Roger Federer (Sui) - Tennis player - 'GOAT'

Roger Federer ('Fed,') is a Swiss Tennis player and is widely considered to be the greatest tennis player of all time (I concur.) His style of play, shot-making and poise are exemplary and have led to an extraordinary/extraordinarily-long career. Fans of Rog often sit up long into the small hours of the night and watch each shot in awe as he crafts out point and match wins like a maestro. His graceful style and gentle humour hide another of his key attributes, that once he steps out on court he is a deadly competitor who works tirelessly to cut his opponent's game to threads. In the image we see Fed in a moment between points when he's 'doing the math' of the game and perhaps trying to work out if it is time to turn-the-screw up one more notch. We'll never know exactly what he's thinking at any given moment but after watching hundreds of matches we can begin to feel this mind-set as matches move through different phases. It's very exciting. The portrait is pencil (mostly 2B and 3B) on canvas with an acrylic paint background.

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Portraits: the portraits are drawn with pencil on canvas, all in large scale and sometimes with acrylic paint used for the background. Though pencil is such a simple implement, it captures human expressions and emotions well through different angles, pressures, techniques and lead types. It's wonderful how life-like a drawing can become. The most exciting aspect of undertaking these portraits is often that, after many hours spent drawing a profile with intense detail, the final touch is to drag a cloth over the detailed work to create shadows...it's always done with trepidation.
I began drawing after 10 years of landscape and abstract painting, all of which were completed rather too quickly and soon filled the house. Determined to slow down the creative process I switched to a far more detailed portrait style, keen to draw 'every single hair and wrinkle' of each subject. By the finish of each portrait the subjects have become so familiar they feel like friends. Hope you enjoy these images and the emotions they bring.
Paintings: playing with color is such a simple joy. Who knew. Mixing colors and adding texture, with layers, to bring an image to life is a great way to spend free time, whilst the stroke of a motley brush is an exciting way to add humanity to a canvas.
Tom,
Fitzroy, Melbourne