Pencil Shavings

2009-07-05T12:25:00.002-04:00

McBride Gallery's 2009 Summer Salon Show

I'm quite pleased to announce that I currently have a number of works at McBride Gallery in Annapolis as a special invited guest artist for their 2009 'Summer Salon Show'. The showing will spotlight the works of over a dozen artists and is hanging, on view now through the end of July. There will be an Artists' Reception next Sunday, July 12th, from 1 to 3 PM.

McBride Gallery is located at 215 Main Street in historic Annapolis, at the top of Main Street just next to the Maryland Hotel. If visiting the area over the next few weeks, stop in to see some fine art work.

2009-07-04T09:07:00.000-04:00

2009-07-02T14:32:00.003-04:00

As I have made mention to during the last several days, I have been involved, on and off for over a week, in a pretty major project . . . digitizing (is there such a term?) my complete slide film library. I had noticed recently when going through some images of a trip to Europe back in the summer of 1966, seeking some interesting material for possible upcoming drawings, that a number of these 40 plus year old slides had begun to deteriorate and mold was actually growing on a number of them. As I did not want to just lose all this valuable information, I decided to begin to make digital images of everything and save to disc so I would have a good future record of all this great material, some of which I have not reviewed for 25 years or more.

As the days have passed, I have been transported back to, among many other places, my first three trips to Africa, that wonderful summer of '66 touring Europe for two months, several trips through the Canadian Rockies and along the coast of British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest and on down the coast to northern California, and the American Southwest.

As I mentioned above, it is surely at least 25 years since I have looked at any of my film from a 1970 trip to the Grand Canyon. I know it has been said many times before and many, many times by people whose words are far more singular than mine, but that place is overpowering, inspirational and just takes the breath away.

I had forgotten, till reviewing these Kodachrome memories, just how much a few days spent wondering the canyon edge and one spectacular day hike down to Plateau Point on the Bright Angel Trail left me with so many wonderful images; images that now flood my brain and have quite amazingly brought me back to the feel of the place, the incredible quiet and memory of what it was like to sit out on the south rim on three consecutive evenings to watch the sun slowly disappear in the west as a rainbow of color moved back across the shear walls of the canyon, vibrating in shades of orange and rust and mauve and deep purple.

Many years ago, I did two works with reference made to the Canyon and my time there, but it has been decades since I last even thought about making use of any of those images. During the couple of hours that it took to turn these slides into digital images, any number of ideas hit me and I singled out quite a few of those images to set aside and look at again to see if the spark can kindle some interesting compositional idea. But even if nothing develops in the way of an idea or two for a drawing, just having had this wonderful chance to relive that week in the southwest has left me smiling.

One thing is for certain . . . the Grand Canyon is a place that everyone should behold and experience at least once in their life. See for yourself . . .

2009-07-01T12:37:00.010-04:00

OK, I am finally getting around to posting this mini tutorial on how I indicated the frayed and fuzzy quality of the canopy material in the last completed drawing. I've been 'stuck' on other things the last few days, and there will be more on that tomorrow, so here goes . . .

In this first image above, you can see the rough line drawing that gives me the basic 'route' to follow.

In this second shot, I have begun to lay in some basic tonal greys to sort of delineate boundaries and edges with my 'F' lead holder. You will note that the lead has a rather blunt end to it and that is so I can softly, lay in a series of cross hatches across the entire space of what will become the dark shadowy background to the bright edge of the sunlit material. These cross hatches go on an angle and then horizontally across the paper and then back on the angle so I can develop, slowly, an even tone or at least the beginnings of an even tone at this point. If you click the image and look at the enlarged version, you should be able to see that I am not following closely to the originally drawn out line of the demarcation between the material and the background. I am sort of haloing close to that line but not touching it.

In this third shot above, I have now taken an 'H' lead holder with a relatively sharp end and have gone in and started to make some separation between the line of material and the background. Again, if you will click the image and look at the enlargement, you will see that these squiggles and dashes and dots are still very rough. What I am doing here is to pick out areas that I want to ultimately define as the bright little fibers that will be 'spotlighted' in the finished work. I have also defined the underside of the edge of the burlap so as to establish the basic working area of the material separated from the rest of the background.

