Redrawing a portrait sketch

This is an example of something that I think I’ll be doing more often…a redrawing from a failed piece.

The story, briefly told, is that I had a good start and a dismal failure on a drawing from the model,  done in a drawing group I attend. When I stepped well back from the drawing, a three hour pose, I realized that there were some mighty awful passages that I’d allowed to get by. In the interest of moving quickly and with overconfidence in my skills,  I’d ignored some of the most basic fundamentals by working almost horizontally, working sitting, not stepping back frequently, ending up with distortions, picky handling, and a piecemeal drawing.  It was awful, and I was surprised…I’d  thought that I had something much better.

You won’t see  a post of that drawing here.  It was abysmal, and I need to help make the world a better place but not showing bad things.

Humbled but not wishing to give up entirely, I decided that the solution was to make a redrawing, using the bad piece as a model and setting up the new piece alongside it, literally on the same drawing board, and then sort of sight-sizing a new version in my studio, away from the model. After  all,  I liked the look of the subject, and the image of her posing was fresh enough in my mind that, in a couple hours, I managed the piece you see here, which is one that I can live with.   Truth be told, I already have an appropriate handmade frame for this portrait, one  which is crying for a red chalk drawing, and part of the motivation for this was to have a new portrait sketch to show.   Through it all, I guess it’s healthy to pick up from a little disaster and make something out of it that’s better.

I have yet another portrait drawing, one that I’m already happy with, which received some water damage, and I may do the same redrawing process with it.