I have always felt an affinity with the older generations, and for me nothing says a life well lived like wrinkles which document the years of emotions and expressions on our faces.
This portrait has been quietly developed in the background over the last couple of years, being my go to project between commissions and when I have been demonstrating my drawing style at various events. There were times when I wondered if I had taken on too big a challenge, but patience is a virtue and very gradually she has come together and is finally ready to be shared with the world.
Drawn on cotton paper with just four pencils – a B, 2B, 3B and 4B and using an eraser to make changes as I went, it is a complex study created with the simplest of tools.
The inspiration for A Lifetime of Laughter came from a photograph by the incredible Rehahn Photography to whom I am very grateful for the use of his image.
