No. 371: 'Call me Elizabeth.'

No. 371, Elizabeth Taylor by Tom Wills, May 2017

"People who know me well, call me Elizabeth. I dislike Liz."

I didn’t come of age during the time when Elizabeth Taylor dominated the silver screen. I am of the later and more curious period when she hawked perfume and hung out with Michael Jackson, had small dogs and seemingly many hospital stays.

“I have a woman's body and a child's emotions.”

I watched a few of her movies when they would show up on television, notably “Cleopatra.”  That blue wrap on her was skillfully matched with her blue-violet eyes and dark double eyelashes. Sure made an impression upon young me.

“When the sun comes up, I have morals again.”

You must admit, she was beautiful, then.  I tried to capture that, working from a period publicity shot, trying to capture the curves -- the smoothness.

"You find out who your real friends are when you're involved in a scandal."

This was a difficult drawing. All of those curves, all of those gentle transitions between very dark and really light. The eyes had to be right. The lips too. And that little bit of shadow on the left side of her face.  The hair is several degrees of black, gray and white. Ripples of black, in fact.
Her face became narrower as I shaded the drawing and worked over the hair (see below).

"I don't like my voice. I don't like the way I look. I don't like the way I move. I don't like the way I act. I mean, period. So, you know, I don't like myself."

I thought about putting a background behind her, to blend better into those shadows, but in the end I kept the light. And I decided to post her now, unframed, and unfiltered. (But, oh, is she going to get a big and bold frame!)
Because she remains as bright as a star.

“I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I'm not afraid to look behind them.”

Special mention must also be made to the Wallace Bonded Special Dispatch USA 251 black pencils used here. These vintage pencils date from the 1950s and 1960s and are the blackest that I have ever seen.  They are almost greasy, filling in so smoothly. I was fortunate to stumble upon a few dozen of these at an estate sale this spring. A retired draftsman had these and dozens of other brands and leads in an old tray that I purchased.

The pencils are the same vintage as Elizabeth. This was meant to happen.

“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.”

Elizabeth is for sale, naked or framed. Contact willstom01@gmail.com or through Facebook.