You're Once...Twice...

...Three times a lady...

If you recall, I'd completed and study for my summer tree/woman and was well on my way into a "final" version.  I thought it would go quickly - and the initial drawing did - but, I really got stuck on some things.

First of all, I did the study on a different paper than the one I'm using for this series.  It was a very smooth texture while the final has a bit more tooth.  It's always a bit of an adjustment, getting used to the different result.  But, the hardest part was that it was more difficult to get extreme darks that came so easily in the study because of the texture - the white of the paper shows through, lightening whatever value I put down.

I also struggled with the palm fronds, for some reason.  They came together so easily in the study - not so for the drawing that followed.  And then, I realized that I had really confined myself to almost only B-range pencils.  I really didn't use the the lighter values that I like to use in my drawings.  I flashed back to a college drawing class - I'd spent weeks on a poster-sized detailed still life and the professor commented that it appeared to consist mostly one value.  When I realized that, I started erasing to see if I could fix it, and this resulted in dirty, smudgy-looking work (not consistant with the other drawing in this series and rather sloppy for the subject matter).

So, much to my chagrin, I knew that this second drawing was not a final but another study.  There were elements in both drawings that I've taken and put into what will hopefully be the final drawing.  This time, I've started by laying down my light values - 4H, 2H, and HB - on the palm fronds.  I'll insert more dark shadows where needed, but I'm in the building of values stage.  This will take some time, depending on how much time I can carve out in the next few days.

In the meantime, I will continue to chip away at the mess of toys, shoes, and family stuff that always seems to pile up too quickly.  I'm teaching our writing co-op tomorrow - it's my turn and it's research paper time.

Growing the Tree...

Last night was spent working on the study of the tree again.  I think I've worked out the solution to all the green on green - enough contrasts in light/dark, saturation, value... there are such nuances to deal with.  I thought my hills were pretty much done, but now I realize that once I get the trees in there, there'll be some adjusting of surrounding colors to do and possibly some texturizing that I like from the study.

Again, hard to get accurate color with a flash at night -
I've got to try it with the flash off

I'm hoping to start work on it tonight while it's all fresh in the memory.  However, I spent the day at the park with the kids (all day...without sunscreen), and now I'm really tired.  There's something about spending time in the sun that just drains all energy from you.  Hopefully, I'll get a second wind.

Free at Last...sort of...

I finally have time! And now it's hard to figure out what to do first. The house needs a good cleaning (boooo!), rooms need to be painted, the yard needs to be weeded...

And, of course, there's drawing and painting to do. I think I'll sneak out to the garage before work and really get going on the chicken drawing. I think I've got most all of the details ironed out and it's time to take it to the next level.

In the meantime, I'll share a older picture from the sketchbook. It started as a doodle, having fun with line, value, texture, and facial expression. I liked how it was going but there was a dark mark on the guy's forehead that I couldn't quite remove. I thought I'd hide it better with some White-Out (after all, this is just in my sketchbook, right?)...WRONG! That only made it worse! So, I cut out a "bandage" from an Avery label to cover it. Oh well...

It's Done...Kinda...I Think...

TA-DAAA! Ok, well it's MOSTLY finished. I know I'll go back and tweak things a little here and there - I usually do. But, I don't think I would alter very much at this point and I can officially step away from it.

I like how the cape turned out on the textured paper - it has the feel of thick, heavy wool or something like it. You can really see the difference in between the original sketchbook drawing on smooth paper (below left) and the final (below right).

Like I mentioned in the previous post, this project forced me to look at paper a little more carefully - it can really have an impact. While it worked well for the darker cape, I battled more with the coat on the short figure. I'm still not sure I'm satisfied. Perhaps I need to go over it again - go for a little less contrast. I don't know - maybe I've just been staring at it too long today.