day 13 - V for . . .

It is almost Valentines day - and half way through the challenge.

So I thought an ambiguous image might be appropriate.

Valentine's is sorted (one of the advantages of being married) although I expect our favourite restaurant will be much noisier than usual. For singletons though the day can be a pain as well as a joy - and misses that romance can be a special event, but needs to be backed up by day-to-day actions.

Similarly I am am having doubts about this project - if I turn this into a full size painting, it will be 48 inches tall. That is really quite big - especially for someone that has yet to paint anything bigger than 20 inches. Scary. But half size just seems wrong, somehow. Soon I will have to make a decision - and who knows whether it will turn out V for Victory.

Day 10 - Lace

Today I am cheating and posting a drawing from a few weeks ago.

This is because I have been painting all day (with loads still to do) and am surprisingly exhausted - and as I didn't draw this morning (being keen to get into the studio) I suspect I shan't be drawing at all today. Did do two yesterday, though - unfortunately I didn't scan them both. Oh well.

The painted version of this is waiting to have the white lace added - I am quite looking forward to this, as it is the kind of thing that turns a "what is that? painting into an "oh gosh" painting. If it goes right, that is.

But I remember someone saying that if there is no risk, there is no excitement.

Day 8 - Hidden

This is one of those drawings where I thought, well, maybe, let's see - but was very pleasantly surprised by the result - isn't it odd how both photographs and drawings are 2 dimensional, but a weak photograph can make a terrific drawing - and of course vice versa.

Don't you think she's like a princess (Jasmine, maybe) sneaking out to have a bit of fun?

Day 2 - Peek-a-boo

This one I'm really excited about painting - it will be my biggest painting to date - at 20x40 inches - by quite a large margin. But I am much happier painting at close to life size and although Dolly (the model) is teeny a 3/4 length still works out quite big.

Although all those folds are gonna be a challenge I feel that having spent a fair bit of time painting origami last autumn should help. Hands will be new to me as well, so we will just have to wait and see how that turns out - although I have of course painted hands frequently before in the life drawing room.

However, if it is successful it will give me the courage to keep going and paint more than head-and-shoulders. Which, of course, gives me communicate much more.

Drawing In Preparation For Painting

The 28 Drawings Challenge is about to start again. This is my fourth year and I am really looking forward to it.

The first year got me drawing in a sketchbook for the first time, the second year I concentrated on using watercolour and ink, the third (unofficial) year I wrote here.

This year I have recently started planning my paintings by drawing them out first, so will be sharing these as I go along, starting Saturday.

Above is one I did earlier. The painting is probably not quite done as it only got to this stage today.

First I drew the composition out (the smallest drawing) and liked it enough to decide to paint it. Next I had a little trouble getting the scale right - currently I am working on creating a group of works and consequently want them all to work together well. Consequently I have decided to make them all either a bit smaller than life size or half that size. However, this is not quite as easy as I thought it would be - at the moment it involves guessing, doing the drawing (with inches converted to centimeters) and then comparing it to the other drawings. The second version was too big, then the third just right!

The method of drawing is simple - using the paper as a mid tone, adding the darkest darks, a dark mid tone and then the highlights. This makes it easy for me to adjust the composition. Also, it is fairly similar to my painting method and therefore makes it possible to judge whether the painting is likely to work or not.

Doing the drawings does take time, but does let me explore different possibilities and overall saves time, as I am much less likely to struggle mid-painting - or have to abandon a painting altogether. And it is 28 Drawings Later that I have to thank for getting me to this stage.