I’ve been indecisive of what to do next for a painting. Yes,
I still have 20-004 on the easel, but I want to have next ones lined up. Do I
do the next in the series of “The Hill” paintings I’m working on? Do I do a
floral? Do I attempt the one of Pele and the wine glasses?
I can freehand the hill painting, but the floral and Pele, I
need help with. I decided to tackle the floral first.
I went out on a limb to try something new. Nan had given me
some Art Spectrum Colourfix sanded papers she didn’t want to use with her own
paintings. My only other attempt at using something other than my favorite BFK
Rives print paper was with Canson Mi-Tientes, of which I tried one painting
with it and didn’t care for the texture.
Another first with the 9 x 12 Art Spectrum Colourfix was
using a paper with an already colored background. In the logical part of my
mind, I can’t see how a colored background will affect the painting as I layer
on colors. But I decided to give it a try and chose dark green as I’m working
with flowers.
I taped the paper to a drawing board, took measurements
(with places taped it came out as 9 x 11 ¾.) I laid it flat on the counter and
covered it with transfer paper. I positioned the 8 x 10 photo over the top and
with a pen, traced the outlines of the flowers. (For the life of me, I can’t
freehand draw flowers!)
I next put the board on a table-top easel and set up on the
table. I discovered with the last two paintings, that it is easier for me to do
all the sketching and most the value work sitting down with the board at more
of an angle than I like when painting. I darkened the tracing lines which were
very faint on the dark green background, then laid in value splotches. Not a
bad start.
The next one to tackle was Pele and the Wine Glasses. I’d
been trying to draw my beautiful kitty for years and just can’t capture her
essence. I’m not a still life painter, but those wine glasses had me intrigued …
and with her drinking out of one (it was water), I had to try. I hoped with the
purchase of an Artograph Tracer, I’d be able to accomplish a decent initial
drawing by tracing.
The original photo showed her drinking from the third of
three upright colored wine glasses. There was a fourth lying on its side in front
of her. While I am a realist painter, I’m not a photo realist and will take
artistic license to move objects. Right off the bat, I decided not to do the
glass lying on its side, and I wanted to move the three glasses over to the
right so her face is to the middle glass … but I forgot, and as I was using vine
charcoal to draw with, the lines were a little on the heavy side.
I did the initial tracing, then took the tabletop easel out
to my regular table to sit while I worked on more drawing and to begin adding
values. I figured I’d add a fourth wine glass to put her more in the middle and
quickly drew one on her right.
Drat! What was I thinking? Four glasses won’t work. Next
thought was to erase one of the glasses, but with the dark lines, I wasn’t sure
if I could remove all traces. There was the added fact that the one I would
erase was the one drawn the best. As a matter of fact, the one that looks the
most poorly drawn is the one she’s got her face in. Go figure.
So, after not using the glass lying on its side, I decided
to add one – facing the other direction. I free handed that one and it really
doesn’t look any worse than the ones I traced. Oh, how I can laugh at myself
even when frustrated!
So, now I had five wine glasses, a good uneven number … but
my mind continued to reel. How did I trace three and not have them look the
same? I went back to the studio to grab charcoal pencils and a couple different
erasers and spent the next, what felt like hours, straightening and thinning
lines, erasing lines that were off, using a ruler to make the glass stems straight
… and still …
But you know what, I am not perfect, and my paintings don’t
have to be perfect. And, just maybe, when I start adding color with pastels and
all that, the painting may come together just fine.
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