Black on Grey on White

"Grégoire" Pencil on Paper. 18x24 cm Sold Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2010. All rights reserved. Two weeks ago I was in Brussels delivering these golden curls and receiving a mother's seal of approval. Child portraits are something so delicate and mesmerizing to create. I was on tender hooks throughout the entire portrait. Drawing the soft pure and innocent features of a child requires accuracy and very high concentration. Well, I felt that's what I wanted to give this gorgeous wee chap. Gregoire (French for Gregory )has just turned two. He's a wee boy with bundles of energy and sunshine smiles. Being the youngest of three boys he is not into being left behind... Emphisizing his sunny nature and energy were crucial to the success of this portrait. Through this pose, a summer feeling of energy and fun was created and his surfer curls subtly emphasised. Having him look away from the viewer adds a certain sense of movement and his eagerness to "get on". I was r...

"Complicity" Graphite on Paper. 2009 Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved There is great rejoicing and lots of strange woops: Complicity and Hurricane have been strutting their stuff at the American Art Awards and have come home with rosettes. "Complicity" won the dry media category (pencil, charcoal and ink) and came in second in Human Realism. Yeah! "Hurricane" Graphite on Paper. 2010 Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved "Hurricane" came in a cool second in Animal realism. Cooool! The icing on the cake: Quality Time won last year! "Quality Time" Graphite on Paper. 2008 Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved Once again, one year on , I'm still so very chuffed, honoured as well as being over the moon at seeing graphite making a stand. Pencils just rock !!! Happy dances and cheery waves from the walls of my new studio in Bonn...

"Complicity" Graphite on paper, 37x26 cm copyright Sheona Hamilton-Grant Please forgive me should this sound off key: not the world's best trumpeter... Two of my three entries have been accepted to this year's Art Show at the Dog Show . It's tremendous news which has brought one beaming smile to a winter trodden morale. "Tall Grace" Graphite on paper, 39x22 cm copyright Sheona Hamilton-Grant Complicity and Tall Grace will be packing their bags (or rather packed into a crate) and flying off to the other side of the water, to Kansas. Yipee!

"Complicity" Graphite on Paper, 27x38 cm Sheona Hamilton-Grant, 2009 All rights reserved. Finally, hours, days and weeks of drawing have delivered "Complicity". Motherhood took over, the pencils did the scribbling and I was somewhere in the middle breathing. Savouring every moment...:) Sadly, I had to interrupt the WIP because of the size.(Scanning became very tricky and not the safest...) I stuck to my rules of using 2B, F and 4H and kept working from left to right . Leonardo da Vinci (who many of you know helped with the drapery of the fabric ) left the studio last week after completion of the jacket. This meant the Foo Fighters were on the scene again (hi, hi,hi), their rock contrasting wildly with the detailed rendered in the dog's coat. Their musical world spurring me on no end. Before ending this post, I would like to send big handful of thank- yous to all of you for the support and the comments over the last few weeks. (They mean so much), acco...

Pencils scribbling away, Leonardo present and happy having me find inspiration from his 450 year old study; I tried desperately to introduce him to The Foo Fighters ( one of my fave keep-me -focused-on-detail- rock groups). He was not impressed... I guess it was the generation gap. I searched my music library and he agreed to... Morcheeba. The man has good taste. So with Morcheeba subtlely playing in the background and Leonardo's drapery study in the foreground, good progress was made to my intricate piece. Enough to say : " ready for the week-end and an overdose of quality family time ". Back on Monday with more musical and artistic up-dates. Wishing you all a spiffingly excellent week-end.

Progress is being made, slowly, intricately... this weeks luxury of not working to a dead line. I love drapery. This concept was added to the texture of the jacket. I had help. Referred to the best for inspiration : Leonardo da Vinc i. His draperies, especially the studies are so strong. He achieves a perfect balance between soft and hard lines; between delicate and thick highlights. This harmony creates beautiful textured material. Da Vinci effortlessly draws a wide range of shapes and folds, perfectly placing shadows and contrasts, which in turn gives the hangs of the folds their own movement, their own individual size, twists and turns. Study of a drapery of a woman kneeling to the left Leonardo da Vinci Silver point on red surface heightened with white chalk Corsini Gallery, Rome. Source: Artlex Leonardo da Vinci, Drawing of drapery late 15-early 16th century source Wikimedia commons Learning by doing is the name of the game at this end. I'm loving it! Eagerly awaiting tomorro...

Here is the "state of affairs" before the beginning of the WE. Pencils have been eagerly scribbling and co-operating. Some progress has been made to the hair, the head and the jacket. Drawing hidden eyes and expression is a little tricky. Not quite there yet. Will need a few more hours and once that is looking good I'll put a jacket on. Will post a new update on Monday (or Tuesday). Until then, wishing you all a "spiffingly" excellent week-end and a terrific Mother's Day.

I have not been sitting pretty (I wish!) but scribbling away with my partners in crime. Above the result. This is a big drawing. Paper: A2 sheet of Mellotex paper. Concept: interpreting the special bond that can develop between children and man's best friend. A special kind of happiness. Rules: only three pencils: 2B, F and 4H. References: self made photos taken last year at an agricultural fair in Scotland. Models: my youngest and a big anonymous hound. This is a very interesting drawing to work on: it is the first time I combine motherhood and my love for dogs. One thing for absolute certain: I'm going to savour every moment.

