 |
| DR134 Portrait of Chris. Charcoal on paper: 56 x 38 cm Neil Bolton Fine Art Painter |
A drawing of my friend Chris Tandy, someone I have drawn a few times and spoken with many more. For me familiarity helps greatly with drawing a person, then both the person drawing and the sitter can be relaxed in the roles of looking and of being observed. Rather than insist on Chris keeping rigidly to a pose which may be appropriate on other sittings, I carried out this drawing whilst conversing with him. During this time I watched how the face moved and built up a knowledge of his facial expressions and postures so that I could have some idea if my drawing had an element of 'truth' to the sitter about it. With this drawing I stopped at the point where I felt that something was being given back to me, it's difficult to be coherent on this subject as it is inherent in the facture as well as the illusory image. I have an experience that sometimes, perhaps after struggling with the structure of a portrait, the drawn marks suddenly coalesce and a presence starts to look back at me, the inert drawing becoming seemingly capable of communicating. This was the point at which I put down my drawing materials and thanked Chris.
