Denise in Sauce
 

What an exciting section! I am so pleased that this "From Life" section has opened, and I am very excited to see the work posted!

I recently finished this commissioned portrait of Denise. The portrait was completed in two, ninety minute sessions. I also filmed the process for a sauce video I'm producing.

(Sauce is a claylike substance from Russia that behaves similarly to charcoal when dry, and reacts like an ink wash when wet...)

Peggy

Hi Peggy,

What a beautiful, soulful portrait. Excellent job! I spent several weeks this summer on the sauce (so to speak) and have a lot of respect for artists who can manage this medium. It has all the disadvantages of charcoal (extremely messy, at least in my hands) and of india ink (once the water is on the paper you're really committed to it). Yet in my view the results surpass charcoal and india ink in terms of expressiveness. I love the intense drama that sauce imparts.

For professional stunt drivers only. I'm sure not there yet, but I've got my helmet on.

Linda

I see I have lost the image, so I will repost the sauce of Denise.

Thanks, Linda.

I am doing all of the commissioned portrait life studies I used to do in charcoal, in sauce. I figure the only way to get better is to keep getting up to bat. I am still having some trouble with sauce. I can coast with charcoal, but sauce is still a little nerve wracking!



Peggy

Peggy, lovely piece.

After watching your marvelous demo last spring at the Portrait Society of America (subject, Vincent Miller), I bought the sauce sticks. I now actually look at them in their nice case, and remind myself that as lovely as they are there, they need to come out and play!

I forgot to ask, when will this video will be released?

Mari,

The sauce video will be ready to go by the end of January.

Peggy

Sauce isn't saucy
 

I've been reading the sauce posts, and I assumed that sauce was a liquid medium.

First, the name implies it. Plus, your sauce portraits look painted, not drawn. Do you draw, then apply water? Kind of like watercolor pencils?

Regardless, your work is beautiful!

Thanks, Jeff

I'm going to refer you to this thread http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...threadid=1613, where I give a description of sauce. My friend and fellow artist Mari DeRuntz calls sauce, "What charcoal aspires to be."

Denise's portrait is powdered sauce in the face and hands in the light, and a sauce wash on the face in the shadow, eyes, mouth, hair and clothing. I think I was going to just do dry sauce on the background, but ended up using a sauce wash there as well.

It's complicated stuff, I don't know of anything else like it...

Peggy

Hi Peggy,

A thought occured to me. Do you think it would be possible or beneficial to start your work in charcoal and finish in sauce or add just some of the surface textures and shadows in the sauce?

Another question: Can sauce be used with color like pastel?

Rochelle,

Actually, sometimes I start out my charcoals with sauce. I start with a "stain" of sauce over the entire surface of the paper. That way I am not starting with a white paper, but a 2 or 3 value paper (on a scale where white is 1 and black is 9). I can erase to achieve the lightest values. This gets you "there" faster.

The sauce "pounce" goes on incredibly smoothly, while the charcoal goes on grainier. I do the drawing in charcoal, because you can't erase the "drawn" sauce, and work out the detail and placement. From there, you really have to make the discussion. Charcoal doesn't mix with water. What I like about the sauce, is that it is all the same stuff. Wet and dry. So there is no problem with working back and forth.

I don't even mix charcoal brands, because they will not mesh, and I like a seamless drawing, not where one charcoal is warm and light, and the other is cool and dark. I guess that is why I don't do mixed media.

But to start with a charcoal drawing and switch to sauce for the value punch, I think would be very difficult, because of the graininess of the charcoal. You could try it! I've only come this far with sauce because I experimented. There were certainly no rules to follow....

I have a friend who has done tremendous drawings using sauce, (which comes in different colors...) as a grisaille under his pastels. Amazing work!

Peggy

Highly recommend Peggy's Sauce Video
 

I finally had a chance to view Peggy's sauce video and found it very informative and like to recommend it to anyone interested in working with this medium.

Peggy first familiarizes the viewer with the handling of sauce and with the tools she uses to achieve different results. Then she demonstrates how through careful manipulation of dry and wet sauce, a subtle tonal range can be achieved, which gives the portrait a soft look with just the right amount of really dark punches.

Now I feel confident enough to open my little wooden sauce box and carefully extract this versatile medium from Russia.

Thanks Peggy!

Peggy,

Let me join with others and thank you for sharing both the image and so much excellent instructional information.

By the way, even in a greatly reduced picture on this forum, the portrait is obviously full of life. Congratulations on a winner and keeper.

Bill