Here, above, is a closer view of those roughly set in dark spots that will help to define a nice separation.

Now, in this fourth shot, I have taken up an 'HB' lead holder with a rather blunt end to it and am now going to begin to darken the shadowy background to help me see where that line of separation is going to be. I am cross hatching again, first on the angle and then on the horizontal going with the grain of the Bristol Board I work on and then back to an angle line again, over and over with a very soft touch always, so the lead is just grazing the surface. I don't want any strong darks at this point because I will need to continue to build it all up to give good ultimate distance to things, making the shadowy area recede from the strongly lit material in the foreground. This is my layering technique at work. I think you can see in this image just how I am beginning to really establish large, blocky areas of grey value in a relatively short time as well as to bring the dark spots that I established in the last shot to totality with the background. To this point, from the first image, I would say this is maybe a total of a minute and a half of work. Now, this is a rough tutorial and had this been an actual work, I would be spending a bit more time establishing these tones, maybe a total of ten to fifteen minutes worth of work as on the actual completed piece that was finished on Friday.

Now, I have picked up a 'B' pencil with a rather sharp point to it. Now, I will go back over the areas that I sort of 'set aside' as the points where I want little fuzzy fibers to stick up and darken and deepen the already established break between material and background.

I this next shot above, I have gone to my lead holder with 'B' in it and a rather blunt end. I will now continue layering, building up the dark shadow by horizontal lines and angled lines and picking out all those little areas that I want to read as fuzzy fibers. This is all just a matter of going over and over, with soft strokes again so as to not set in very strong darks right off, and continuously sharpening up that separation between light and dark.

Here, above, you can see a close detail of how this layer is being built up and how the line of separation between light and dark is being defined.

In this next to last image, I again have picked up the 'B' pencil with the sharper point and now I have gone back over everything, darkening up to the point of shadow that I want in that central area and have finally gone back and really defined the little 'hairs' of material as can be seen in the close up detail of that area below.

Being a very close detail, you can see in this image that things are very fuzzy indeed. As this is a relatively small area of the sample drawing, when viewed in actual size, things tend to fill in, tighten up and become more readable as distinct separations. If you look at these next two detail shots below from the actual completed and finished drawing, you will see what I mean about the separation between dark shadow and highlighted cloth being very 'rough'. This actually helps to give that frayed appearance to the drawing and when viewed from the appropriate distance, reads very sharp.

I hope this has been somewhat informative and, Laurene, answered your query from last week!

2009-06-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

2009-06-27T14:32:00.002-04:00

The completed work, image size is 8 3/4" x 13". This work will be shipped off for American Artists Abroad at the Bennington Center for the Arts later in July.

As noted yesterday, I will be working on a short tutorial to be posted tomorrow on the upper part of this work, specifically the way in which I indicated the frayed cloth of the canopy.

And, some final thoughts and notes on my 'adjustments' on the ways in which I modified the original photo reference to have things work for my concept of the composition. As I have said any number of times to students and those who ask . . . reference is just that, something to be referred to and not necessarily slavishly followed. In this case, there were good 'bones' to begin with, as the gourds with their interesting patterns and shapes, made for a very good starting point. By leaving some out and moving others (like the two smaller gourds that now hang, one above the other just to the right of the birds) I hope I have made a more interesting pattern, one that is less of a punch as is the case in the overall, evenly distributed gourds in the photo.

Also, by extending the log in the center so it runs off the right hand margin, I think I have better balanced the lower log which runs off to the left. Since I removed all the gourds hanging on that lower log in my work, there was much more emphasis put on that lower log and therefore I felt that by extending that central log to the right, a better balance would be achieved. Also, a stronger horizontal feel was achieved by this.

Getting rid of some more of the background texture, as on the extreme left of the photo, and the drum which is cut off at right, there is more focus on the central part of the composition, I feel.

And finally, by establishing that little bit of light coming through in the distance just to the left of the birds and behind that crescent slice of basket to their left, I wanted to give the viewer's eye a little more aid in finding the birds and establish a depth to the work that I found missing just a bit in the photo.

So, does it all work? I guess that is for the beholder to decide. I know how I feel about it!

