Let's face it ...

More little faces in my journal.      I like working in this size journal although it's hard to do details on such a small format 3 1/2 by 5 1/2.    I'm up to the 1600 point datewise in the self portrait book.       Here are the latest three.

 When I started this series I had not thought about how many men would be sporting beards of all sorts.    Makes me wonder what they were using to shave in those days.    I would think beards would be the rule as it could not be comfortable shaving with a knife!  Some of the men portrayed have very carefully manicured beards.    Interesting.

For me, these have presented a new challenge.  Hair is a challenge too, but I spend little time trying to capture it.

Most of these originals are painted against a very dark background.     Having them on the white makes them stand out.    I may want to go back with paint and brush later and see how they look with painted backgrounds.   I dont' want to do that with pencils.  

Speaking of pencils, I bought two new sets from Amazon, to fill out an order to take advantage of the free shipping.   I never seem to have the red I want.     I borrowed a Prang pencil from a friend and it was the perfect red.     Now, mind you, I have lots of red pencils.   Funny how fussy we can get!      I ordered a set of Prangs, expecting the one I wanted would be in the set.   Nope, it wasn't.     I also ordered a set of Sargents.     None of these are the watercolor pencils, but good for sketching and layering colors in the journals.     Here is the sampling from the recent order.

At the bottom are the Pitt Pastel Pencils that generated the other orders.   I had read good reviews and recommendations for these and could not find them locally.   I could order a case of them, but not a single set. So, it was Amazon to the rescue once more.

First thing I do with new pencils is try out the greens.     Here are the two new sets.    I tried to burnish the colors, thus the smear at base of each color.      Some were more successful than others.      See all those reds?     Still not the red I'm searching for.     Although each set has one that is pretty close.    Some of the names of colors are confusing.     I guess eventually I'll figure them out.     I usually keep a scratch pad next to me so when I'm ready to use a color, I can audition them first and pick the appropriate ones to use.    

Do you have a favorite brand?  A favorite red? I'd like to hear about them.        Now to go post to my old personal blog.       I haven't checked in there for a long time.