountains. It is approximately 14" wide x 21" high and is painted on Arches 140# cold pressed paper. The painting is SOLD.

"Scenic Highway in Autumn" was also begun in the above mentioned workshop as an exercise in contrasting very strong darks and intense lights to achieve drama and I completed it after the workshop was over. A spray bottle helped me keep the painting wet as I worked it and I employed spattering toward the finish. I used a photograph I had taken several years ago as a reference for this 21" x 14" watercolor also
on Arches 140# cold pressed paper. This painting has been beautifully framed and is available for sale at Carriage House Framing & Gallery in Blairsville.

Scenic Highway in Autumn copyright Pat Aube Gray

My shoulder is no longer hurting when I draw or paint on a table or in my lap. I have done two small oils, one also a demo in a class, and find that I still have difficulty holding my arm up while painting at the easel. But I am in physical therapy now and hope that it won't be long before I can paint with less pain and more agility.

Back to the Drawing Board

Reilly, graphite on paper, 11 x 14

While recovering from shoulder surgery that I had in August, I found I could draw in my lap. I completed this drawing of Reilly over a 3-4 week period, doing as much as I could at one sitting. I have since completed a couple of watercolors and in the past ten days have done a couple of small, loosely rendered oils. Hopefully I will be back to blogging soon. I am in physical therapy right now and assume that will speed up the use of my painting arm.

Dedication

Kerry Aube Lingle
February 7, 1965 - July 11, 2007

It is with incredible sadness and great anguish that I resume posting to my blog with the news that, Kerry Aube Lingle, my cherished daughter, passed away on July 11th. You may recall from my last post on July 2nd that she had broken her ankle. On July 5th she developed a blood clot which went to her lungs (pulmonary embolism) and stopped her heart for 27 minutes. She was on life support for six days.

Kerry is a very talented and creative graphic designer and was thrilled when I started this blog. From this day forward, I dedicate this blog to her, as she was very often the wind beneath my wings. I may not post too often for a while, but I am trying to resume some aspects of my former life, though it is with tremendous difficulty.

My sincere thanks to those of you who have offered expessions of sympathy.