[Valerie Gudorf]

Hi,

This is my first attempt at a pencil portrait. It is graphite and colored pencil on Strathmore Artagin paper, light gray with a slight pebble surface. I worked from a photograph which I took. It was a bit of a challenge because the photo was not very good. I lived to regret the use of a paper that was other than white, because I believe it compressed the values more than I would have liked. The boat is rendered in prismacolor pencils. This is a photo of a giclee print. I was not very happy with the way the red sail boat reproduced. There is no temperature variation on the boat in the prints as in the original (which hangs in a dentist office in Baltimore). Live and learn.

Lon, I agree that a photorealistic style has to be 100% accurate, and alas, I don't think I quite made it there.