A Baby Portrait

Baby portrait created November-December 2008.

Baby Portrait

A portrait of a one day old baby drawn from a photo sent via email.  I did three individual portraits of this picture.  The final one took about 15 hours.  I used Staedtler leads 4h,2h,hb,2b,4b, and 6b.

I really felt successful in the composition with the positioning of the baby’s head and the folds of the blanket and his onsie.  The final 6b lines were a wondrous joy when they just made the picture pop and come alive.  I used a workable fixative throughout to avoid smudging and a matte finish spray to seal it up.  I had elbow cramps for a week.

That pencil was an extention of my mind, and it was a dance!