I wanted to get this one right, so I sketched first with pencil. I inked over the lines that made sense and used charcoal to mark the shadows. Finally, I used watercolors to lightly tint the portrait. Get better soon, Mick!
My father loved music, as I mentioned yesterday. He instilled this in my younger brother Dave, and me. Dave plays piano for a living. These days, he is getting back to his roots, playing for himself. Practicing, practicing, practicing. The study below originated as a pen and ink study. I have a pen nib that […]
It is nespoli time again in our back yard. Last year I devoted several sessions to them (Nespoli, Preliminary Sketch Abstract Nespoli, Abstract Nespoli). Today I began with charcoal to differentiate the dark areas from the light. The background in the reference photograph was dark, dappled with light spots. I wanted to register the progression of brightness in the […]
I started by making curves with my charcoal stick. I overlaid the darkest regions with sepia ink and lightened other areas with titanium white. Once again I had nothing in mind as I drew my curves. I do see arrows of differing calibers, and even some tail feathers.
Another experiment mixing white and black with my pigments. The yellow I used was almost earth tone in hue. The first red color laid down was opera rose, which I glazed with Sennelier red, a very saturated, transparent color. Some of the bright rose color shows through a bit. I darkened the leading edges of the […]
I started on the upper left side of the grid from my other post today (see The Grid), and numbered each in a counter-clockwise direction, spiraling into the center. Below is the first painting in this series of eleven. Before dis-assembling the grid, I rubbed the entire assembly with charcoal to accentuate the high points […]
In the yellow abstract I did today (see Forward Progress), the first yellow wash was not absorbed by the lines I scratched into the surface of the paper. In my study below, I blotched watercolor onto paper that was already scored, and found the same result: the scratches did not soak up the pigments. To […]
I posted another square watercolor today (see Pen and Ink and Color). I began the square below also with a free-form outline. Instead of pencil, I used a soft charcoal stick. I had the term ‘biomorphic’ somewhere in my head (probably from reading about some of Willem de Kooning’s works). I did not choose my […]
Before I crumpled today’s experiment I drew a free form with charcoal and painted within the confines of the lines. There were features of my brother Mike (autistic, low functioning and nonverbal), but not as pronounced as in my previous posts (see Imaginary Brother – New Ideas, So Simple, and Yet…, Imaginary Hug, with Feeling, Tri-Clopean Portrait, and Self-Portrait with […]
It’s been pretty dry out here in California. The fig tree in the back yard seems to be wilting. It has been doing so all summer. Usually, the onset of autumn begins one or two yellow leaf among the lush green leaves. Today the fig tree looked like yesterday’s limp salad. I began this study […]
