Introducing Lily, the beautiful subject of my most recent commissioned portrait. Lily was just 21 years old when she left China to start her new life here in the UK, and had a photograph taken shortly before departure. That photo inspired this portrait some years later, a poignant reminder of a milestone in her previous life as she embarks on a new chapter in her life now.
This portrait was drawn with coloured pencil on Stonehenge Kraft paper. It is a style I call mid-tone, which offers a softness that monochrome on white paper cannot. With this approach I focus my drawing on the shadows and darkest values and on the brightest of highlights. It can be created with different coloured papers and pencils, and here with Lily the classic black and white pencils were employed.
