Neil Young

Dear oh dear.  After the successes of Duane and Big Sam, I felt confident enough to have a go at this style of drawing on watercolour paper and everything went to pot.  My first effort was a portrait of Neil Young. While I managed to get a good scowl on the face and the right shaped torso, I had problems with his right hand, as you can see from the restatements.  This one looks better cropped down to a square, losing the bottom.

I then had a go at painting.  Most of the colour here is cerulean blue, Winsor red and either raw sienna or yellow ochre (I think I used both) although there's also some ivory black in the hair and background where  I was struggling to get a dark enough colour and, with the rain about to come down, rushing things a bit.  I wanted to have a hidden edge between Neil's hair and the background and only partially succeeded.  The salty patterns in the background were a last desperate attempt to get something from the painting but they don't really add much.

The best bits about this one are the shadows on the T-shirt and the scowl on the face but they're not enough to save this one.  It's too monotone and too cartoony.  A bit Felix Schweinbergery but nowhere near as good as his work.  Don't expect to see this one going up for sale.