2009-06-26T12:30:00.002-04:00

T. G. I. F.!

Working on getting this one done in the next day or two. Down to the nitty gritty of details and tightening up shadows, making sharp separations, checking to make sure there is good definition of distance and balance across the entire work. If you look at the sequence of in-progress shots over this last week, you will see that I have sort of been working from the top margin across and down the left side and then across the center horizontal and back to the left and then down and across the bottom margin. Often, I will be asked just how I work on a piece . . . do I start at the top and work down . . . do I start on the left and work across . . . do I start in the middle and work out to the edges? Depends.

Depends on the composition and where the darks are and where the focus is. There is a lot going on in this composition and to keep from having it all dissolve into total chaos, what with all those different textures going on, I have been constantly overworking areas, going back to deepen shadows or overall tonality and making sure that all the various components of the overall composition look like they fit together. This is where my technique of layering helps a great deal by allowing me to work an area, move on to another area and yet another and then to return to the first area and make subtle changes with a layer of grey to deepen the tone or a gradation of dark to light to indicate roundness and depth and dimensionality. By not specifically laying in a dark area in its fullest sense right off, I can go back and go back and darken as I work, making sure that the levels of dark and shadow suit the overall composition and make things look 'real' and as if they were sitting within space, some near, some far.

As to a query the other day regarding just how I have indicated the frayed, weather-worn woven cloth draped at the top of the image, I will attempt a little tutorial this weekend, once this work is completed, and see if I can explain how it was done.

2009-06-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

Been off for a few days, but back at the board today. Starting to round out those gourds now.

2009-06-21T10:44:00.001-04:00

2009-06-20T16:59:00.002-04:00

Slow day today but did manage to get in some basket weaving!

My guess is that by now, you can identify some of the variations on a theme that have been going on here, relative to the original reference photo and how I have adapted it to my composition. I will point out a few adjustments that might or might not be obvious . . .

#1 - I eliminated completely the bottom row, just visible in the photo, of hanging gourds; this done basically to keep the 'clutter' down to a minimum and help to put the emphasis where I want the emphasis and focus of the work to be. I also like that very strong, horizontal line of the bottom log which helps to define the space better without anything hanging off of it and carrying the eye off the bottom margin of the work.

#2 - I have also eliminated or edited out, a couple of the hanging gourds to leave some open spaces here and there and thus enabling there to be more distance visible between the foreground components of the composition design and the background upon which it all is taking place. Again, I think this is enhancing the focus of those objects that I want the focus to be on.

And #3 - I added in the two little weaver birds as the major focal point of the work, giving the viewer something to look for, settle on and find surprise in, once detected.

2009-06-19T16:41:00.000-04:00

This day's work.

2009-06-18T16:57:00.001-04:00

Doing a lot of texture development today. That is what this piece is going to be all about in the final analysis, and beginning to move things forwards and back.

2009-06-17T15:27:00.002-04:00

Here is yesterday's work. A quick look at the reference photo posted yesterday and you should be able to see some judicious editing of the content as well as an addition or two. It's all about the elements of composition and design and what I want to do with them in this particular work. I'll talk all about it as I go along.

2009-06-16T13:15:00.003-04:00

I've begun a new work today. This one will be the second submission for the upcoming American Artists Abroad exhibition, to open in a couple month's time. Here is the reference material that I will be 'drawing' from. See how I make use of it as the work progresses over the next week.

2009-06-14T11:06:00.002-04:00

Done. A quick look over this morning, a touch or two of 2B to darken a shadow here and there and add a bit of 'pop' to the dirt, and this piece is done. Image size on this one is just over 12" square.

2009-06-13T07:55:00.002-04:00

Today marks the opening of

Art of the Animal Kingdom XIV

at The Bennington Center for the Arts

just outside of Bennington, Vermont.

The exhibition will run through July 26 and

includes a work of mine, along with fine animal art

from many other outstanding, Nationally recognized artists.

Well worth a trip from anywhere along the New England

and Mid Atlantic coast, if traveling near, plan a stop at

this great venue. There is much to see and do here, so

take a look at their web site.

