In the studio

I thought I would share what is on my drawing board these days. This is a work-in-progress, an image of the edge of a pond in the autumn. I am working this in colored pencil on Rising Museum board. It is 8 x 8 inches. Above is the drawing in an early stage, showing how I mapped in a few basic value shapes with cool grays before starting to use local color. I sometimes find that an under painting like this will help to unify the work. I choose the color of the under painting based on the overall color in my reference or what sort of color I would like in the finished work. Sometimes I use grays, sometimes I use monochromatic or analogous colors of a particular hue. In this case, cool grays seemed to go with the watery feel of this piece.

And here it is as I continue to add local color while moving across the drawing. As I add color to an area I will also continually go back to previously colored areas to make adjustments in color. This process will continue until I have the entire drawing covered with color. At that point, the entire piece is evaluated for color and value and final adjustments are made to unify and finish the drawing. I also need to be mindful throughout the process of where I intend to place the emphasis in this piece. And I need to leave room for what the drawing will tell me as it emerges, because sometimes the emphasis becomes something I didn't plan for at the outset. I love what Twyla Tharp says about planning in her book, The Creative Habit:
"Too much planning implies you've gt it all under control. That's boring, unrealistic, and dangerous. It lulls you into complacency. . ."