So Much For Being "Done"...

A rare day-off for Lincoln's Birthday, the big kids all gone to friends' houses, and a little sunshine on the front patio means that my littlest can have fun playing out front while mom updates things on the laptop.

Spring flowers have already arrived.

Anyway, didn't I say I might just tweak the painting a little?  Well, that wasn't exactly true.  When it came down to it, I think I tweaked it a lot.  Of course, it may not look different but, with a little close observation, one might notice differences.  Frankly, I became frustrated with the 2 flowers on the right - they became rather muddled by overworking with to many colors - I even completely painted out the bottom one and started over.

I think it's done - but I'm still not happy with the leaf - I'll just tweak it a little...

Light was an interesting challenge as I had a changing light source (a south-facing window) to my left which caused moving shadows and a secondary interior light overhead/right which created shadows of its own.  I realized that I was giving conflicting information with cast shadows of the flower petals on both sides of the vase/creamer, but I liked the shapes and decided to keep them.  And that's what was truly liberating about this project compared with the first one which was much more dependent on observation.  For this one, I gave myself permission to use more artistic license and mostly responded to what was happening on the paper.  Besides liking the shapes of some of the shadows, I also liked the orange from the flowers reflected on the porcelain surface - it wasn't nearly as pronounced in real life, but I liked it in the painting.

I still have dreams of one do doing a "quick" little still life that captures its essence with a minimum of strokes... (sigh)

Illo #1 and Lessons Learned

Working on the illos for my son's short story has been quite educational. While it's not a "real" illustration commission, it's given me a sense of what working on a job might be like. I've completed a few drawings in pen/ink. One of them is shown here (critiques welcome):

Suddenly the laughter at the table stopped for everyone was curious about what Jake had to say.

I'm not 100% thrilled about this picture. I started with this one and it's probably the most difficult of the 5. There are several people of different ages - requiring different proportions. They are all seated around a dinner table - requiring lots of "clutter" among the people and lots of legs beneath. I didn't have anything to look at, so I just had to work it out in my head (I did have my son model the hands for "Jake").

This has been very eye-opening, and I've learned many things about the whole process. Such as...

1) Make sure you have lots of time before the deadline to do - and redo - and redo - until you're totally satisfied.

2) This will be the final product for his assignment, but it's really just a 1st draft (after those sketchbook studies) of the entire composition. Now, I see all kinds of issues that I would change if I were to be doing this for a publisher.

3) I have a tendency to shorten legs - one of those proportion issues - but I've dealt with that a little better in drawings 2 and 3 (to be shown later).

4) Lighting is a bit of a mystery to me - I would have liked to enhance this image with effects of the lighting they would have had during that era (candles). But, I didn't have time to explore that and I would prefer to have something to directly observe.

5) Historical fiction is not my 1st choice of genre to illustrate - certainly not with a 1 week deadline! It's another layer added to the illustration - having to think of period correctness of costumes and props. More to think about and research.

This Could Take a While...

It's Wednesday and I'm quickly losing hope of being able to post my Illustration Friday painting before the theme changes. I did a color study last night that was absolutely horrid. I worked on one tonight with a little improvement. But, my time seems to be limited to after 8:00 p.m. when the baby goes to bed. By then, I have little steam.

Oh well...At least I'm solving a technical riddle (for me anyway). That is, figuring out color and value for an interior, low-light setting. This would be a wonderful moment to have a mentor, but since I'm short one, I've been searching the web for visual aids. They haven't been easy to find. Any search for interior paint/light seems to take me to interior decorating info. I already painted the living room and have no plans to do it again.

I did come across a couple of illustrations that I do admire. I will post them here with full credit and links to the artists in hopes that they don't mind (if so, I'll promptly remove this post).

Anyway, I really enjoy the work of the artist known on the web as Samuel123 (shown above) - he has several images involving interiors with a directed light source and unique characters. What struck me about his work is the warmth - I tend to gravitate toward cool blues when thinking "shadow."

This image was a nice example of backlighting for me - the glow that happens around figures and objects when lit from behind. I also like the color palette - much different combo of warm and cool than the work above. It just goes to show that there are different options. The artist, Maryam, has a style that I appreciate as well.

