portrait | THE FORESTER ARTIST

pen and ink, drawing, portrait, Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe in pen and ink.

I’ve been practicing pen and ink portraits lately. I find them uniquely challenging. Some I’ll post and some I won’t, but this one of Marilyn Monroe I decide to post. I’m fairly happy with it, but I didn’t nail it. I didn’t quite capture her essence the way I wanted. I liked the photo reference for the high contrast, which is conducive to pen and ink. Subtle shading is trickier than with pencil or paint. I have a tendency to overwork the piece. It’s been a pretty steep learning curve. Comments and critiques are appreciated.

I realize this isn’t as wildlifey or woodsy as what I normally do, but it’s good to mix things up. Besides, there’s people in the woods too. Although, I’ve never run into Marilyn in the woods, but that would make a heck of a blog post!

Marine Sgt Lloyd Livingston in pen and ink. I used a portrait taken of my dad during WWII.

Today is my dad’s birthday, unfortunately, we lost him several years ago. It seemed like a good time to post his portrait. He served as a Marine in the Pacific during WWII, something I’m very proud of. Happy birthday dad.

I’ve been working on my pen and ink portraits and I have found them to be particularly challenging. They are much more difficult than a squirrel or pine cone. After doing a number of fails, I finally completed one that I thought was suitable for posting. No Forestry Friday post today, but it will be back next week.