Ruby's Portrait

For my very first post I thought I would show you a photocopy of a portrait I did of little Ruby. This was for her first birthday, and something special I thought she could keep for always. It should definitely stand the test of time because Tony has very carefully framed it using all the right kind of materials - anti acidic matt board and UV glass and it looks stunning against a black matt and surround by a black frame with just a hint of a pattern on it. The pattern on the frame echoes the Celtic inspired design in the corner.

This picture shows you the work 'in progress'. I got into Pointillism a number of years ago, and it really suits my temperament. It's a painstaking process and it takes many, many hours to complete a portrait like this. But all that effort is rewarded with fantastic reproduction of details. I am particularly happy with the eyes in this portrait – they contain such innocence and it makes me smile inside when I look at it.

If you look at the Celtic inspired design in the top right hand corner, you will notice that I've experimented with a number of ways of creating it. I tried solid black; outlining in black; filling in the negative space; but eventually decided on filling in with straight forward Pointillism for the final design.

I think blogging is going to be a great way for me to keep a record of my future works, because I mostly give them away as presents and only get to see the work when I visit that person. With family scattered across the world I don't get to visit some of my work very often!

You may be wondering - what is the significance of the Red Back Spider? Because Ruby is the product of an Australian father and a Welsh mother I wanted to include these two important aspects of Ruby's heritage in the final work. I also wanted to experiment with the work by adding a minute amount of red to illustrate Ruby's name. My daughter, Nicola came up with the idea for the spider, which is an Australian Red Back – how appropriate! Thanks Nic!