Created in 2021

"This portrait of this little girl is an opportunity to capture her charm by not presenting it in a traditional way. The way the shadow from her hat masks her eyes a bit creates some mystery. It is almost like the viewer has interrupted her. The process is complex. From starting with a line drawing then I use a frisket paper to mask the line work. From there I apply black ink by brush. This not only gives a dark base, but also serves to seal the paper so the leaf sizing will work properly. The sizing for the silver leaf is also applied by brush. The silver leaf comes in sheets, so those are applied by hand and set in place, almost like tiles. The excess is rubbed away and the frisket removed leaving my original line drawing to start applying color. I've discovered away to blend the color pencils that I use. By doing this I can set shadows and protect highlights. The same goes for how I apply the colors for the blanket she is wrapped in. After this process I go back with a graphite pencil and resolve and build the contrast levels to achieve a tangible presence. The whole process took around 130 hours over three weeks of working continually."