Capturing Larry’s blue eyes is the most critical part of this portrait. When we were discussing the layout of the portrait, Cheri wrote:
“I just noticed how much the color of his shirt looks like his eyes...
Oh those eyes....I think I fell in love with them first and was mesmerized by them, every time I looked at them - for the next 57 years!"
FOR ARTISTS:
In this close-up you can see the difference between my sketched outlines of an eye (on the right) and the finished eye. I used blue pencil for the iris in my outline drawing because getting a clear blue in this portrait is really important. I didn’t want any other pencils to muddy the colors I was planning to use for Larry’s blue eyes.
Larry’s blue eyes were the reason Cheri and Larry met. Here's the story Cheri told me about that:
“I fell in love with his eyes on the night we met, at the Enlisted Men's Club at the Naval Training Center in San Diego. They were the only thing that left a good impression because he was out with the guys and snockered to the max. I would see him drunk only one other time in our 57 years together, but that is a different story.
I'd been hired to work the Chow Line at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base (cuz I wanted to meet sailors!) and a couple of weeks after our initial introduction, he came through my line, early in the morning and definitely sober. Once again, I fell in love with his beautiful blue eyes which I noticed before I really even saw his face! He looked up at me and smiled...
...and I watched where he sat down, then decided it was 'now or never': time to fill his napkin dispenser, replenish the salt and pepper shakers, check the catsup bottle and write my phone number down on a napkin and carefully place it on top of his cantaloupe before I returned to the chow line.
That was the beginning...he called me that night and I broke a date with a very handsome Russian born NCO who had a red convertible Corvette. The Corvette was very interesting and so was he - however, neither of them had Larry's blue eyes.”
“Cheri and Larry” - A double portrait of the client and her beloved late husband, in progress.
🎨 Prismacolor pencil on "Felt Grey" Canson Mi-Teintes paper.
20 x 24 inches.
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