Bio of a Woodburning--Marilyn, Final Session

As I wrapped up Marilyn, dawn from my workspace window looked like this...and sounded like the Dead playing a '69 Dark Star. They followed a night-long parade of bluesfolk with names like Bessie Smith, Big Joe Williams, and Robert Nighthawk, straight through my wee hours. For a hopeless musichound like myself, having a stack of discs on hand is essential. If I'm working, music's playing, and that's just the way it is.

I have found, when attempting portraiture, when staring at that big blank nothing, it's best to take a breath, bite your lip, and dive in. And pray.

I often start with a subject's hair. While I will leave the finer points (errant strands falling on a cheek, for example) for later, I find this helps frame and define the work area of the face itself. When doing hair, it's helpful to remember that portraying hair is never done with solid, repetitive strands. When looking at how hair is lies on a model's head, we can see distinct "quadrants." These are how we segment, then construct the illusion of human hair.

As with the skirt a couple days ago, the pencil lines here will be erased as work progresses toward them. Were Marilyn a brunette, I'd had no worries as I'd simply burn the lines under. Since Marilyn's hair is so light, these lines would show unacceptably through. We've come too far to allow that to happen.

You will also notice, riding close to one of the marked boundaries a dark spot. this is actually a blemish in the wood surface. Another mark appears striping the upper left arm. With the former, I was able to "vanish" this mark into Marilyn's hairdo. The stripe on her arm, however, must be allowed to remain. Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.

As I lay in the hair and frame Marilyn's face, I find it necessary to work this area upside down. This is a fairly large piece, with a total surface space of 5 square feet. In order to get and maintain my hand and wrist in the necessary position, I am forever moving the piece around to suit the purpose.












I found there was no hiding after the hair was laid in. Time to tackle the fleshtones of the face...

And there comes a moment after long, often tedious hours have been invested, that it occurs to you that you've finished your piece. Your eye keeps searching the surface for that one last detail you've left undone.











You step back. You breathe.