On the Drawing Table.......Another Equine Drawing

This current work-in-progress will eventually depict two black horses, and is once again inspired by the wild horses of Wyoming.  The image shows the early stages of my layering with colored pencil.  As with my most recent equine drawing, I am putting down a grisaille using the range of Prismacolor french greys (except for the muzzle), in order to establish the shapes and some of the values.  There is much ground to cover yet: for perspective, this horse head is nearly 20 inches high.

With this piece, one of my goals is to retain and lead the viewer's eye through the particular -- though subtle -- use of color.  As the work progresses, I will be able to explain more specifically what I mean by this - and what it is I am attempting to accomplish.

As always, thanks for stopping in.   : )

"Wyoming Grey" Completed, and Exhibition News

Wyoming Grey

8" x 12"

Colored Pencil on Uart Sanded Pastel Paper

Each year the Colored Pencil Society of America invites a group of artists to donate a piece to their silent auction, "Small Works of Great Magnitude".  This year, Wyoming Grey will be among 36 small colored pencil works auctioned off during the convention week of the 19th Annual CPSA International Exhibition.  In addition, my piece Canadian Cowgirl has been accepted into the exhibition.  The show will take place from June 29 to July 31, 2011, at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas, near Dallas.  (I think I foresee a Dallas shopping excursion for more cowboy boots in my near future.)  More information, as well as the list of accepted artists, can be found at the CPSA website.

So now, it is back to the drawing board.  I have two or three potential ideas swirling around up there, and will probably take a couple of days deciding upon and working on the layout of my next project.  Though I would like to develop a portrait or figurative piece of my nineteen-year-old son, he is a rather uncooperative 'model'.  It may be necessary to resort to bribery.    : )   

Thanks for reading. 

Wyoming Wild Horse Update

This image shows the current progress on the Wyoming wild horse drawing.  I have been applying layers of colored pencil over the grisaille I discussed in the previous post: various values of grays and beige, black, ochres, and grape.  Currently I am laying in the details of the facial fur, starting on the forehead and working my way down -- much to do there still!  Though most of the mane, forelock, and eyes are completed, I will return to them to do the finish work.  Next post..........it will be done!

Thanks for stopping in.

  

Work-in-Progress: Wyoming Wild Horse

The 'model' for my current work-in-progress is a wild horse that was photographed in Wyoming a number of years ago.  It will be a small colored pencil piece, just 8" x 12", and as usual I am working on Uart sanded pastel paper.

The image above shows my work to present, and currently looks much more like a graphite drawing than a work in colored pencil.  By building a grisaille using the range of Prismacolor french greys, I am developing  the general values and their placement.  As the subject is a grey horse and other colors in the drawing will be subtle, this technique should lend itself well to the piece.  It has been quite some time since I have laid in my base coat in this way , and I am enjoying it.  Next I will begin building the details and colors on top of the grisaille.

Oh, and to divert............the barn swallows are back.  There are only a few right now, but soon (as I'm sure I wrote at this time last year) there will be dozens of swooping, happy barn swallows in the barn and surrounding sky.  Their return always does my heart good, though it feels a little different this year than it usually does.  I suspect that this is due to the fact that this past winter has been a most difficult one, what with its losses.  There are simply those things that life brings, that change one  --  so the little things that have always brought me such joy with the return of each spring season are now measured against the backdrop of the past few months.  Its a process.    

As always, thanks for reading.

"Dust and Thunder" Completed

Dust and Thunder

18" x 24"

Color Pencil on Uart 600



Upon completion of Dust and Thunder yesterday, I couldn't help but think about how much I have learned from this drawing.  Much of it's process has been an exercise in managing discomfort -- a frequent and nagging sensation that what I was attempting to do each step of the way may not get the result I was going for.  In retrospect, this feeling was probably born primarily from approaching a subject in ways quite foreign to me..........the dreaded unknown.  

