Thursday 19 September 2013

29 FACES DAY 19


'The Circles of My Mind'
Unfinished - halfway stage
Acrylic and Ink - Jez
The idea for this painting for 29 FACES popped into my mind a week or two ago, and it took me days of drawing the circles freehand, just a small section or two at a time to reach this stage.  It's very concentrated.  Dev didn't believe I had drawn them freehand and I had to draw several for him just to prove that I had.  Not all of them are perfect circles, but they are near enough for me, and it's certainly another different approach.


This is where I started, with a line drawing of a female face.  I used a range of sepia colours for the background, leaving the central section a slightly lighter colour, and then drew the face again on the acrylic background.  I had circles on my mind, and I started drawing circles of various sizes over the face, using one of my black Pitt Artist's pens, my favourite pens.


When I had finished the face I felt I had kept too many of the circles small, so I felt I should use more large circles for the hair.  In fact when it was finished, the density of the small circles made the face stand out from the mass of circles.

When I had completed the face and hair I thought 'Oh no, there's all that area of neck and shoulders to complete with more circles!'  Once I settled down though I enjoyed it, there is a meditative quality to drawing circle after circle to fill a blank space - but it has to be done a bit at a time, it's so concentrated.


My intention is to paint a lot of the circles in shades from cream to brown, leaving some the colour of the background to show through.  The colours for the hair will be darker than those of the face.  I can see now that this is going to take a lot of time and care, and I feel it unlikely that I will finish it in the 9 days that are left in the challenge.  That's why I'm posting the unfinished version.

When I do eventually complete it I shall post it on my blog.

I hope you are all enjoying Martha's 29 Faces challenge as much as I am, both in creating my own faces and seeing all the wonderful work that everyone else is creating.

11 comments:

  1. This is very interesting. I love looking at it. It really brings a surreal landscape quality to this face. Very cool!

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  2. Oh wow! This is seriously cool! I've seen lots of faces dotted and lined but never one with circles. It's a really neat technique. I'll have to give this a whirl one day.

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  3. This is fantastic. I have been making a circle background for a challenge next week, and it is driving me mad, I think I will never be finished. Your circles are much neater! Valerie

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  4. Wow! You have had a big job. Very interesting and great idea! She is so beautiful.
    So fantastic circles!

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  5. I love designing with circles. Beautiful and your circles are so perfect.

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  6. Wow, wow, wow Jez. She looks amazing already but I love the idea of the neutral tones you are going to colour her. I can't wait to see her finished.

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  7. it was fun to read your post and hear about your relationship with these circles. I think it would be meditative for me as well. I think it is a wonderful piece.

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  8. I am enjoying and am impressed with all of your faces, but love this idea - it will look great in shaded colours as you plan.

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  9. This is beautiful Jez! And those circles are drawn with such care and patience! I think you are right that they would look amazing coloured in in shades of brown and cream. It looks already as if she is in dappled light.

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  10. Wow Jez I love how this face pops...so much depth with these circles! Very nice job... a very fun one and I think all the circles are distributed just perfectly...it is really eye appealing too!!

    Hugs Giggles

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