It all starts with energy.
Before I design anything at all and put it down on (digital) paper, I study dozens of photographs. Over and over again. What does she convey? What can you read in her gaze? What do you feel when you look long enough? That energy is in her features, in the way she looks at you and in what is left unsaid.
It’s only when I feel that do I start designing. And then I translate it – into colour, shape, detail or, conversely, a lack of detail; into planes; and into whatever carries her energy.
A week and a half on one eye.
Sometimes I spend longer looking for the right colour than I do stitching dozens of stitches. Because that’s where the difference lies. Whether the contrast is right. Whether the harmony is right. Whether the balance is right. It’s exactly the difference between a portrait that looks like the subject and one that you can feel.
My work is not a copy of reality. It is a realistic portrayal in which you can sense the energy, where the gaze is just right and you can feel her presence.
This section is complete.
Now the rest of the story can follow.