I made an earlier version of this motif using oil pastel (Neopastel by Caran d’Ache) but this one above uses traditional dry pastel. It’s on a dark sanded paper.
What can I say, seashells are my favorite landscape subject with their beautiful rolling hills formed deep in the sea.
I’ve been drawing the dog. I’ve been drawing lots of stuff. And I’m behind in my postings. But I’ve been having so much fun. Hope you’re doing the same. The drawing above is one of what I hope will be a series of Lucy drawings. My big painting has been on hold because of some household painting going on (painting the walls kind of painting rather than painting of pictures!). I’ve learned to use the spaces between spaces. Hence when I cannot do one kind of art, I do another kind.
Here’s some details.
Lucy’s face is wonderful to draw.
What I love about a motif like this one is the opportunities it offers for putting all kinds of color patches into the surroundings — even surprising colors like bright red or pale blue in small portions where the patches can enliven the whole color sensibility. There’s lots of chances to make little marks.
I work on the passages around the dog as much as I work on the dog — perhaps more so since there’s more not-dog here than dog.
The drawing is fairly largish — 24 x 18 inches drawn using Neopastel. It’s got a bit of tweaking still to go, but I have been photographing it regularly since the photographs help me see it better as a whole. Had to post it here because I’m so eager to share it!
Just hanging out this morning, drawing seashells. Seashells bring with them far away thoughts, oceanic messages. I look and listen.
On the weekend past I took a long walk. It was mild when we started out, but it got hot quickly as the sun rose higher. Finally we had to rest under some trees to catch our breath in the heat. I looked in the leaves of grass around me while I rested. I saw a humongous ant, one of those big monster-like ants, a muscle ant. It was gradually heading in my direction patiently traveling on flattened leaves under the grass canopy.
As ants are wont to do it took a meandering path. I was prepared at any moment to get out of its way as it came closer to me. But with much watching it never did get close enough for me to need to move. It seemed as though it would, but then for some cause it turned back upon its path and went back toward the direction from which it had first appeared.
I think I am somewhat ant-like in my travels with my art. I have several projects going at once. I try to be more focused but it never works. Instead I juggle many things. It is part of my ant-nature. That’s just the way it is. Thus I pulled out this drawing above, something I found in the pile, only a sketch when I found it, and began reworking it. It’s a study for a painting. I need to resume that painting too. I have a pile of things to finish.
I travel a meandering path, but somehow things get done.
I have been bit by the landscape bug again. I am still working on my myriad projects — various still lifes that have appeared on this blog in recent weeks — but, you know, sometimes you just have to paint some landscape.
Here’s the block in.
Here’s the big drawing of kois swimming in a basin of blue Neocolor crayon. It measures 42 x 51 inches and it’s on watercolor paper. I mentioned in the previous post that I tested using acrylic varnish as a coating to seal the Neocolor, using a little test drawing.
Soon I have to apply that procedure to this drawing. It’s going to be a bit of a nail biter. Wish me luck!
Well, the embossing at the bottom gives you an idea how small this drawing is. It’s a wild and wacky landscape, drawn quickly using Neocolors on stiff watercolor paper. The materials are identical to what I used for a large koi drawing. I made this drawing because I wanted to test rolling out a layer of acrylic varnish over it to seal the Neocolor. I needed a fast trial picture. A successful test means that I next apply the varnish to a large koi drawing, one that measures a whopping 42 x 51 inches.
It seems to have worked.
The varnish makes it harder to photograph (and I have suboptimal conditions as I write), but it seems to have created a sturdy acrylic coat and the dense pigment hasn’t prevented the acrylic from grabbing the surface. I rubbed as much crayon as I could into the paper, leaving bits of impasto and texture deliberately so as to give the procedure a proper test.
Now I have my work cut out for me, to apply the same varnish to a humongous sheet of paper. I’ll post that drawing next.
Landscapes and paintings of Marthe in the bath reached a peak in which colour was supreme, and form became fluid and adaptable.
via Pierre Bonnard: At home with Marthe, 1937-1943 — The Eclectic Light Company
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Going through some things in storage, I think I may have found some more oranges to include in The Big Painting. I had drawn a half circle near the bottom of the painting just like Bonnard without knowing what would go there, if anything. It was previsionary perhaps because soon after I stumbled upon the ancient picture above, a little basket of oranges that I painted many, many years ago.
Seems like a contender! We’ll see …
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