I drew a portrait of Sinead and Stephen holding their baby girl Roisin back in January this year. This was my first commission of 2025. It was commissioned by a client I worked with a few times before. He is from Cork in south Ireland and commissioned a portrait of Sinead and Stephen on their engagement day. He now asked me to draw a portrait of the happy couple again, this time with their brand new baby girl Roisin.
It was such a pleasure to work with Nollaig again. He emailed me one photo of the couple and their baby. It was taken in their sitting room with some interior background. I suggested to remove the window and the wall to simplify the image and to focus solely on the happy young family.
Nollaig was very happy with the drawing when he received a scanned image of it from me for approval. He also emailed me after he gifted the couple with their new drawing:
Hi Ivana.
I am absolutely delighted with it …your work is amazing thank you……I am sure it will be a very positive response…Hi Ivana.
Nollaig about the finished drawing of Sinead, Stephen and baby Roisin, Cork, Ireland, January 2025
Sinead and Stephan were thrilled with the beautiful portrait, really pleased and excited to have it framed and hanging next to the first one…..
The drawing is 25 x 25 cm in size. I used graphite and charcoal pencil on hot pressed Fabriano 5 paper. This is my favourite paper to use for portraits, especially when I am working in a lot of detail, as it can take a good bit of abuse. This means I can work in many layers of pencil. I never use an erasor to preserve the surface texture of the paper and the sharp lines of the pencil.
I started with a line sketch to capture the likeness. I like to step away once this is created and upon my return re-evaluate the drawing before moving onto shading and adding final details to the portrait.
Before I posted the drawing, I inserted it into a neutral coloured mount. The mount is almost white and works very well with the subtle white of the paper. It keeps the drawing safe while being posted and can be inserted into a ready made frame as is. I spray the paper surface with an artist fixative to protect it from dust and to settle the pencil. Graphite itself is a mineral and will not fade in time which gives it a great longevity.
Nollaig commissioned another pencil drawing from me last month. This one is of Teddy, a baby boy, sitting on a bed with his grandfather. This drawing is a present for Teddy’s birthday. I posted the drawing only a few weeks ago and Teddy’s parents are very happy with it, I only heard today. I will be posting it here on the blog very soon, so keep an eye out for updates…