white boxer dog on a spotty pillow drawn in coloured pencils

Self portrait in Coloured pencils

KAREN M BERISFORD
'I Remember You'
8" x 10"

I wanted to try out a portrait on some black paper I had and to avoid copyright issues using someone else's photo I decided to create a self portrait. The reference photo was taken a few months after I had lost my Mum to Bowel Cancer and I was deep in thought thinking of her. For me there is such sadness seen and felt in this photo and I did not want to capture that in the portrait and chose to lighten up not only the tones but the feel of the portrait too. The black paper, limited the blendibility as well as the vibrancy, as the paper became saturated, but it was great fun! Maybe I will get out the paints and try again one day when I feel less pain looking at this photo.

Dedicated to my Mum, Mavo - November 2010
'Forever in my thoughts'

Created: June 2015

REFERENCE IMAGE

I love black as a base, it is so harsh and offers such striking effects for light subjects and I felt like a challenge so out came the photo and the pencils and I got to work. As always I start with the eyes and then begin to build up the skin tones but after a while the paper became saturated and I struggled to apply further layers hence the 'pitted' effect.