I don't mind missing the Illustration Friday deadline since this is one of those learning moments. It reminds me of when I did the "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road" drawing last year - it became big project during which I learned a lot about color and light in an outdoor evening scene with neon and twinkling lights (not that it's perfect or anything - probably not enough contrast and shadow to qualify as a night scene, and I don't use photoshop or anything.).

Nothing's ever simple...

I found a character sketch in my sketchbook that I thought would work for this weeks Illustration Friday theme "unfold" - as in, "how will this scenario unfold?" I want to keep on with the painting practice, so that's my intended medium.

As I drew out the scene, I realized that this would be best as an interior setting in dim light.

Some of my favorite works that others have done have been set in low light - either outdoors or indoors. But, I've never really done one of my own before. Of course, that means approaching light and color in a way that is new to me. Therefore...research and color studies. And, if you've never stopped by James Gurney's blog, he's an outstanding artist and a regular wealth of technical art instruction. I did find some great images of light and color (albeit outdoor scenes) that have inspired me.

Anyway, rather than simply being able to sit down and start creating, I've had to do samples of different color mixtures, mainly in the blue and purple range mixed with black and umber (I already have studies of complements). Sometimes there's a sort of glow that can come from whatever the light source is, so I've also done a few mixtures with yellow.

I don't usually post my prelim sketches and studies for an IF theme, but then this is much more involved than usual (nothing's ever simple). But, I now have a nice reference sheet, although I can't say exactly which color I'm going to use in which part. I guess I'll just dive in and we'll see how this all "unfolds..."

Glass from the Past...

Things are looking up - several work and teaching responsibilities have been set aside, projects around the house are near completion, and it's almost baby time. Could be any day I guess, but I'm hoping to get a little closer to the due date. I have my bags packed for the hospital, including my sketchbook and pencils.

In the meantime, I visited Kathleen Rietz's blog and saw a posting of a glass mosaic that she'd done. That reminded me that in the past I had enjoyed making stained glass panels. HEY! At last, something art-related for me to post about!

These are a few panels I did over 10 years ago, but I've never posted (not the best pictures - poor light - I'll try to remedy that soon). The kids designs (Humpty Dumpty and Counting Sheep) were in their bedroom windows until we moved here - now they're in my kitchen, helping to keep the neighbors from peering straight in.

I always loved glass projects - there was a certain amount of mystery as to how it would actually look once completed. Unless you have a light table (which I don't), you really can't see the full effect until the pieces are soldered together and you can lift the panel off the board. Then, you catch a first glimpse of the colors illuminated.

I always enjoyed the different textures and patterns of glass that you can get, too. Hopefully someday I'll be able to dive into another glass project. However, right now is just tooooooooo busy!

Waiting for pizza...

Look what I found! A few spare minutes!!!

Sometimes when I have a lot on my plate, the Lord "blesses" me with sleeplessness. So, I've actually been up quite early yesterday and today with a little bit of time to spend with the sketchbook. Right now, I'm waiting to order the 29 pizzas for our party this afternoon - can't order until 10:00 a.m. - so I thought I'd blog really quick.

Anyway, I'm working through many of the details of my chicken drawing, particularly colors. Every drawing I do seems to bring technical issues that I have to sort through and learn about. In this case, the scene turned into a night scene and there's issues of lights - such as a neon sign - that I'm having to deal with.

I think it's wonderful, though. Every little thing that comes up like this is just a little more added to my visual vocabulary. Hopefully, it will make my future work flow more smoothly. However, I couldn't imagine that there is a point where you're not discovering something new as you go.

No visuals to share on the chicken. But, I'm including a page from the sketchbook. You'll notice the doll in the upper right might look familiar - I've posted the acrylic study of that drawing before. You can also see the painting in the photo slideshow of my work at the top of this blog.

Beside the sketch, you can see the study of my daughter's doll that I did in order to figure out the positioning and how the dress would fall. Everything else on the page is just more "kiddy stuff" doodles. Who knows - maybe the bear will end up in a children's book. The little shoe-car down at the bottom is an actual wooden car my husband had made with his dad when he was a Boy Scout.