‘Bond’ – The Emotion Behind The Drawing

This piece called ‘Bond’ has a special meaning to me.

When creating a portrait I always aim to capture the emotion and energy of the sitter. If there are more than one person in the composition, it’s key to capture the bond between the two.

This piece is of my baby and my husband, from a photo taken two weeks before we left our beautiful home in Manila. We left for the UK ….and essentially life as we knew it changed from that moment!

I drew this portrait called ‘Bond’ amid my compositions in lockdown in order to give me pleasure (a prime example us artists make what we do!) and also to capture the emotion that we all felt during that precious time in early March.

Technically as well, I am fascinated by all things water; and water droplets on skin was something I wanted to tackle. This composition is ALL about water on skin, as well as the different skin complexion you often get when you’re doused in hot water (while all the capillaries make your blood rush to the surface, the coating of water gives a translucent sheen and refracts light making it seem lighter).

Lastly, compositions of double portraits is something technical I wanted to practice. Getting two independent breathing subject matters on one page is harder than a single person portrait because you have to think of the people looking natural together in the same composition.

For more info how to draw faces and portraits check out www.artistsonwalls.org