LifeBook Week03: Portrait Retake

This is a retake of the LB lesson I posted yesterday. I was inspired by all the bravery in our Facebook sharing group and decided to jump in and try to create something more "painterly" with just acrylics. The only other supply I used was a Stabilo pencil. I made the face much bigger - I think it's easier to work on larger faces rather than small ones. I'm still not sure I managed to attain the class objectives but perhaps I got a bit closer.

This is how it turned out after much sweat, blood and tears. I even had a full blown tantrum along the way, when I gessoed over the whole thing and then SCRUBBED it all off in the sink. Yes, you've heard that right! One thing for using good quality watercolour paper is that it withstands a lot of abuse. The paper even pilled a bit, but I was able to save it with a bit of gesso on top. 

This is where I brought the piece back from. I really thought it was a gonner! How is that for art resuscitation, LOL!

I'll leave this lesson for now and move on. I did the best I could. Apart from my little tantrum, I actually quite enjoyed working on this and despite the fact that it's not quite what I wanted to achieve, I still like it and will proudly include it in my LifeBook.