Mrs. Kindron

Finally, the last of the teachers' portraits for the year. Next year I'll try not to kill myself by putting these off until May. I hate stressing about whether or not I'll be able to complete the last one.

Mrs. Ball

Here's one of my youngest's preschool teachers, Mrs. Ball.

Mrs. Gutowski

My youngest son's preschool teacher, Mrs. Gutowski.

Mr. Patterson - Final

OK, so I'm under a little pressure to complete four portraits for my children's teachers by the time school gets out. Here's the first one, Aidan's teacher, Mr. Patterson. He's got a great face for drawing - lots of character. Hopefully I did him justice. You never know how they'll react. Mrs. Gleaves remarked that I put in her wrinkles, but she still liked it. We'll see what Mr. Patterson thinks when I give it to him next month...

Miss Cynthia - Final

I finally finished my portrait of Miss Cynthia. Man, I really need to get a drawing table. I have to work on portraits during my lunch hour, so they take a really long time. The lighting at home is no good, and there's no room on my desk for portraits. Oh well, one of these days...

Mrs. Lewis - Final

I feel kind of bad, because I had to rush to finish this one. I did the hair over the last couple of days and had to finish it up tonight to give to Mrs. Lewis tomorrow. Even if she likes it, I'll see the parts that could have been done better. Ah well.

Mrs. Harrison - Final

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was challenging for several reasons: the reference photo was poor, the ends of her hair aren't very well defined, her blouse has some patterns that I had a hard time with, my son's shoulder covered her right side in the photo, and I'm kind of rushed for time. I had hoped to do two more teachers' portraits by the end of the school year, but that's in only three weeks. I'll be lucky if I can do Grant's preschool teacher in that time, not to mention the assistant teacher. I'll do what I can, as long as I don't sacrifice quality.

Helena - Final

OK, well, Helena's all finished! I had a hard time with this, because her hair is so fine. I actually stopped it for a long time because I didn't know how I was going to approach it, but gave it a try and I think it came out OK. I finished it yesterday and gave it to her parents, who loved it. Helena's mom said she was going to cry, and they both just kept staring at it, and said they were going to treasure it forever. They're currently expecting, so they asked if I realized I'd have to do her sibling, too. I said I would, as long as he/she was as cute as Helena. I'm glad they liked it.

John - Final

Here is John's finished portrait.

Mary - Final

Here's Mary's final portrait, with a week and a half to spare before Mother's Day.

Cole - Final

Here's the completed portrait of Cole. I've learned a few things doing this portrait, and I'm fairly happy with the results. I do need to work on clothing, because I think the shirt could have been better.

Aidan - Final

After a little over two months, I finally finished Aidan's portrait. It was more complex than I first realized, with all the different textures - skin, hair, hat, shirt, bird bath, snail - but I'm happy with how it came out. Now I just need to find a good reference photo for Cole's portrait!

Grant - Final

Here is Grant's finished portrait. I have to say that I'm prouder of this drawing than ever I have done before. I used tips I've picked up from the many drawing books I have, and from the great people over at ArtPapa Forums. I couldn't have done it without their support.

I learned a lot on this portrait, and already look forward to my next one. I made some mistakes on this, and hopefully I learned from them. Maybe nobody will notice them but me!