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.

Vision

     A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

                            Antoine de Saint-Exupery

 Well, this drawing is about as far away from the last one as I usually can manage.  For me, this is very loose drawing and I am working very hard to work less on the details in her hair.  Hopefully, I will be able to stay nice and loose in her clothing as well.  And, the big decision to be made ~ where to put the red?!?  Merry Christmas!

Crimson Sheets

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

      At last!  This little lady is finally done.  She can stop sitting on my drawing board.  So far in this series of women with red this particular drawing has taken the longest to complete.  It turned out that it was more an exercise in working with colored pencil than it was in achieving value.  Having worked so much with oil paint I have grown accustomed to being able to cover up any color or value of color that didn't work within the painting with another layer of paint.  Once dark shades are put in with colored pencil, however, it is next to impossible to lighten them ~ much like watercolor.  I have a new respect, therefore, for colored pencil artists.  They must be very good at planning ahead!

The Red Sheet

     The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.

                                                             William Makepeace Thackeray

 Since this blog is called One Artist's Journey I have decided to go back and start posting some of my works in progress.  This is the next drawing of a woman done in charcoal pencils and red colored pencils.  Her face is wrong, wrong, wrong.  Somehow I have managed to put her nose as if it is being seen in a full frontal view.  Hopefully, in the next session I will be able to give her a nose job.  That should help with another problem I see ~ her eyes.  As it is now they look too close together as their placement on her face don't agree with the way her nose looks.  Basically there are two different perspectives which leads the eye to be confused.  I am also having trouble with the shadows in her wrap.  Even though I was trying to stick to only using red pencils it looks as if I am going to have to add some purple in the shadows to give it more dimension.  There is red in purple so I am only breaking my made-up rule a little!  Looking at the picture as a whole, I also think I have way overworked her face.  I like the gentle shading on her body so will try to erase some of my darker lines when I get back to her features.  Anyway, there is a long, long way to go on this one but thought I would put it up now to show how things are constantly being worked and reworked.   Привет

The Redhead

       A man of eighty has outlived probably three new schools of painting, two of architecture and poetry, and a hundred in dress.

                                         Joyce Carey

      The pictures that I am working from for this series of drawings actually come from a black and white clip art book I have.  When I first saw this one I was tempted to make her necklace the red component in this drawing.  Once I got into it, though, I realized her hair was the feature that demanded the most attention.  It is always difficult to draw young, thin people ~ any artist that has tried her hand at life drawing will tell you that.  The more wrinkles the better ~ no matter where they are.  That fact is obvious in the picture.  One can only look at her face for so long before one's eye is drawn to her ribbon necklace.  Even though it is not done in color like her hair, the shadows and highlights created by all the folds in the ribbon make it an equally strong part of the drawing.  Also the shape of the necklace itself completes the circle partially created by her hair and the side of her face keeping the viewer's attention on her face.  Off she goes to join the other ladies!

Red Ribbons

There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.

                Washington Irving

 This drawing is number three in my series of charcoal pencil drawings of women highlighted with red pencil.  She looks like a woman that gets done what she sets her mind, too.  I tried to convey a little bit of spark in her personality by making her ribbons red ~ they help to give the impression that she walks her own path.  Again there is a lot of value work here.  These exercises are a great way to learn to see the value of being able to see value!