"Lilly" 26x22.5 cm, graphite on paper Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2009. Finished. This portrait has been a long time in the making. Many external influence kept dragging me away from the drawing board and because it took my wee brain way too long to figure out how to render all the intricacies and in's and out's of the tartan without going O.T.T. After much deliberation I opted for a looser effect. Her wee face is in the spotlight (and very detailed) by over working the tartan the piece would have become too rigid. I'm really chuffed by all the lessons learned and the result. The icing on the cake: the client is over the moon and cannot wait to have her hanging on their wall. Before saying cheerio for my Easter break I would like to extent a big cheery wave to ALL my followers. Sadly time has not allowed me to personally welcome you all, but please believe I am so excited to have you all follow my wee tribulations as an artist. Will be back in 10 days. Very best Easter...

More work has been done on Lilly's portrait. The internet connection was close to non-existent yesterday allowing for more drawing and unfortunately no blogging. Todays steps show how the hand, the dress and the baby's head have taken shape. Step 4 There is more detail coming into the dress. A 6B was used, lightly mapping out a route for the folds in the dress, the tartan squares and the shape of the mother's neck. I have not quite worked out how to render the tartan and to be honest if I wasn't a Scot I would be cursing this gorgeous material to "kingdom come"... The hand was drawn using light 2B shading which I then blended with... toilet paper. A top layer in F was added. Step 5 Here progress is made in both defining and refining the shape of her head, the expression of her mouth and the lay of her baby hair. Before doing this a darkening layer was added to the background jacket. I felt the dark value was too weak and could use a bit more oomph! I work...

Some of you may of been wondering if this was slowly turning into an amateur photographers picture blog. NO. Back on track. Pencils have been sharpened and performing. Here to prove this statement is the start to Lilly's portrait. Lilly is still only a baby. Through this portrait I would like to capture the tentative yet totally engaging smiles wee babies have and highlight the gentle protectiveness of a dotting mother. Technical information: Paper: Mellotex (Mellotex paper allows for great detail and smoothness. Perfect for a small baby's features.) Pencils: 6B, 2B, F & 2H Extra tools: BluTack & Staedler pencil sharpener. Layout, composition and size was worked out through a basic sketch and sent to my client for approval. The green light given serious rendering commenced. Step 1 Eyes and shape of face. Values are still being established as the darkest one is in the background. I was happy with the overall result here and decided that the " perfecting layer"...

"Grandad's Story" graphite on paper, 33x25cm This is how my pencils render love. Thank you for patience ( a whole three weeks of patience) have a lovely week-end.

Flowing smoothly (and slowly) to the last stages of "Grandads' Story". The above steps show how the ear, neck and shirt developed over a period of two sittings (roughly 5 hours) I've added the hat in a penciled-in version. Once I have brought the two subjects together (by balancing and harmonising the values and textures) the hat will get its own final tweak. The last image gives you a wee view of the connection between the two figures (as well as the hat). The shadowing is still wrong so I'm off up to the studio to get that sorted... Back soon. p.s: please ask any questions you may have: answers will be forthcoming and not too long winded!

Gone with the flow and more progress has been made. Yeah again! The shadowing and light is proving quite a challenge. I'm tackling it with determination and layers of 2B and F. See what tomorrow brings - hopefully loads of progress I'm really dying to see the finished piece and tweak away to my hearts content...

Yeah! A little progress  has been  made on "Grandads' Story"... Amelie is nearly finished -the tweaking and final detail layer will be done after I've drawn the second subject. The dress has been mapped out and still needs a whole load of attention. I've decided to keep the pattern as it adds to the portrait (summer feeling and "colours"). There will be more posted tomorrow..the flow has picked up again and always a good thing to go with! Apologies for the scan quality...sadly it  looks as though my good old faithful scanner is just that: old and tired... Quality control will pick up: promise!

Here is the reason for my couple of days of silence. I spent a few hours last week at the drawing board with Amelie, working on rendering her expression, her baby skin, her fine hair and flowery cotton dress. Progress is good but slow...I am absolutely loving this to bits and not rushing or cutting any corners. After the more dramatic and speedier technic used for the soluble graphite- comparable to speeding down the German motorway: thrilling, stimulating as well as a little edgy. This piece can be very easily compared to a leisurely stroll down a quiet country lane where one just has to take the time to smell the (wild)roses and watch the butterflies flutter by. Mellotex paper and 2B, F & 6B pencils are the tools I've chosen and this simply because you cannot in anyway rush this paper and it allows for soooooo much detail. A few more strolls down the country lane are needed (and will be taken) to complete " Grandad's Story" . I will be posting more ste...

Here is Past to Present . There will always be a gap between generations.  This is normal and healthy. Past & present shows how much trust, respect, confidence, understanding and strength can be achieved by bridging generations.  I loved drawing this piece. Many reasons spring to mind (new territory, new subject, new challenge, new approach...) However, the main reason has to be (symbolism aside) rendering three totally different textures: hair, cotton and skin. I used a 2B, 5B (for the dark jeans) and F (for skin).  The T-shirt I will admit was rendered by blending 2B which I then layered with F to get the smoothed crushed feeling. The paper used was Mellotex a very thick smooth white paper. I'm glad I found the TLC this piece needed last week.  Now: it's back to gorgeous 4 legged subjects. Cheers for now 

The dust had settled  just a little up in the studio but nothing too thick that one wee puff of breath couldn't dislodge...  Here's what I found: A new study... still very much in progress.  I like it because it's heading in such a new direction (2 legged subject as opposed to 4!) and also because, as we all know, hands are the ultimate challenge. With a little bit of luck and professional time management,  I 'll be able to get a few more sessions in before the week is out... and give it some much needed TLC!

It all started I guess with the weather: snow on the daffodils did just not look right.   Spent the Easter week-end in Germany only to come home to find that one of our two cats was killed (in our drive way) by a drunk driver. He drove off the road...! Polite words fail me...  Gentle Tom (alias GT) was just that: gentle, kind and super affectionate.  He was my muse for this drawing.   Here he is in all is cuteness. When words are too frail and a little meaningless nothing speaks louder than what the eye can see.