Pryrography Portrait - The Grandfather we never met Part 3.

 And on to part 3. The shading of the coats were very time consuming, requiring more time and patience than I first thought. But again, as they began to take shape, it was worth it.

 Seeing the 3-D form start coming forward was fun, too, as each section moved along.

 After the hats were done, the faces popped off the page much more, and I could see where I wanted to touch up areas and darken different elements. I tried to remind myself to go darker than I thought I should, as this is a common concern for new wood burners, they can tend to do a great job, but not go dark enough to gain the definition of the piece.

And here they are, done and ready to go to their new homes! Each one was unique to itself, even though I worked on them together for most of the stages. I think that's one of the fun aspects of it - the individual uniqueness. This was a fun project and a great learning curve.  Thanks for taking a peak, and now I'll have to get busy on a new pyrography portrait, so I have something new to post...

Happy end of summer, beginning of fall =)

Pyrography Portrait - The Grandfather we never met - Part 2.

 After basic shading was established for the faces, I began the ears and hair and the shading around the neck.  As I worked, I continued to go back and work here and there on the faces, as I saw the need.

 Bringing all three to the same stage was kind of a fun way to move along.  I worked individually on each one, using the shade guide photo as my reference, and trying to keep the dark tones somewhat relevant between the three images. I think the differences between them, though, just adds to the reality that each one is hand done, and that no two images will ever be alike, even when it's the same artist working from the same initial photograph. Each piece was truly unique unto itself.

I have a heap to learn still, but I'm enjoyng the process! I think that's half the fun =)

Once I felt I could move from the basics of the the faces, I moved to the suit jacket. I chose to do my own interpretation for the shading as the original photograph did not give much distinction for the different elements and sections of the jacket. Again, the work was slow, but I was happy with the results as I went along.

Time sure does fly when doing work like this =)

We're in the last two weeks of August now, can you believe it? Hope you are enjoying your summer, we sure are =)

Pyrography Portrait - The Grandfather we never met. Part 1

 My husband's grandfather served in the Royal Canadian Air Force on Canadian Air Force Bases during the Second World War. He trained officers in some of the radio controls aspects of flight.  Many came from all across the common wealth nations to Canada to train before going overseas to fight. In his enlistment photo shown here, he is 18 years old.

He passed away when my mother-in-law was in her teen years. She has two sisters and each of them has vastly different memories of their father.  This past year, she and her two sisters wrote out their indivitual stories of thier childhood with thier dad, who suffered with schizophrenia..

This summer, they got together to finalize the writing of the different portions of the project.  My mother-in-law asked me if I'd like to do three wood burned portraits of her dad, and I was thrilled to give it a go. I had been wanting to continue learning the art of portrait pyrography and to do three of the same image was a great challenge.

So as they prepared their pieces, I prepared these portraits as a gift from my mother-in-law to her sisters.    "Dillusions of Daddy" is a very intreguing and unique project as my mother-in-law speaks of how she and her family dealt with the harsh realities of life with a father that had schizophrenia back in the 1950's. If you love a thought provoking read, and a head on look at some of life's heart-felt realities, click this link to learn more, or go righ to Amazon.ca to purchase the book.

 The initial sketch, of course, came from the photograph itself.  Only a basic sketch was needed for the basic elements to be represented.  Each starting sketch was a hint different from the others, and I knew early on that this was going to be an interesting project as each portrait began to take shape.

After that, came the actual wood burning. I took my time, working each portrait to a similar state of progress and working very slowly on the shading, building up tone and depth as I went along.  Being as the photo was older, I did not have as much details as with the last project, so I simply worked with the shading provided.

I really enjoy the process and the progress at each session.  Each work period brings forward a new aspect and identity to the peice. I'll post more pictures soon to bring you part 2 of this latest wood burned portrait of "The Grandfather we never met".

Pyrography Portrait of my boys No. 4

 And here's the last posting for the pyrography portrait of my boys. Our youngest son has it framed in his room now, right above his bed =)

 Overall, I am very happy with the finished work. I still have much to learn, but for only being my second portrait, I think it turned out pretty well.

 I think my favorite part is still the contrast in thier personalities. They are so different, and so wonderful.

 Here's the comparison for you of the wood burned portrait taken from the photograph.

And here you see the very first two pyrography portraits for my new pyrography portraits blog! Hope you have enjoyed these. As I mentioned, I hope to post the finished work of my mother-in-law's father's enlistment photo. It has been finished for a while now and I hope to post it soon, if permitted.

Thanks for stopping by, and have an awesome August =)

Cheryl