Vanessa's Portrait

This is Vanessa my new commission, right now I have just put up a detail of her face, I'm still working on her scarf. Hopefully she will like it and I won't have to do any changes to it. It was made in pastels on paper, whilst Ruth was done in oils.

Ruth

Okay, I have now worked part of the hair which is framing the face and this will be crucial to see how it affects the lighting on her face. Then I will work on the background and her mauve dress ( this is why she has this colouring in her cheeks and when I advance a bit more I will post that, so that you can see the progress until I have it completed. 

Maggie Thatcher

I'm really disgusted by all the vile screech of hatred towards the woman who saved Britain by lazy louts who were not even born when we were having the big problems facing this nation. For those who were around during Maggie Thatcher's time, who can forget the Winter of Discontent ? when rubbish piled high up and the dead could not be buried ? No one at that time had the guts and the courage to stop the Unions who seemed to have gone mad and intent in bringing down the economy of this country. We were called the sick man of Europe, remember ? When Maggie left office, she had brought back the Great to Britain again. Let's not forget that she had won THREE times the elections in our democratic country and on the last one she won by a greater majority than when she was elected the first time around. That is a great achievement or what ? and that alone has to be a testament to her huge popularity and the approval of the MAJORITY on how she was leading this country. I for one, am grateful for everything she did. Not only was she the first woman Prime Minister but the best Prime Minister since Winston Churchill who had the guts and the courage to confront head on, the difficult decisions to bring about prosperity once again to this country. Had she not been in power, this is time that we would have beaten the Greeks on the road to bankruptcy and poverty. Thanks to her, we are not in that awful situation.Greece could do with a Margaret Thatcher right now. She fought hard to get us a rebate from the E.U. which have meant savings billions of pounds that would have otherwise gone down the plug-hole of the E.U. There is much to be grateful about Maggie Thatcher. I find it offensive when people from Twitter send me stuff insulting to her memory. I don't go to Twitter anymore because I have better things to do with my life but I did wanted to say how much I always admired Margaret Thatcher and I feel very sorry that she has passed away and I feel appalled and offended by how a MINORITY with their hatred and no doubt jealousy taken to the streets because they have nothing better to do with their worthless little lives.  

This is Ruth, my new portrait

Well, I'm now working on a new portrait in oils and see how it turns out. The main thing at the moment is to get a good likeness of the sitter and at the end of the day, that she will be happy with the result. It is early days and a lot of work has to be done. Everything needs to be re-worked in thin layers, especially the eyes so that they glimmer and that is yet to happen with patience and perseverance. I really never like to show the early stages of a painting but someone told me it would be nice to see it. It is like showing the skeleton and bit by bit having the finished product; with a portrait you have to be precise, not like a landscape painting where you can add maybe a house or twist the perspective in order for the picture to look more interesting. Still... with a portrait you don't have to put warts and all. I usually find the most attractive side of the sitter to have a pleasant result. I don't know if you recall the recent portrait of the Duchess of  Cambridge where the poor artist was criticized for making her look too old. With a portrait you have to be careful with the shadows and not to over emphasize the features or you could end up making a very young person look much older than they really are. I'm trying to balance all these considerations and arrive to a happy outcome.