INTRODUCING the beautiful and ever amazing Lori! We became engaged in February of this year. We actually met 20 years ago in college. I was a senior and she was a sophomore. She was dating someone at the time and I never had a chance to do my own asking until finally the day came that they broke it off. That didn’t give me much time (2 1/2 months to be exact). But I took advantage as much as I could. We never really “dated” but we became close and made an incredible impact on each other’s lives. I graduated and she transferred to another college. We grew apart and eventually lost touch. Fast forward to Facebook and 2010. We reconnected but this time she was married with children. I was still single and looking. My hopes/dreams of being with her ultimately and completely over (yes, I held hope that she might still be single as long as I had been!). I kept in very limited touch through Facebook since she was married. I would wish her a happy birthday every year and that’s about it. Her birthday is exactly one week after mine so it was hard to forget.

Due to unforeseen events, Lori became single. At the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016 she wrote me a sweet letter ushering in the new year. I responded and we rekindled our friendship through the phone and small meetings. It became apparent to me that my dream of being with her was still very much alive. I asked her to be my bride on February 17, 2017!

I wanted my final portraiture to be of her. This is based off of a picture of her in a flower garden. The sun was facing her left eye so the shadows are concentrated on the right side of her face (the left to the viewer). The picture doesn’t do her justice but it’s a close likeness. I used varying degrees of graphite pencils. I always start with the H pencil, the lightest and work darker as necessary. Sometimes I feel that this actually hinders the final product as I can see her face looks pretty light compared to the rest of the composition. The background was a hard undertaking. It’s apparent I need more time with it. The tones are off in a lot of ways so the flowers aren’t readily visible. I am still very much proud of it. The shadows and highlights on the shirt are well done. I used a very dark pencil first for the shadows and then used a kneaded eraser on the ridges to make them more 3-dimensional. Hair is always tricky and I knew it was going to be an extremely hard undertaking. It actually wasn’t as hard as I thought. You just have to come to the conclusion that it’s not going to be photo perfect and come up with your own system, rhythm, and texture pattern. Quick strokes. Use eraser for highlights (or leave it blank on the page). There are tools which I know other artists have for such an undertaking. After drawing my small head of hair to this, I think it’s a major accomplishment.

Coupled with the fact that this was my final drawing assignment and also this was the love of my life, I wanted to get this one right. All the while I was working on it I was nervous about how Lori took it. I did send her an early version and she was extremely helpful in encouraging me to fix some things that needed it badly. So, I’m glad she saw it before I finished! This is truly a keepsake I’ll cherish forever (both the drawing and the woman).