Sanguine & Charcoal Portraits

I love both sanguine portraits and charcoal portraits, I think there is something very expressive drawing a face in charcoal, maybe because of the simplicity of the black and white. Then there is the poetry of sanguine that creates a beautiful soft effect, with the loveliest earthy reds against the cream paper.

Here below is a charcoal portrait of Polly who is 20 years old.

Polly, charcoal on paper. 50cm x 70cm
Polly, charcoal on paper. 50cm x 70cm

These are four sanguine portraits on heavyweight Arches cream paper (30cm x 40cm (A4) just a little bigger) of four siblings commissioned for a special present. All with lovely faces to draw. When I use sanguine I like to also combine the red with graphite pencil, this gives the colour some depth as I find the colour can become too saturated. I have also brush-washed over large areas with water and sanguine. It is a lovely generous medium and great fun to work with.

Willow, sanguine. 30cm x 40cm
Ned, sanguine. 30cm x 40cm
Monty, sanguine. 30cm x 40cm
Tiggy, sanguine. 30cm x 40cm

The sanguine comes from the art shop Zecchi in Florence, Italy. It has a selection of quality art materials to feast your eyes upon and the sanguine is bought in rock form. No fancy pencils here just a big prehistoric rock of iron ore! At the end of this post I have made a short video of the process from my cave-man sanguine rock to ready to use bespoke pointy pencil for these detailed portrait drawings.

Below are the drawings side by side.

Thankyou for looking. If you are interested in any drawing portrait commissions please contact me on:

annadennisart@gmail.com

COMMISSION A PAINTING

A brief video on how I made my sanguine drawing sticks.

I made this video starting from the block of red oxide which I ground on a heavy piece of glass using a glass muller, once it was ground into a powder which took about five minutes, I gradually added water until it resembled a thick paste that could be easily rolled into pencil thick sticks that fit inside my charcoal holder.

I made my sticks a little too thin dor my charcoal holder so I had to wrap a piece of paper towel around the stick so it would hold well in the holder.

I sharpened the sanguine sticks firstly using a sharp knife to get the pencil shape, and then perfected the point with sandpaper. The sanguine is quite brittle so I had to treat it carefully but I liked its colour and softness as a result.

Exhibition 8th/14th september 2025

I am pleased to announce my upcoming exhibition at the Golden Lion Gallery in Ramsbury, Wiltshire.

I will be exhibiting oil paintings, landscapes and still life and examples of portraits commissions I have recently completed. If you are interested in commissioning a portrait please get in touch or stop by the gallery during the exhibition. Below there is also a box with some information. We look forward to meeting you!

The Private View is on Tuesday 9th September at 5,30 pm. There will be refreshments and a chance to look at my paintings and meet people who love art.

Head to COMMISSION A PAINTING for more.

Portraits

An oil commission of three brothers on separate canvases with a plain background.

Please head over to my portraits page to find other examples of other works. And if you would like a portrait you can also click on my commission a painting page to find prices and other commission ideas.

Jack. 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas. 2024
Max, 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas. 2024
Guy, 45cm x 50cm. oil on canvas 2024
Achille. charcoal and graphite on paper. 50cm x 60cm. 2025
Brother and Sister. Charcoal and graphite. 2022
Newfoundland. Charcoal and Graphite. 2022
Harry. Graphite and Charcoal. 2022
Remus. Oil on Canvas. 2022
Bother and sister commission beautifully framed.
Charcoal and Graphite.

Recent Landscapes 2024/25

Here are some finished landscapes from where I live. The light is always changing and the seasons are so different.

Wisteria, April. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panel
chickens 20cm x 30cm oil on panel
Chickens, May. 20cm x 30cm. Oil on panel.
Fields, August. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panel
October, Olive trees. 20cm x 30cm. oil on panel.

Recent Still Life paintings, 2024/2025.

Here are a handful of still life paintings that I really enjoyed painting last year. They are experiments of colour painted from objects found in the dark corners of my studio! I had fun enhancing the chromatics and big shapes while thinking less of reality.  To be continued…

Pansie and Plug 30cm x 40cm oil on board
Pansie and Plug 30cm x 40cm oil on board. 2024

Paper Planes 40cm x 50cm oil on board. 2024
Paper Planes 40cm x 50cm oil on board. 2024

Red Jug and Pickles, 30cm x 45xm oil on panel. 2024

Tulip in a Green jar. 30cm x 40cm oil on board. 2025

Bowl and Daffodils 30cm x 40cm oil on board
Bowl and Daffodils 30cm x 40cm oil on board. 2024

Persimmons 50cm x 60cm oil on board. 2024

February 2021.