During a previous blog post I discussed how controlling contrast can impact composition.  Effective handling of contrast can help to lead a viewer's eye through a painting or drawing, and ideally the focal point should have the strongest contrast of edges.  With Dust and Thunder, I attempted to impact the contrast through color and edge control.  My previous assertion that my goal would be to make the appaloosa horse the focal point, may have been unrealistic -- given the prominence of the two largest dark horses.  However, I attempted to draw attention to the appaloosa in a couple of ways.  First, in my reference photographs the brightly lit area behind the horses did not extend as far left as it does in my drawing: I extended the brightness behind the appaloosa, to create contrast through both the use of values and color.  Secondly, I attempted to keep the edges of this horse's neck and head fairly sharp, as hard edges also increase contrast thereby drawing the onlooker's eye.  For similar reasons, I had to work very hard to keep most of the foreground foliage very loose and soft: too much detail there (hard edges) would have distracted from where the areas of interest needed to be.  As it is my tendency to feel as if I must place every little detail (okay....yes....I have control issues), this was quite an undertaking for me.  Finally, because colors of high contrast or intensity at the margins can pull a viewer's eye out of the image, I attempted to slightly darken the values of the sunlit dust on both the left and right-hand margins.

I have the distinct feeling that the process of this piece and the many things I have learned, of which the above is just a sampling, will change my future artwork: how and to what degree, I do not know.  Clearly in both life, and art, there is a lot to be said for pushing oneself beyond one's comfort level.

Thanks for reading.

Just when we thought it was over.......

I certainly don't need to tell any of you from the midwest or the east coast (or the plains, west, and parts of the south for that matter) what a difficult winter it has been.  Here in southern Michigan our longing for spring has been encouraged by a couple of days with temperatures in the sixties.  I even felt compelled to turn my horses out onto their summer pasture for the first time this season, which was cause for much kicking up of heels.  And always a sure sign of spring, my lovely neighbors returned from their annual five-month stay in Florida.  Add to this factors such as the sudden appearance of the sandhill cranes for their migratory stop-over, and you'd think that milder weather is a shoe-in......right?  But alas; it is not to be, at least not in the immediate future.  True to Michigan in March form, we are under a winter weather (what?) watch, and slightly further north is expected to get up to eight inches of snow and up to a quarter inch of ice.  I'm. So. Excited.

But enough weather-whining, and on to art-related matters.  I'm considering making some changes to the lighting in my drawing room.  Currently I have natural light from both a north-facing and east-facing window, and am flanked by true-color lamps with an incandescent overhead -- but I often find that by early to mid-afternoon, depending on the sky conditions outside, I begin to have trouble seeing colors correctly.  Upon the recommendation of a friend I've considered investing in one of the lamps that contains both florescent and incandescent bulbs, thereby providing both cool and warm light simultaneously, and am interested in knowing what others may think of that type of lamp.  Any comments you could provide about what forms of lighting work best for you and why would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I have been asked by a couple of artists and friends about the status of Dust and Thunder.  Following its most recent update, I promised myself I would not write a post regarding it again until it was completed.  Over the next couple of days I am doing little more than the tweaking, and making some value adjustments -- so it is very close.  (Phew!)

Thanks for reading, and wherever you are.......I hope it is spring.     

"Dust and Thunder" Update: Growing Pains

Have I mentioned that I don't do foliage?  Well, practically.  Developing the foreground and foliage under these horses' hooves caused me to wonder..........when did I last execute any form of plant life?  After some deliberation (and the 20+ years I quit drawing altogether don't count), I recall it was in a pen and ink drawing in or around 1978.  So clearly, I don't do foliage.

Despite this fact, I recently completed laying in the foreground and foliage in "Dust and Thunder".  One of my goals with this piece has been to begin to develop a looser technique -- to successfully suggest detail, rather than attempting to draw every detail.  Though I'd probably be embarrassed if I knew how many hours it actually took me to develop the foreground, I'm pleased that I seem to have managed to clutch the reins a little less tightly -- in other words, hopefully I am relinquishing some artistic 'control issues' just a bit.  (Moi'?)

Presently I am tweaking the darkest values on the horses themselves, then will move on to continuing the development of the dust around the horses' legs -- something I look forward to.  With that, as well as the placement of the light source and landscape behind the horses, I will be able to address the contrast issues I discussed in my last post.

Thanks for reading.