Materials
Pencils
There’s more to a pencil than just HB!
All portraits are drawn with quality Derwent graphite pencils with a lightfastness rating of 8. Lightfastness refers to the chemical stability of a pigment under long exposure to light.
Light can cause colour to whiten, darken, fade or completely disappear. The Blue Wool Scale - two pieces of blue wool are used to test lightfastness. One is placed in the dark and the other in the equivalent of sunlight for a period of three months. After three months the two pieces of wool are compared and rated between 0 – 8. 8 is the highest rating and values of 6 or higher are considered to be lightfast.
Paper
Paper used for the commission is high quality 200 gsm superior white wove.
Mounts
Your finished portrait will be mounted with high quality Arqadia mounts which have been chosen to best complement the monochrome effect of the finished portrait. There is a choice of two colours, cream or grasmere green (both slightly textured) in one of two sizes which I will decide depending on the dimensions of the finished portrait (unless you instruct differently).
Sizes:
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Aperture size 10x8" (overall mount size 12x10")
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Aperture size 8x8" (overall mount size 10x10")
*Note, pictures for illustrative purposes only, the colour on your computer screen may not exactly resemble the actual colour of the mount, so please do not rely on the colour of your computer screen as this could differ. Photos of both mounts can be seen on the Shop page. .
Time
Due to the intricate nature of the drawing, this is not a simple sketch and hence a a huge amount of time and dedication is spent to create your perfect pet portrait.