Paul

Ooh well captured Brian!

Thanks a lot, Carole. Really pleased you thought so. Thanks for telling me. Brian

Looks good to me, you definitely have the Paul Newman twinkle in those eyes, great 😀

Thanks a lot, Linda. Those eyes were haunting, penetrating and unusually intelligent. He had that knack of making you wonder about his thoughts. Much appreciated comments. Brian

A fine drawing Brian

Such a good likeness with that slightly smug, surliness, surfacing. I would imagine charcoal a difficult medium to achieve such accurate results.

Just noticed your portrait of Marilyn, which I think is fantastic. The pose, the eyes, all of it, just great Brian.

Fine drawing and a fine likeness, and in charcoal too...a lovely medium that I can't avoid making a mess with.

Thank you very much, Russell, Carole and Lewis for the splendid comments. very much appreciated, as always. Always good to get a nod from a master such as yourself, Russell. You're right, Carole, because charcoal IS a tricky medium to get the hang of, but it comes in all sorts of sizes and conditions. I use compressed charcoal (hard, medium or soft) for the details, after I've brought the tip to a fine point with an art knife. For the main blocks I use vine with a lot of help from my fingers, depending on the subject matter. Some of the dark cheaper stuff is good for background work, I find. I also use pastel with charcoal but not in this case (might have used some pastel for the highlights). With Marilyn's portrait I made use of white pastel, charcoal and white gel, but mainly charcoal. Delighted you liked Marilyn and especially pleased that you let me know. Ha! Lewis, you and me both. I am filthy after most of my efforts, but after charcoal you'd think I'd spent a shift at the coalface. *smile* Brian

It does look like him Brian, I recognised his handsome face straight away! Very well done!

Thank you very much, Margaret, for the encouraging comments. Pleased there was a resemblance. Now, I MUST try Madam Taylor again. Hmmm. Brian