Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Pierce Brosnan - portrait of a star

© 2008 Bonnee Klein Gilligan., All Rights Reserved

© 2008 Bonnee Klein Gilligan., All Rights Reserved      The picture above is a detail of the original 19" x 25" pastel drawing, shown left. I've featured the detail because for some reason the small version always looks angry or sad... a strange phenomena. And it's easier to see who he is in the detail. The original drawing, hanging in my living room, occasionally looks 3 dimensional and the eyes follow you around the room. When I really look at the drawing I get a sense of what it going on in Pierce's life. Certainly not my intention, but something that can happen when an artist really connects with their subject. For example I knew when he was out of the country. To confirm I looked on his website I saw he was filming 'Mama Mia' overseas. Another time the portrait looked really frustrated and angry. Several days later I read an article on the internet that he punched a photographer in front of a Mexican restaurant in Malibu for bothering his family. I think of the drawing a bit like the 'portrait of Dorian Gray'. I chose to draw Pierce because he is very recognizable and has an interesting face... you'd know if the drawing resembled the man. Everyone who has walkes into my house has commented about 'Pierce Brosnan'.

This is the second realistic portrait I did in 2007. I was inspired to try a slightly different style with this piece. The paper became an artistic element. The physical body is done in charcoal, white and pink pastel with blue highlights in the eyes and the energetic space is described in color. Prints are available at my Spirit Art gallery.

~Bonnee

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