"Ruins" (Final Photo)

Ruins

Charcoal, Graphite and White Chalk on Tinted Paper

11"x7" (2011)

Still-Life Drawing: Finished! (April 14, 2011)

(click to enlarge for better quality)

It's done! I am getting this photographed tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. I prefer taking photos in daylight so maybe tomorrow morning I'll post a better picture. As you can see I'm preparing my board for travel and there better not be any smudges when I take the board out tomorrow, lol, or I'm going to cry!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 2 (April 6, 2011)

I'm racing to get this done by the end of the month and being new to using white chalk so extensively in a drawing, I'm a little worried. But I'm actually having lots of fun! There's nothing like creating light with white chalk on tinted paper. It's feeling very intuitive right now, which is great. No wonder so many artists love this process!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 1 (April 2, 2011)

I just started this today but I've been planning it for awhile. I broke a beautiful container a couple years ago that I was previously thinking about using in a painting. The funny thing is I was more inspired to use it after I accidentally broke it. It looked much more intriguing and I had a great opportunity to do something conceptual with it.

Once I set up the broken pieces, they reminded me of ancient ruins and they have a beauty that didn't exist when the container was intact. So that's what I'll call this drawing; "Ruins".

It will be on tinted paper but I want to incorporate white chalk, which is why I didn't start straight on the "good paper". I'll be using white chalk a little more than I'm used to and I don't know how it'll turn out. That's why its good for me to have a cartoon or blueprint (if you will) so if anything goes terribly wrong, I don't have to start from scratch.

I'm still a little unsure about the composition. I'll take another look at it tomorrow but I might just end up moving one of those little broken pieces around...

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 7

Here's a truer representation of the drawing. Compare that to last week's iPhone photo...this one is so much better! I worked on the hair shapes a bit more. I forgot how time consuming dark areas are to shade in and even-out. The teeth are better (I really hate dental work in drawings, it's very challenging). The eyes are still ambiguous, I still need more information to fill them in more. Overall I feel much better about it than I did last week but I think this may be my last drawing in graphite...

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 6

So this paper is a huge problem (I knew it would be). It's not so much an issue in person but getting a good photo of it is a nightmare. The graphite glare on the raised areas of the paper are really distracting. It just gets worse in the darker areas, the light areas are fine.

Anyway, I've done a bit more but I'll have to figure out whether or not I can selvage this drawing based on the paper. It's something to do anyway, keeps my mind off the pain I'm in sometimes which is great for not having to take pain killers.

New Self-Portrait Painting (In Progress) Part 2

This is actually my 2nd attempt at the face, I won't bother showing you the first. It was really tight and stiff before. I hated it so much I tried to sand it down but I just painted over it. I have renewed faith in this painting and my skills in general, lol. For anyone who's curious, these are the colours I used for my skin:

Base: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ocher Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Ultra Marine Blue Deep (Old Holland).

Shadow: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue Deep.

Lights: Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna

That's the head so far and tomorrow I'll be working on it some more plus a bit of the background if I really push myself.