The Ligurian coastline is possibly the most iconic in Italy. In addition to being extremely scenic and beautiful in its own right, the coast of the Cinque Terre is home to some incredible geology, the sharp jagged rocks are characteristic of this coast.





This is my painting of the rocks at Riomaggiore. 





  • Rocks, Riomaggiore. 40cm x 50cm. Oil on panel.
Many writers and poets have stayed along the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia. Riomaggiore, the first village of the Cinque Terre was an accessable and important place in the painting world in the 19th century. Riomaggiore inspired the Florentine painter Telemaco Signorini.

Sea and alleyways, light and shadow. The dark and narrow streets, the lashes of the sun  between the rooftops, the melancholy of the steep stairways, the quiet small piazzas, the bright colourful houses. Riomaggiore has it all.  It was thanks to these characteristics that Riomaggiore ended up playing a fundamental role in defining the Macchiaioli school.





Below is the view he painted of the harbour during the end of the 19th century. 





  • Telemaco Signorini, Riomaggiore (1892-1894)










  • Gwen, 4cm x 45cm, oil on panel.





                             My studio companion, Gwen.

	


	
	






	
	

		
Still Life and Landscapes from the Sea.
	


	

		

I often buy fresh fish from the fish market in town, it is a busy outdoor market in the port town of La Spezia in Italy. These Red Mullets are fresh in each morning and they are very good fried or can also be served painted and put in a frame which was my first choice here. There is something I like when you buy fish wrapped up in paper instead of plastic and at the market everything is hastily wrapped up like this while the fish monger shouts about at whatever else there is for sale. When I got home I couldn’t wait to unwrap the package and start about painting the white paper set against the lovely pinky red and silver tones of the Mullets.





This painting will be exhibited this wednesday in – The Royal Society of Marine Exhibition – in London opening 30th September – 10th October.  The show is up on the walls and open to the public (and also online as always for those who cannot be there). What a year it’s been!! I am very thankful that at least a small part of me has been sent to London, maybe I in person will patiently follow next year 😉





Six Red Mullets. 30cm x 40cm. oil on panel.










Every year from May to July when the sea has warmed up and the anchovies are big and lean they come into the markets and we buy enough to put them under salt, a process that rewards you with a tasty treat that will last and taste deliciously fresh for ages. Here are a few left over, the cat got these ones at the end.





FIve Anchovies on a Plate. 20cm x 35cm, oil on panel.










I spent an afternoon at the beach in Pietrasanta in Versiglia which is a big long stretch of sand that is the part of north-western Tuscany just next door to Liguria.  It was nice to see so much sand infront of me and I sat on the shore while painting.





Pietrasanta, 20cm x 30cm, oil on panel.










Le Grazie is a small fishing village near La Spezia. There is a beach opposite which gives a good view across the harbour.  Many of the beaches are formed of rocky coves and colourful fishermens villages and the sea is always rich in colour by all the reflected light from its surroundings.





Le Grazie. 20cm x 35cm.










And here below are a couple of paintings of Levanto which is the next town north of Monterosso. This is where my anchovies came from.  The sea is crystal clear.





Behind Vallesanta. 30cm x 40cm, oil on panel.










And the beach next door during July.





Vallesanta, Levanto. 30cm x 50cm. Oil on panel.

	


	
	






	
	

		
Around and about so far.
	


	

		
Its been 65 days since the start of Italian lockdown and thankfully the weather in Europe has been mild and sunny which all the more easier if you live in the rural hills and can get ouside exercise and avoid bumping into anyone. Italy’s lockdown has been strict with no one allowed to go outside unless for vitals and the schools have been shut since february, so all the better for staying at home and painting.


Normally I wouldn’t feel the need to explore the woods with my painting stuff close to the house but when there isn’t anywhere else to go you are kind of pushed by the force of adventure and just follow you feet. Woods play a big factor where I live. So after skidding down steep banks with the easel in one hand and tip toeing over slippery rocks with a palette of freshly squeezed paint in the other I found this spot on the river Mangia below our house, it’s a short flat stretch with a warm February midday sun reflecting on the water.


