Here's the progress on today's picture. It's of the opposite bank of the canal to the previous drawing. to be honest, when I'd started this drawing, I hated it...(see below)..but I've put in a good chunk of time this afternoon and I'm a bit happier now. I'm finding it difficult getting used to the almost instantaneous nature of this technique..compared to the usual weeks of input...will i be able to part with them when the time comes?...
Trees along the bank of the Trent And Mersey Canal near Stenson Bubble Derby. April 2008.
A little further down into the undergrowth and a tangled mass is starting to take shape.I've not done a line drawing with ink for many years now,but i shall soon get into my stride and attempt more ambitious subjects. There's probably a couple more days work on this before I finish.
I'm not putting in the sort of hours I've done on PWM, but working on this little sketch is fun.I think I might have done enough with the trees now, and so it's time to work on the ground.It's my aim to be able to produce as many of these before the exhibition.
Progress is a lot faster this way...I remarked earlier that i was really enjoying seeing something so quickly. saying that, it's intricate and fiddly. the foreground will be a tangle of roots, plants and spring flowers. I love the hedgerows at this time of year before all the foliage hides the skeletal branches from view...wild daffodils and primroses are out at the moment.The buds on the trees are begining to burst and there's that damp earthy smell that can only mean one thing:...spring! 
The sun is out, and it's time to move on. I've a show to work towards and I need to produce a few things that I don't mind selling. Willington is a small village south of Derby, they've not had a festival there before, so I don't know what to expect. Yesterday I set off with my sketch pad and camera to have a look around Willington and surrounding area for some inspiration. The Trent and Mersey canal runs straight through the village and is to be the site of a multi million pound Marina development in the near future. 
There are a pair of Gold finches twittering in the willow tree as I write..the patio door is open and it's a lovely mild spring day...it's a lovely day . Here you can see my work on the sea continues...gradually darkening and strengthening the colours...You can clearly see that I've darkened the area to the right of the candle holder as opposed to the rest which I'll do after I've written this.I favour the darker/richer colours of the blue and green ..there's a sort of tranquility about it.
Here's a nice close up..try clicking on the image for an even closer look!
This is my second go at posting today..don't you just hate it when you spend your time composing a carefully crafted piece of prose only to have the server not publish it?...aagghh!!!Anyway, here's hoping this one works!
Here I'm using blue to define the horizon line...in my original sketch I had the sea being quite dark.
It's easy to make a light area darker than the other way around, so I'm opting for a fairly light layer of blue...I suppose it's a little 'grounding' which is a term in painting where you lay down a base colour for an area to eliminate the white glare of the canvas/paper....
The candle holder needs attention now..It is a metal structure and has a sort of shallow metal pan for the candle to stand in..the underside is reflective so needs to bear the correct light and highlights to make it look realistic...join me tomorrow to see what happens next!
I've done little work today, by choice. But I had to spend a little time strengthening the clouds and adding a little red to the horizon. If you compare today's and yesterday's you might see what I've done.
The clouds are now in place and I've added a little yellow ochre to the horizon. the next job is to darken the clouds near the top of the page and add a little red and more blue.I wanted clouds behind the area that is the glow from the candle as it helps to accentuate that glow..it's odd, but it actually looks as if there is a light there rather than plain paper showing through.
You should now start to see things quicken as I've all but finished the sky..now I can at long last begin on the clouds. Here I've placed a few rough shapes in the top left hand corner..they will be darker eventually, but you will begin to get a sense of depth to the sky as i introduce clouds further down to the horizon.They will also enclose the composition making it feel more intimate.
It felt good to carry the blue over to the other side..you can see a line extending from the crown of the left me's head..this is the layer of purple which i'm in the process of laying down from right to left..over that will be green and then more blue....lots more blue.
As you can see..I've refined the stars and continued the sky over to the far left. The photo is a little misleading..if you look to the very right of the sky area, you'll see that it appear a lot darker than the rest..in the flesh this is less so. However, a certain amount of over working will have to be done to the sky once the clouds have been put in.
Despite the mind numbing process of blue and more blue, I'm enjoying seeing the effect the sky blues has against the profile of the me on the left..there's a definite sense of light there which I'm pleased with.I took this photo this afternoon ..I've done more sky and reduced the size of the stars to give a more realistic appearance. Today I passed the 155 hour mark which I think makes this the most amount of time I've ever spent on a picture...I'm estimating another 20 - 30 hours should see me very near if not at the end.
I'm getting closer to what I had envisaged with the candle. I've also introduced a lot of yellow to the horizon..i need to continue this up into the sky and add more blue...not very far to go now! I've begun to think about what comes next. It will have to be a few Small pieces that I can sell at the exhibition in a few weeks time.
Well..perhaps the progress isn't as stunning as you hoped..? I've spent the time filling in the sky which now I see it here, it's not as even as I thought..however, there will be clouds to add in later...The candle is causing me a few headaches..the reference photo I took was against a dark background, so the flame bleached out the surround...obviously this is against a lighter backdrop, so I've taken a bunch of photos to give me the desired effect...you'll notice a difference when I've done it!
The family arrived back safe and sound from their little break in whitby. Here's a rare photo of my two boys William (left) and Sam on board a little boat going out for a sight seeing cruise.
As they often do..my family have gone off for a few days leaving me to fend for myself. this is good because I can throw myself into my work and enjoy interruption free working.However, on the negative side, I let them take the camera away too, so I'll not be posting any pictures of my work until Saturday at the earliest.So instead, I'm going to indulge myself and post videos/music of my all time very favourite and most influential pieces of music from my past.
I've begun work on the glow around the candle..getting this right will mean the light on my faces is appropriate..
Up until 1998 I worked as a Resettlement Advisor at a local project for homeless people. I spent my day advising those who had housing related problems including being homeless and roofless. what many people don't realise is that being 'Homeless' doesn't necessarily mean they are a 'Rough Sleeper'. Being Homeless also accounts for those who live in temporary accommodation like bed and breakfast establishments and hostels for the homeless.
Around 4 hours work on this since yesterday...you can see how slow progress is!. Looking at my work sheet, i can see that I'm entering the sixth week on this. Boring for you the viewer, but a challenge I suppose along the lines of a marathon. I have mentioned the works 'time consuming' and sometimes 'Tedious' but don't let me fool you..I feel very privilaged to be able to devote so much of my time to this.
Now begins probably the most time consuming part of the composition. The Sky. My aim is to create a deep mix of blues with clouds and stars. Having practised the various colour combinations elsewhere, I've opted for layers of 5 colours. Below you can see from left to right: Mid Blue as the basic layer,the purple, and then green on top of that.There will also be yellow and red introduced at a later date. the difficulty lies with trying to form an even transition between the light and dark areas.
I have to say thank you to my friend Margret who reads this blog regularly. She sent me this little story which made me laugh.
I heard this story on the popular Channel 4 words and numbers quiz show 'Countdown' the other day .
So, moping around a bit today..I've come to a bit of a stand-off..what shall I do with the background? I've decided on the candle in the rather ornate holder that my friends Alan and Sheridan gave us a few Christmases ago, to go in the middle.All along I've had the idea that I'd do something in blue..I don't know, it just feels right. And somewhere deep inside I feel a need to have some water in the picture..i dream of the sea most nights, i love the sea, yet it never gets into my pictures. I copied out two prints of PWM and used colour pencils to sketch in a couple of backgrounds. the top one is obviously the sea. I'm not asking for you to make the decision, but i just want you to be able to to see a little more of the process I go through when composing my pictures. It's odd that even after 112 hours work, i still don't know what I'm going to do!
Posts
All Comments
