Practicing portraits

As promised I put down the paintbrush for the night and picked up the pencils to get some pencil practice in ready for the possible portrait commission that is in the pipeline - wow that is a lot of p's to get your tongue around - good job I'm typing this and not saying it!!  Anyway I'd promised (another p!) my dad I would have a go at his idol Bob Dylan some time so that's who I decided to have a go at - I grew up with the music of Bob Dylan - my dad used to sing Sara to me with his guitar - one of my favourite Dylan songs as well as many others - Tangled up in Blue, Shelter from the Storm, Lay Lady Lay - I could go on........Dylan is an artist as well and his artwork sells for thousands - though my dad much prefers his music and lyrics to his artwork - and says his artwork is a load of rubbish - a bit harsh I said - my dad prefers photo realistic art - so he's not overly impressed with my paintings either- although he likes my drawings - so hopefully he will like this - he hasn't seen it yet but I know he will tell me straight whether he likes it or not and whether he thinks it's a good likeness - yikes - besides ourselves I think family are our worst (or best) critics don't you think - as in they will tell you straight what they think!  This is not a perfect likeness by far but  hopefully you can tell it's a young Bob Dylan - looking at it now I've posted it I can see things wrong and will probably have to go back and tweak it some more

This second pencil portrait is from a photo by Li Newton on Paint my Photo - she has photographed many of the locals on San Salvador island and this is one of them  - Lloyd - Li says some people call him the strongest man on the island.  I really liked his face and gentle eyes.

Lloyd from a photo by Li Newton
by Sharon Whitley the rambling artist

As always I look forward to hearing your comments....