Self-Portraits

The global Covid-19 pandemic of recent years truncated our activities by necessity, and home has become a focus for many aspects of our lives. As well as introspection, it has served perhaps to let us focus more deeply on our relationships. In this chapter we are starting with self-portraits and family pictures, not just in the traditional sense but also as indicators of our mental and physical relationships.

I find the easiest way to prepare for making a portrait in stitch is to begin with a drawing. Whether made from life or by using a photograph, it is always a great starting point, and enables you to make notes on details such as skin tone and hair, clothing, lighting and posture. In Portraiture 101, I provide some simple tips for drawing faces (start small, then progress to a larger scale when you feel more confident), while Making a Self-Portrait on Cloth offers a step-by-step guide to help ease you into the making process, including mixing skin tones to add colour, which certainly can be daunting.

From there, we’ll be looking at artists who use line to create stitch portraits, starting with the family theme. How to plan and create meaningful compositions while looking at faces and features will also be covered, as will artists who use colour for further definition. Adding colour to portraiture can be complex but rewarding, bringing depth and texture to work, enabling the artist to highlight features in both the portrait and the surroundings. A personal take on self-portraiture and interiors is explored, too.

Portraiture 101

Start with an outline of theface:

» Notice the face shape – is it round or more oval?

» Ears are located about halfway down the head.

» The top of the eyelid is parallel to the top of the ear.

Locate theeyes, nose andmouth:

» Draw a faint dotted line down the centre of the face, and draw two lines across to divide the face into thirds.

» The spacing between the eyes is important, as is that between the nose and mouth.

» Draw the features in tentatively to start with, then more firmly when you are happy with them.

Making a Self-Portrait on Cloth

To make a self-portrait on cloth, you will need a photo or drawing of your head and shoulders and an A4-sized piece of calico or sheeting fabric. Equip yourself with acrylic or fabric paints and a mixing palette to experiment with mixing up your skin tone colour.

1 Take the image of your head and shoulders and use a marker pen to draw around the main lines of the portrait.

2 Trace it onto the fabric with tracing paper, then outline the face with a waterproof pen.

3 Mix up your skin tone colour, referring to the skin tone samples (right). For lighter skin tones, use white as a base; for medium and dark tones, use a peach or beige. Add a hint or more of yellow, pink or brown as required. Test on a scrap of fabric or paper, and dry it off to see the finished colour.