Wednesday, December 1, 2010

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. . ."

5 comments:

Teresa said...

This is beautiful already, Ann. Loved reading about your creative process.

Unknown said...

This is going to be awesome! I like to see the step-by-step too. I learn so much!

DALowe Artist said...

I love this post! The painting is gorgeous already and I love how you showed us the process you go through and gave us a peek inside your journey to a successful drawing. I have Twyla Tharp's book on To-Buy list, and that fueled my fire to just go out and get it! Thank you for this look inside your studio and inside your creative process.

kazumiwannabe said...

Awesome to be able to see the way you work! I don't know how to work with pencils, but I love the texture, the special blending of colors, the softness it gives (especially when it's done by you ^^!)

Cathy Holtom said...

I'm always interested to see how people work, this looks as if it's going to be fantastic!

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