Lady in Red

Would that life were like the shadow cast by a wall or tree, but it is like the shadow of a bird in flight.

                   The Talmud

      After I posted this yesterday and got ready to put this lady aside I decided it needed just a little more work.  I am frequently asked when I know a piece of work is finished.  The honest answer ~ I don't.  They just get put aside and then usually pulled back out after some new change pops into my mind.  Anyway, this is the semi-final drawing of the Lady in Red.

Lady in Red

A very beautiful woman hardly ever leaves a clear-cut impression of features and shape in the memory: usually there remains only an aura of living colour.

               William Bolitho

      This is the second drawing in the series I am working on of women.  This one appealed to me because of its simplicity ~ simple hairdo, simple dress, no jewelry and yet she conveys such elegance and style just in the way she holds herself and the way she gazes so confidently into the distance.  I am toying with the idea of drawing some girl children but am finding that the older faces give me more chances to work on mastering value ~ lots of wrinkles to work with! 

The belief that youth is the happiest time of life is founded upon a fallacy.  The happiest person is the person who thinks the most interesting thoughts, and we grow happier as we grow older.

                William Lyon Phelps 

      Well, after finishing the drawing of the old woman I have decided to do a series of women of all ages.  I have got this one on the page and have made a start on her hair and her eye.  I have always wanted to try my hand at portrait oil painting so this will be a first step.  These drawings are a real lesson in value and composition.  Already I am seeing a problem with her eyebrow ~ some plucking to be done next session.

Solitude

Night, when words fade and things come alive, when the destructive analysis of day is done, and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.  When man reassembles his fragmentary self and grows with the calm of a tree.

                                         Antoine de Saint-Exupery

         While I may have inadvertently added glazes to my paintings before I am consciously using them on this one.  Even though I feel as if I have been working on this one for years (which I actually have off and on) it also feels as if I have just begun.  So far I have only glazed over the windows in the boat and the inside of the row boat.  And I have only added very light glazes.  Over the next several weeks I plan to experiment a lot more and see how the glaze applications will add depth to the overall composition. This technique takes quite a bit of patience as each coat must be allowed to completely dry before the next one is applied.  Thank goodness I have many other projects to work on ~ too many! 

Lost in Thought

The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but rather what they miss.

                                    Thomas Carlyle

      Now that I am back from my trip I was able to get my hands on a few things to put the final touches on this drawing.  I darkened some of her clothing and some of her hair with charcoal and used some different colored pencils to give more depth to her head scarf.  The whole time I was drawing her I was under the belief that she was thinking sad thoughts but now I have changed my mind.  If she has the spunk to tie a red scarf on her head I think she must have some pretty exciting memories ~ some of which I am sure are connected to that wedding ring she still has on her finger!

One of the recognizable features of the authentic masterpiece is its capacity to renew itself, to endure the loss of some kinds of immediate relevance while still answering the most important questions men can ask, including new ones they are just learning how to frame.

                                                   Arnold Stein

 Last week I had a wonderful opportunity to visit the National Gallery of Art.  Washington, D.C. is beautiful this time of the year.  After a lovely stroll from Union Station past the Capitol and the Reflecting Pool the icing on the cake was standing before so many of the old master paintings the gallery offers.  I was so inspired by everything I saw that I spent the next day all day in the hotel room working on this drawing.  I was so happy that I had packed my pencils and this drawing to work on.  Usually I just bring along a few pencils and a sketch pad when I travel but this time knowing that I would get a chance to have some time to work I brought this project along.  Anyway, as you can see I did go ahead and make the scarf red and even added a little blue to her eyes.  Not quite sure if this is finished yet ~ now that I am home I might possibly use some charcoal to darken some of the shadows and her coat.  For now, though, I am going to put this sad little lady in the corner and grab my paints.  I have been reading about the Flemish method and am anxious to give it a try.

Lost in Thought

The spiritual eyesight improves as the physical eyesight declines.

                  Plato

      Once again I have fallen into the trap of not planning ahead.  While I am happy with the pose and placement of this drawing I really didn't think out the color scheme like I should have.  When I first made a quick sketch I was toying with the idea of doing the whole drawing in graphite and then going back and doing the scarf in red colored pencil.  Now that I have highlighted her hair in white chalk I am not sure if that is such a good idea.  Her coat is going to be a deep black but, then again, maybe a deep purple if I do the scarf red.  There are no rules in art but sometimes I wish there were!