These two sketches were done as a starting point for a commissioned portrait I'll be doing soon.

The lady is a very lovely, petite redhead whose age I wouldn't dare guess. She wears very clear and almost invisible glasses. She is a kind of "country girl" and wants to the portrait to be of her outside wearing jeans, boots and a simple top.

When she got to the studio and looked around she saw the pastel I have been working on of a nude by a tree. She didn't have any interest in her being posed nude but liked the idea of being by a tree.

It is January here  in ugly Ohio in snow and cold. So I posed her inside as a starting point with her just really doing what she wanted to do and no direction from me. I often do this to start to learn about the person sees themselves.

After looking at the photos, talking about them and then using them and working from life I did these two sketchs just to give her an idea of what things might look like. She liked the first one as to tree and foot but realized the second one was a bit stiff and the foot just wasn't working. All this said, I am putting them here as a way of showing how I work on some commissions.  I will be posting more things as I work on it and when she has time to pose.