Flute Player

Silverpoint on prepared off white paper
12 x 9ish

You don't get many do overs in life, but that doesn't really apply to drawing. If it isn't right, throw it out and do it again until it is. This is a do over. I originally did it about a year ago when I was experimenting with copper instead of silver. I found out that it works, but I much prefer silver. Copper is harder and therefore leaves a lighter line so you really don't have much of a value range to work with. I couldn't tell that annealing helped in that area either. You might expect a different color line too, but that difference is so slight that you really have to look hard so that's not a factor. Plus there is the question of how it will oxidize. How would it look when used with silver? That's not something I can control, and I really won't know for several months if not years so that's a risk I'm not really willing to take. Anyway, what I wound up with was a rather faint image that was basically all right, but nothing to write home about. Since I liked the image and the model I thought it was worth taking another shot at it. This obviously, is the result.

Arches I and II

Oil on panel
22 x 11

Originally I thought this would make a really nice watercolor or gouache. Boy, was I wrong. Actually it probably would have if I hadn't screwed it up horribly. I once had a teacher that said watercolors were either really easy or absolutely impossible. Apparently this was one of the impossible ones, especially since I hadn't done one in a while. So rather than attempt the impossible I switched over to oil. I'm glad I didn't give up on the piece entirely. I really liked the pose. The arch of the back accentuated by the hair hanging down, and the arched doorway. And let's not forget the arched niche in the back wall. But once it was finished it looked a bit lonely. So it became one of a pair.


Oil on Panel
22 x 11

To do a set you want to have them be similar without being too similar. Same background, yes. Same, or at least similar dress, yes. Same model would have been nice, but she's moved on so I needed somebody else. Just as I was about to find a replacement model I stumbled across an older photo I had laying around waiting to be used. Could this work? I think so with a few alterations anyway. So what do you think, does it work as a companion piece? It's got some nice arches and arcs to it. The model is similar, although I think I could have made her just a bit taller. All in all, I rather like the way they came out.