My gallery of pencil portraits
My mother I created these pencil portraits starting from a photo of the person I wanted to portray. I drew the principal lines on the sheet of paper and then I added chiaroscuro, that is light and shade effects. I drew with a large range of tones, from 2H to 9B of my Derwent pencils, I used 9B, the softest and darkest pencil, for the background of "Celeste". Graphite portraits need a lot of attention because if you draw a slightly darker tone near the mouth you change the expression of the person. So in general the portrait is by far the most difficult subject. Above the face of "Alberto" you can see three symbols, the world, the sun and the stars, three of the most beautiful tarot cards, this mysterious pack of cards have always fascinated me and at a period of my life I began studying those symbols and learned how to use them to understand the deep causes that rule the behaviour in the human being. Among these pencil drawings the woman with her hand near the chin is my mother in her youth. Drawing portraits is a magic activity that leads me to feel the person I am portraying and get very close to her. Creativity, that is imagination that creates, is the most important attribute of conscience, everyday and every moment we create our reality, fate to a certain extent, we do all the rest. We are all creators, maybe art is an instrument to remind us this.
Alberto
Celeste
Andrea (pencil on paper)
Mouth (graphite and white pastel on coloured Canson paper)
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