Right...as you can see I've now started on the 'home stretch'..the foreground. Proceeding fairly well.You can see here a base of blue defining various indistinct grass like shapes...then I go over it many times with red, yellow ochre, yellow, green...more blue etc...I'm not sure what it will look like..I'm just seeing what happens.This form of 'grassing' is a method I've used countless times before.But now...Something I've never shown on the blog before!:...
This is what I call my 'time sheet'..It actually serves as something to rest my drawing hand on whilst I'm working on the picture to protect the surface from any smudging..I make a new one for each picture I work on.In the top right hand corner I make a note of the exact time I start to work.Then when I put my pen down, I record on the left hand column the day, date and the time spent..I then add this to a running total. If you enlarge the picture you will see how much time I REALLY spend each day..you will observe that I am not as industrious as you might think. I debated weather to share this 'insider' secret as it shows as an inconsistent worker..but contradictorily a bit of an obsessive!...The squiggles in the centre are where I clear the pen nib and make sure the ink is flowing before I start making marks on the picture.
This enables me to calculate exactly how long I've spent on each picture. Funnily enough , it was only recently that I learnt that Georges Seurat did something very similar!
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10 comments:
That's a really good idea- a time sheet. I should try it. Usually I just try to count it up in my head afterwards.
when I've worked for a long time on a piece, there can be all sorts of little reminders and recipes etc I jot down ..with all the squiggles and numbers they're a little work of art in themselves!
I hope you've saved them all.
I've posted this comment from my friend Margret who is a regular reader but unable to comment:Thanks Margret and Graham!
> Hiya, Niall,
>
> Colourful (I love your scarf!!)
> productive (the quality of your output and your patience are
amazing!)
> thought-provoking (both visually and verbally
> whenever I peruse your superblog in my daily
wanderings)
> caring,
> amazing Gentleman,
>
> >
> Hope your day is showing up :-)
>
> Margret :-)
>
> (Graham is teaching all day today and tomorrow)
>
Niall,thank you for sharing the insider secret...it helps us appreciate the magnitude of what you do :)
The time sheet is a brilliant idea...'inconsistent' you say? 'organized'...i would say:)
it shows me too the need for some organization in my life :(
So consistent! I could never be so organised or meticulous!!
All I can say "Oh my God"!
Vidya
A cloud of colours you've got there. It's a necessary tool having a paper to test the pen ...it would be suicide to just start dotting ahead!
Imagine if I had a schedule like that - I'd die of frustration with myself and my laziness!
Thinking aloud..the original thinking for the time sheet was to enable me to respond when someone asks "how much do you charge?"..this is a false security however because people will only pay for the concept and the image not the technique or how long it took.
PS..It's one way that I can order myself to put in a regular amount of time..when someone asks me "How long will it take?" I can make a pretty acurate estimate now.
Vidya.. :-)
DM..So you don't fancy a job swap then ?
I have often wondered how to calculate the worth of one of my pieces (and then try to figure out what I would have left after the gallery's percentage!) I've discovered that if you make it dark enough, erotic enough, violent enough (but perhaps not overtly so!), you can charge just about anything you want. It's about appealling to the "lizard brain" part of people. Maybe not the best advice for everyone.. but..I travel in strange circles!
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