What happens when it all goes wrong

16" x 23" mechanical pencil on Daler Rowney heavy white cartridge paper
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is what happens when it goes wrong...........because I got to drawing class late, didn't spend enough time plotting measurements etc. Then I couldn't get her face right and had it in and out at least half a dozen times and finally I got a bit ambitious about how much else to include because the face wasn't going right ...........!!!

I know there must be a saying about 'reflection' and 'evaluation' and 'being good for you', but I really can't remember it right now. I do know that it's always a good idea to take a good long hard look at a drawing the next day. Unfortunately we don't always like what we see!

So far my take on this drawing from last night's drawing class is as follows:

• it lacks design which emphasises a focal point (it was there at the beginning but I lost it somewhere along the way). Actually it lacks a design! Although it always has to be a 'found' piece, I normally set it up as a design based on the two models and didn't this time.
  
• it's total mess in terms of value pattern - I got distracted by colours of clothes as opposed to how they read in value terms
  
• there's no depth and recession - because of the weak value pattern
  
• the female model is all out of proportion - her torso is too long and her head seems too small
• the faces of the other artists have enough detail for the faces to look wrong - it would have been much better if I'd left them very simple
  
• interesting marks on the backs of drawing boards only serve to confuse - a bad case of doing detail when I should have been keeping it simple
• lots of boring scribble marks instead of more interesting marks with a balance between detail and very open scribble

I think I'll be back to just doing the main models next week! And I should look on the bright side - after producing one which is awful it almost always goes better the following week.........

Feel free to identify any more problems with it - although I'm the only one who is allowed to be rude!!!

Technorati tags: art, drawing, drawing class, drawing people, portrait, pencil

Belinda del Pesco shows "how to produce a collograph"

"Marmalade"

Original 7 x 10 inch Collograph & Watercolor
copyright Belinda Del Pesco

One of the things I love about blog-surfing is that I get to see all these wonderful techniques that other people use to produce their art. Yesterday I was getting into hand pulled collograph prints!

I noticed that Belinda de Pesco had posted a collograph and watercolour piece on her blog and had a quiet moan to her about the fact I couldn't see it and the process for producing the collograph print which Belinda had obviously set out in her blog post (I've been having all sorts of problems seeing images of late which has cut right back on commenting as you can imagine! For more on this see previous post). Belinda wrote back to me and told me to visit her e-bay site where she had also explained how to produce a collograph.

I do recommend you go and take a look at her blog and Belinda's excellent demonstration of the process for producing a handpulled collograph print as a base for a watercolour - it really makes me want to have a go. Belinda says she can see great potential in my pears! I think all we need to do now is persuade Belinda to get a permanent version of this demo on to her website!

If you take a look at the demo on the e-bay site the images are larger and you also get the opportunity to admire Lucy and give her a virtual stroke!

I also love Belinda's luscious juicy watercolours - which you can see on her website - especially the ones she does of shiny tiles and fruit and flowers on her kitchen counter top.

Do check out her website and her watercolours as well. She's one of a small number of watercolour artists who really make me want to get out my watercolours again and have another go. I know if I could just make myself get more pigment into the wash maybe I could get a little way along the long path towards the point of expertise that Belinda has already reached.

Links:

• Belinda del Pesco Fine Art website
  
• Belinda del Pesco Fine Art Blog
  
• Belinda del Pesco - About Me
• Belinda Del Pesco Fine Art Blog: Collograph & Watercolor: Marmalade (for bookmarking)
• Belinda del Pesco e-bay site - Collograph and Watercolor: 'Marmalade' (larger images)

Technorati tags: art , collograph, prints , printing , watercolor, watercoloor

Problems seeing images?

I've been having all sorts of problems of late seeing images on other people's Blogger blogs - which has really cut down on my comments as you can imagine. Initially, I thought it was something to do with the problems a lot of people were having as people changed over to Blogger Beta (I've not had the 'call' as yet!). Or maybe it was to do with technical problems on the sites where they hosted their images - which seemed much less likely as other people could obviously see images!

Yesterday I think I finally cracked what the problem is. I subscribe to the blogs I visit using Bloglines (I subscribe to more than I have in the blogroll - as I 'try them out' before blogrolling). What I realised was I couldn't see images if I accessed via Bloglines but could if I accessed them from another site - but not every site. Which meant it was probably a 'feed' issue.

I THINK that the problem is a change of feeds in Blogger. What I'm now doing each time I encounter this problem is unsubscribing from the original feed and then resubscribing to a new feed - hopefully one which works! It seems to be working - fingers crossed!

Technorati tags: Blogger, Bloglines

Asian Pears: thumbnails and greyscales

Asian Pears #1 and #2
8.25" x 5.25" (A5) pencil on Winsor and Newton Bristol Board 115 lb
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I've bought some Asian Pears with the intention of doing a still life. However, I'm enjoying working in pencil again so I decided to do some studies before I started to draw in coloured pencil or pastel; in effect producing large thumbnails in greyscale.

My aim last night was to to practice drawing the pears to understand them better and to start experimenting with composition and crop, hopefully with the idea of finding one which I want to pursue further. In the end I only did two drawings. I was trying to test:

• how distant / how close up - where should the edges of the study come? (I didn't really get very far with exploring this one)
• what sort of impact different lighting had
• the relationship between the two pears - how close / how distant
• the relationship between the pears and their shadows

The drawings also meant that I explored form and values in greyscale before getting going with colour when I do a fresh study.

I like to build in shadow into my still lifes from the start and liked the idea of overlapping shapes of both pear and shadow. The light sources came from behind and to the left and I think are maybe making it overcomplicated at the moment - but I'll see. I'll probably be continuing with more studies tonight - maybe trying a different tack.

Technorati tags: art, drawing, greyscale, pencil, thumbnail

Taking a good photograph

Many artists use reference photographs to help them develop their artwork. Developing an eye for a good image and learning how to take a good photograph can make all the difference.

Although I work from life a lot of the time, I also use my own reference photos along with sketches for developing work 'in the studio'. I find I start making the decisions about what I want to do more and more through a camera lens - even when drawing from life. I've found just using the camera to start finding the outside boundaries for an image can be really helpful. I often try different crops by looking through the lens (or at the tiny screen) - even if I don't take photos for every one. They are in effect colour 'thumbnails' which complement the simple monotone thumbnails in a sketchbook. When I switch between landscape and portrait formats I sometimes find things using a camera which I might not have tried otherwise.

Photos are also excellent for walking round and round an image and finding the best viewpoint. The only thing I have to make sure I do is find a way of watching the ground at the same time as I'm looking through the lens so I don't fall over (I've bust quite enough tendons and ligaments for one lifetime!).

The BBC has an excellent site for all those wanting to improve their reference photographs - A Digital Picture of Britain - How to take good photographs. Tom Ang provides a succinct checklist - with excellent images to illustrate the points he makes - for the following topic areas:

• Composition
• Light
• Colour
• Landscape
  
• People
• Being ready

A drop down menu for each topic area covers key bits of information that can really make a difference to the quality of a photo.

Tom Ang is a well-known photographer who writes extensively on photography for broadsheets and photography journals. His website http://www.tomang.com is another excellent source of information – particularly the page devoted to articles on really useful stuff like tonality and greyscales!

Note: The photos are of the boathouse at the bottom of the garden of the Old Manse next to the Old North Bridge in Concord Massachusetts - taken by me in September this year.

Links:

• A Digital Picture of Britain: How to take a good photograph
• Tom Ang website
• Tom Ang articles

Technorati tags: camera, photography, thumbnail