Ivy

I drew this portrait of Ivy a while back and have entered it in a few shows. Ivy's mom just purchased the drawing and so she is now home. Appropriate. The medium I used was sanguine and white conté. I started using conté back at art school during my life drawing class. I think it gives a drawing a nice old world feeling. When I first met Ivy, she looked to me like she was from a past era with her gorgeous curly hair and her beautiful ivory complexion, so it made total sense to me to use this medium. It was one of those drawings that I envisioned what I wanted it to look like before I even put down the first mark on paper. Great advice from William Merritt Chase-"Try to see your picture...drawn and painted, always anticipating a success and never a failure. You should always see your motive painted before you attempt it, and choose as simple a subject as possible."