Five Tulips

Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals.  some seem to smile, some have a sad expression, some are pensive and diffident, others again are plain, honest and upright.

                                      Henry Ward Beecher

 Well, now I know why the coloring book craze has taken over!  What a joy to work with colored pencils ~ they enable such control over line and shading.  I am going to try my hand at one more of these using a much wider palette.  It could be that I find this method so enjoyable because it doesn't call for any "looseness" at all ~ this is about as tight as it gets!

Dawn

The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.

                   Publilius Syrus

 This is sixth drawing in the series of women with red.  I have learned a lot about shading and value doing these drawings.  It is my intention to do six more in the next several months.  For now, though, I have become interested in working with colored pencil.  My experience with this medium is very limited but I have enjoyed working on the red parts of these drawings.  Currently on my drawing board is an art deco flower composition.  I am using a limited palette of red, green and blue.  Next time I will post it even if it's not finished.  In this particular drawing above I really tried to broaden the value range from the whitest white to the blackest black I could achieve.  She is definitely my favorite ~ probably because I can see some progress in my technique.  I also walked away from this one earlier than I did the others.  It is my tendency to overwork my drawings, I think ~ always aiming to be a little looser.  That's not so easy, though, as I always see room for improvement.  Like the saying goes though, artists don't finish their works, they just abandon them.