Friday, May 1, 2009

Flowing Lines


Silverpoint
12 x 9

Let's try this again. Personally I think this is pretty good. Keep in mind that I seem to be a bad judge of my work, and my taste in general may be suspect given today's standards. I'll keep doing what I do in spite of all the outside influences though. Isn't that a definition of insanity? Then again if I am crazy do I really care? These thoughts are way too deep for a Friday, especially on Derby weekend.

I seem to be getting a lot of similar images, women with a lot of drapery. Too many? Is that a bad thing? Is there more to say? I like drapery mainly because of the way light falls on it. In this there is the added interest in the transparency. The figures are almost incidental. My main interest is still the light.

But there's more to it though, isn't there? So many elements to work with in a drawing, and with painting there's the added element of color. To make an image really work you need to consider all the parts -- value, line, composition, color. How you group the elements can vary. For instance, I think light comes under the heading of value. But value could just as easily be thought of as part of composition. The point is everything is important to creating a meaningful whole. In this silverpoint I wanted to project a soft, delicate, intimate image. Therefore I kept the value range from being too dark while keeping the figure on the light side. The lines flow rather than being short and jumpy giving a more peaceful feel. I tried to put in enough detail to project an intimacy without being overly picky. Hopefully everything came together.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is beautiful, I love the fine transparent drapery and the pose. Your silverpoint is just lovely. Keep doing what you enjoy - aren't we all a little crazy anyway? :)

Dave B said...

Thank you. I thought this came out pretty good, which is unusual for me. I'm real critical of my own work.

d00mg1rl said...

Aren't we all really our own worst critics?