Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Olly olly oxen free

Ok, Sharpie pen, you can come out now. I bought a replacement pen today for the one I can't find, so I anticipate the lost one to show up any day now. I justified buying this because it is an extra fine point, unlike the other one which is merely a fine point. I always took exception to that rating - it never seemed very fine to me. Now, provided I find it again, I will have two widths to choose from. Not having a problem curbing my excitement here.


I've let this Picasso drawing suck up more time this week than I should have allowed. Against my better judgment, I put the finishing touches on it this afternoon - it was something I could do outside, and oh, how I wanted to stay outside a bit longer. I'm learning that drawing is not unlike quilting - it's difficult to stop adding this and that and to just call it done. But I must. There are more subjects I want to practice on.

So what was the value of spending so much time on this? Well, value was the value, as in really studying the subtle and not so subtle changes in value in this painting and duplicating it in tones of grey. Yes, I could have scanned the painting, changed it to greyscale and studied it that way, but there's something in the doing of it, the slow process of duplication that gets the message through differently and perhaps better. At least, I am finding it is causing me to make the connection between theory and practice. Every time I looked at this picture, I saw something new - even today as I was saying, there - I'm done. I'm also getting a feel for how to use the different pencils, erasers and that cardboard tube thing that I can't remember the name of. I feel a little less in the dark.

I did finally do some work towards my exhibit preparations, stumbling upon a way to let the computer do some of the work more quickly. I'll be sharing that tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did a brilliant job of duplicating that painting :) I never could have done it!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Thanks, Tonks, but don't be so sure you couldn't do it too if you took the kind of drawing course I did. It's amazing how much this "right brain" stuff has helped the way I see, and it's that "seeing" in a different way that can lead to better drawing. Give it a try!