Portraits- not my strong point!

Regular readers may remember some posts ago my mentioning a special commission, which I would share with you once I could do so. Well, that time as come...

On July 7th my friend Nicole turned 30 and as part of her gift I painted portraits of her sons Isaac and Ethan.

Unfortunately, neither picture ended up looking like the subjects! But my friend was touched by the effort anyway!

It got me thinking about other portraits I've done (there haven't been many, truth be told). I did a great one of my ex Craig, which he kept when we separated, and I did a really good one of another ex Andrew- which I got back when we broke up! And other than that there's just the painting I did of the wonderful Frieda Khalo-

Two of my friends let slip once that this painting reminds them of one Phoebe in Friends did- of a woman coming out of the frame with a 3D arm, and all the 'friends' were passing this picture between themselves because none of them wanted the scary painting in their apartments. Charming eh? I don't think its too bad!

But all in all, I can admit that portrait painting isn't my strong suit, so maybe think twice about commissioning me to do a portrait!

I've been out and about today around Digley Reservoir taking pictures so I can attempt a pastel drawing of the area. I've had two sets of pastels since I was teen but so far have never actually used them. However, I feel so inspired by all the beautiful pastel drawings I saw at Holmfirth Art Week this year that I'm going to give them a bash. Watch this space for the results!