Hi, I am Les Crause and I would like to welcome you to some of my experiences and artwork along this new road that I began walking not long ago. Up until then, the very thought of me drawing, painting or producing any form of art was furthest from my mind.
I used to joke and say that I could not draw a straight line with a ruler, let alone draw a person. But once I started on this journey, one of the first things that intrigued me was being able to draw and paint portraits.
After going through a course on UDEMY I was shocked to find I could produce something that looked like a real drawing. I got so excited about it, that I began a quest to do portraits for the members of our ministry team.
I started with a self-portrait and then began to move from there to my wife and son and other members of our ministry. All this after being at this for just under two months, after having spent a lifetime unable to do any such thing.
I would like to document my progress on this page for your interest. Remember I have never done anything like this before, so please be kind as you give me your honest reviews.
I took the following photo of myself
Then I attempted to draw myself using only paper and pencil. And here is my very first try. Not bad for my first try huh? But the head was a bit skew from the angle I was looking at when I drew.
I then tried drawing the outline of my face using a common method of copying. You draw grid lines over the original picture and then copy the outline on another blank sheet with grid lines.
Then I added extra features and shading using just a pencil. This is how it looked. I was very happy with this – it really looked like me.
Now I needed to paint the outline instead of shading it with a pencil. And this is how it came.
I could have done more work on this but decided to have a go at some of the other team members. So I decided to give my wife Daphne a try.
Here is the original picture I used.
Here is the outline made by copying using grid lines
I decided this time to try coloring in the outline using coloring pencils. And here is what it looked like
Next, I tried my second painting attempt on this outline. And here is how it came. Since I now had hair to do as well and had to try to get the right colors, it was a bit challenging. But here is how it came
I was off to a good start, but painting and adding all the right shadings was not easy. Also, some of the pictures did not show the eyes clearly, so I had to improvise which made the final appearance not quite like the real thing.
I decided to try one next of Apostle Nadine Stohler, and I once again had a problem with the eyes. But here are the pictures for your interest. Here is the original
I discovered a new way of drawing the outline which was much easier and more accurate. I used an app on my iPad which allowed me to draw the outline right over the picture using the Apple Pencil. Then I could hide the original photo, leaving just the outline.
Here is what the outline looked like
The eyes were again a problem because they did not show clearly on the original photo. But I know that Nadine has a unique beauty feature – her eyes are different colors, the one being blue and the other green. So I used this knowledge when painting the eyes.
To try something different, this time I copied the outline onto tracing paper and then penciled the other side so that I could transfer the outline to a piece of proper painting canvas, rather than just sketch paper.
Here is the final result, which is not bad, but the eyes are not exactly correct.
After some practice with other portraits and landscapes, I decided to make a new painting of Nadine from a picture taken a while back where she really looks lovely. I think I have improved a bit don’t you think?
Here is the original picture
And here is my new painting
I was on a roll now and decided to try painting portraits for the other team members. But first I wanted to try another way of coloring a photo. I bought a set of pastel sticks and tried a method I had seen used by one of my new teachers.
And for this one, I decided to use my son John. Here is the original photo
I drew his outline using Procreate on my iPad, and here is what that looked like
Next, I colored this outline using Pastels. The method I used was to roughly hatch some of the pastels onto the picture, and then spread the pastel powder using a paint brush so that it looked like it was painted.
And here is the final result
I was really pleased with how this one came, and it showed what can be done with pastels if you use them with a paintbrush. The only problem is that a lot of loose powder remains, making the picture a bit messy.
But I wanted to also do this with acrylic paint also and it came out really good. Here it is:
Well, I feel really happy about my progress for such a short space of time. What do you think?
My next painting was of Apostle Ernst Haenni, who is a partner and leader of our branch in Switzerland.
This time I felt a lot more confident and I think you will agree that this is my best portrait so far. Here is the original
And here is the outline, done with Procreate
And finally, here is my painting of Ernst.
I think this is one of my best portraits so far. It is my Mona Lisa (smile) but I call it my Mona Lena.
Hre is the original outline
Anna-Lena Recently Tinted Her Hair Red, so I changed the hair color in my painting. Here she is – Mona Lena
Here is my painting of Sonja Haenni, also one of my better ones I think
The Original
My Copy
Now that I have the hang of portraits more or less, I decided to try another kind of painting. And I f0und that this brought a whole new set of learning curves.
So here is my first attempt at painting a landscape. I chose a somewhat complex scene from Switzerland, which is a picture I have on my computer desktop. Here is the original
I found this picture more difficult than I realized at first, but gave it a bash anyway. And here is my first very first attempt at painting a landscape.
I decided to crop this picture to make the mountains bigger and I tried again. Here is the newer version
Since my early attempts at painting Daphne and myself did not come so good, I decided to do a painting of the two of us together.
Here is the original
And here is my attempt at painting it