2009-06-11T16:45:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I know . . . doesn't look like an awful lot of work today but lots of little stuff today - feet, bananas, dirt, fuzz, tin cans. OK, well no tin cans, but picky things going on today and quite a bit of distractions as well, so only a couple hours of drawing time. I think both woman are pretty much done now and maybe another half hour/45 minutes to go on the guy.

As to my note yesterday about making a change in the composition, both commenters yesterday were right on target. After I had worked on the piece for the last five/six days, it became increasingly apparent to me that there really did not seem to be a 'connection point' between the viewer and what was going on in the piece. In my original sketch, I had indeed positioned the more central background baboon walking from behind the guy to the left, figuring it would make a nice connector between the two groupings of subjects and maybe add to the Circular compositional design of the piece.

As happens on occasion, I goofed. Sure there was circular movement going on, but my eye was finding it hard to land on one point when 'entering' the image and then to move through it easily. It needed more of an Eye to Eye compositional point to have the viewer's eye land upon it and then move easily around the various elements of the overall design. I believe, now, that I have accomplished that by changing the position of that one baboon to look directly out at the viewer, thus bringing your eye right to that center point of the overall image and making that all important connection between the image and the viewer. As I have mentioned before in these posts, Eye to Eye compositional design is one of seven basic composition forms that never fails to, pardon the pun, draw attention where you want attention to be drawn. In this case, smack dab in the middle of the action.

2009-06-10T15:45:00.002-04:00

Skipping out from work a bit early today so I can get in a late afternoon hike. I have decided today, that the baboons are not going to give me as much trouble as I thought at first. It's going to be that pile of plantains that might do me in!

Also, astute observers might see a pretty significant alteration to my initial composition today. Can you pin point it? These things do happen in the course of working on a piece; what seemed to work in sketches and initial idea formation, sometimes, when in the midst of a work, needs rethinking. Here is a perfect example of that. Explanations - stay tuned.

2009-06-09T16:51:00.003-04:00

Today's bit of work. Doing a lot of separating today . . . moving things apart, making distinctions between what is forward and what is back between the two women; tightening things up, darkening shadows enough to give good dimension, over layering mid tone greys to give more 'body' to the clothes. You know, all that nit picky stuff that helps to make it right. And, I am sure I will be going back when all is just about said and done and tweaking even more.

The 'best' (those pesky baboons) is yet to come!

2009-06-08T17:30:00.002-04:00

Other priorities this past weekend so not an awful lot of work accomplished on this current piece. Here is today's work . . . and yes, it is taking a bit of time to get to this point. As is my usual approach to a piece and in my usual technical style of layering, getting the skin tones just right is what is really driving this one. Laying in layer upon layer of ever darker grey tones to build up the roundness and shadows and give dimension to the arms etc. is making me take my time on this one. I am feeling pretty good about the piece at this point, so don't want to 'screw it up!'

2009-06-07T15:27:00.003-04:00

I'm going to be taking a break from ebay for a bit, as I have mentioned in the last several days, I have some larger scale works that will be coming off the drawing board over the next month or more. So, this little work of mourning doves will be the last work posted to ebay for bidding for at least the next couple of months. Also, if any of the more recent small works that have been posted here for ebay and that are still available are of interest to anyone, get in touch and I will let you know their selling price at the moment, for direct sale.

SOLD

2009-06-06T14:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's work . . .

2009-06-05T12:32:00.002-04:00

Well, it has taken a couple of days to post this, but I have begun this work that I spoke of back in mid week. And, as you no doubt can tell . . . yes! I am actually working on a piece with people in it. Will wonders never cease! This is going to be slow going . . . uncharted territory for me. Let's hope that it comes out somewhat like I intend it to.

2009-06-03T09:12:00.004-04:00

Another small work up for bid now on ebay.

SOLD

Click here to place a bid on ebay.

__________________________

I know it has been a bit since I have worked on a larger scale piece and posted in progress shots as I work on it. I am about to begin a series of pieces for upcoming juries and invitational exhibitions, one of which, American Artists Abroad, I am most pleased to have received an invitation to be a part of this past week. I am going to try and get two works done for that group showing and the first will begin later today and will be something a bit out of the ordinary for moi! Stay tuned.

2009-05-30T19:16:00.002-04:00

Another small work for bidding on ebay.

Click here to place a bid on ebay.