River Mangia, Val di Vara. 40cm x 50 cm, oil on panel.


The next river painting is a calm Spring afternoon on the River Vara. The river Mangia flows into this much bigger river that runs along the bottom of the valley. This river is very wide and deep and I liked the reflections from the trees on the water, the colours were lovely and I hope to go back soon. I think we are now allowed to travel for necessity but to be out painting and having a picnic could be seen as having too much fun (!!)


River Vara, Val di Vara- 35 x 25cm, oil on panel.


Travelling a little higher up into the hills you can overlook the whole valley from the Alta Via Dei Monte Liguri. The Alta Via is a stony road that takes you all through Liguria and into France and it could be one way in getting back to the UK on feet or wheels or a donkey without having to fly in an aeroplane! The horses in the foreground are privately owned and left to roam the pastures, there are at least fifty horses, some mules too and they are used to work on steep mountain tracks where tractors cannot go. The moutain in the middle is Monte Dragnone, the highest peak in the area. I wanted to get a sense of space in the painting with all the hills receding into the backround with thin washes of paint, (linseed oil and turpentine glazes). Something I find easier to do with winter colours than summer because there are more earthy colours in the undertones.


Midday from the Alta Via, New Years Day. Val di Vara, 40cm x 35cm, oil on panel.


The Alta Via, Casoni, Spring. oil on panel, 35cm x 35cm.


Here is the passo del Rastrello that is part of the Alta Via from in the previous painting. It is a little colder here and I have come across snow, it looks like I have just taken you through the wardrobe and into Narnia!  (I painted this in 2019 when it snowed for a couple of days). This year it has been too mild for any of that kind of weather but it was nice to look at snow and to use different colours than usual.


 


Passo del Rastrello. 20cm x 25cm, oil on panel.


Dusk from the top of Monte Dragnone. This is the highest mountain in the area at over 1000mt. It takes a steep 20 minute hike to get to the top but once you have arrived there is a Sanctuary that is used during the many religious festa’s. Unfortunately this year they have all been cancelled but the view is rewarding.


Dusk from Monte Dragnone. 30cm x 40 cm, oil on panel.


 


Thankyou for looking and I hope you are all safe and well!

	


	
	






	
	

		
Three Still life Studies
	


	

		
Here are a few oil paintings of things that grew in our garden this autumn. I enjoyed doing the couple of still life paintings outside instead of placing what you find outside and then bringing them inside and placing them carefully on a table with the right light like i did with the onions.


                                                             Saffron Crocus. Oil on panel.


These are the Crocus that you can use for cooking, the red strands of saffron are more valuable than gold and taste better too although I’ve heard some crocuses are posionous if eaten so be careful!


Onions, Oil on Panel


Beautiful pink onions from the garden, one of Renoirs most memorable paintings (in my eyes) was a still life of some onions – “Oignons”- that reminded me of these ones although I think his were a different variety with the skin being more yellow. His onions came from Naples 🙂


                                                                    Three Quinces, Oil on panel


Three quinces from the tree lying in the grass, I love the shape of them and their classic yellow colour when they are ripe.

	


	
	






	
	

		
Paintings from the Summer, Bembridge, Isle of Wight.
	


	

		
From Bembridge Point. Oil on panel. 30cm x 40cm


Here a few paintings while visiting the Isle of Wight. The weather was always sunny hence the repeating painted blue skies! This is a great spot of the entrance channel from Bembridge harbour leading into the sea. The old breakwater in the foreground is in need of repair as now the sand and shingle from the sea is fillling up the small harbour pretty fast. One day it will end up as a big sand pit. Then what will the owner of the harbour say?


Study Of Shells. Oil on panel, 30cm x 40cm.


This painting is currently on show in London for the Royal Society of Marine Artists in the Mall Galleries. It is a small still life of shells that my daughter found on Ducue Beach. When I got back to Italy I bluetacked the best shells onto a blue book and set them out in the sunlight to paint.


Bembridge Harbour. Oil on panel, 30cm x 40cm.


A nice spot of Bembridge Harbour to set up and paint where you can watch the boats and the tide go in and out, and the sand and shingle come in.


Seaview. on on canvas board. 30cm x 40cm.


Seaview is walking distance along the beach from Bembridge when the tide is out. In the distance you can see the mainland.