Thursday, February 26, 2009

Portraiture

This was my first chalk pastel portrait ever. It was a new medium for me so I was getting used to it on this portrait. It was so nice to get away from the computer generated images I produce daily and get dirty with chalk and paper. While I was living in Boulder, Colorado my friend Angela was brave enough to pose for me. It is rather awkward for me to ask others to pose for me for artistic purposes. For some reason, I feel like a bother to them or that I may be boring them to death. Thank you, Angela! I hope it wasn't too painful for you.
This is my second chalk pastel portrait. It is of my sweet mom, Cheryl, the most beautiful woman in the world. She'd kill me if I noted here what her age is. I hope to look this good when I am her age. I have the youngest looking parents!
The photo I used to do the portrait from was from a photo assignment I did for a portrait photography class I took with my friend Jen at Ventura College a few years back. The lighting was bounced light through a window in our kitchen. It gave great definition to her face in the photo and it worked for this portrait as well.
My computer monitor went out and had to be in the shop for a week a few months back. So I took the time to try my hand at portraiture in charcoal. This American Indian Chief caught my eye on the cover of a book.

3 comments:

Jared said...

Nick, you are amazing! I love the one of the indian. I like the charcoal stuff! Keep it up, you have serious talent!

Leah Z said...

Nick, you're mom is beautiful.

So odd to hear you say you feel bad asking people to pose for you. When I was a the Villa, I remember always wanting a Nick Serr sketch but I wasn't ever brave enough to ask.

Moose and Family said...

Nick - I love the Native American chief portrait. Absolutely stellar! And I really like Mom's portrait, too! I never knew you did one of her before. Nice to see! Great work as always.

(Your admiring brother) :)