Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Candlelight

14 x 10
Silverpoint on Cream color prepared paper

Here's the latest silverpoint offering. I really don't have much to say about it. Hopefully it speaks for itself. I think there will be another candlelight drawing or two coming down the line.

On the technical side this is about as dark as silverpoint gets. I might be able to push it a bit farther, but not much, and I don't think it really needs to be any darker. If it were I think it would lose that quality of softness it has now. It would take all the air out of the shadows, and they would become more ominous and dramatic. Not going for the Rembrandt look here. Maybe I'll get a chance to play with the image in Photoshop to illustrate the point. All that silver in the darks also makes it almost impossible to get a decent picture. I bet I took 100 pictures of this before I came up with one that is usable. If you look close enough there is still some glare in the hair.

The color of the paper was a bit of a happy accident. Originally I wanted just a light, warm gray, but the raw umber gouache didn't tint out quite the way I expected. I was about to prepare another sheet, but decided to give this a try. I didn't have anything else to use it for after all. I'm glad I continued on with it. The color actually works quite well.

14 comments:

Jeanette Jobson said...

This is an amazing drawing. Your attention to detail is wonderful.

Silverpoint has such a lovely softness to it and the darkness is good on this piece.

You inspire me to try silverpoint again.

Dave B said...

Thank you. I'll admit to being fairly pleased with this one.

Thanks for dropping by.

Billie Crain said...

You should be pleased with this one! It's breathtaking! I really like the whispery effect of your silverpoint work. I'm not usually a fan of highkey artwork but this is just amazing.

Dave B said...

Thanks again. I'm still pleased with this, but I'm starting to rethink this whole silverpoint thing. Maybe it's not worth the trouble considering how it's being received.

Billie Crain said...

Dave, please reconsider. I received an email from Artist Daily today. It featured an artist that works in silverpoint as well. I lost your email addy or I would've emailed this to you:
http://e1.interweave.com/dm?id=EC3F8B0B23623157C53809A24FBC4444C684E54182BC9968

I can forward the email to you if you send me your email addy. You should see the prices this guy is getting for his silverpoint and IMO your work is far better than his. You're just not reaching the right audience.

Bonnie Heather said...

I just found your site. Love it. Wonderful talent.

Dave B said...

Oh, thank you and thanks for dropping by. Just out of curiosity, how'd you find me?

Anonymous said...

It is beautiful!!!

Dave B said...

Thanks so much.

I really need to get back to this blog. Lots of new work to show.

Laurel Daniel said...

Wow. Gorgeous work here, Dave. This is so soft and emotive!

d00mg1rl said...

I had a little play with this one in photoshop and autolevels alone really works wonders on this piece.

Dave B said...

If you really want this to pop silverpoint may well have been the wrong choice of medium. This is about as contrasty as it gets. I'm still happy with it though.

Unknown said...

Are you the David Boles who once lived in Arizona? I have pastels done by David Boles and I'm wondering if you are one and the same.

Dave B said...

Nope, that's somebody else. There was an uncle in New Mexico once, but different first name. That's as close as I can get.

Not too long after I started this somebody asked me the same question. Apparently there's two of us, totally unrelated. Now I'm going to have to look him up just out of curiosity.