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I first spoke with Karen a few years ago when I was setting up my portfolio on Starving Artists. Starving Artists is hosted in the UK...I had run into some difficulty and needed to ask questions of a “real person” and it was a little expensive to call overseas!

Karen was listed as a gold member and from the US...my perfect contact. We soon discovered that we had much in common and have kept in touch ever since. Karen was working mainly in graphite at the time, beautifully done I might add. She has since become quite proficient as a pastel artist. I've watched her grow in this new medium and been amazed with her progress as I've waited for each new painting.

Karen' paintings and drawings are both sensitive and exciting.  Her story is something you don't want to miss.  You can see more of Karen' art and read her story by following the link below.

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...Crab Apple Tea...

I offer prints of most all my drawings. This adds to the overall money invested each season...with the economy the way it is, I've tried to keep my show costs down this year.

For those interested..."Crab Apple Tea" took close to 40 hours to complete, which is why you haven't heard from me much this week. I had to get it done because I had an appointment to have everything high resolution scanned on Wednesday. Made it by the skin of my teeth!

I've done some corrections in photo shop elements and but can't tell what they will look like until posted...so will come back and do subtle corrections at a later date and add more text. It's been a long week so far, going to try to get to bed before midnight for a change.

Hope you enjoy seeing the process,
Marsha


Crab Apple Tea...work in progress photos

Step One...You can see here how exact the line drawing is that I start with. Because I'm using carbon pencil this initial drawing needs to be as exact as possible. I've started laying down 6B carbon in the upper left...blending it until the paper is 100% covered using a stump. You can also see part of the glass outlined...when I'm going to make the background dark like this, I always outline the adjacent subjects using a B or 2B carbon pencil so as to preserve the edges.


Step Two...You can see in this photo how I've progressed around the glass of tea and on down to the table. Outlining the adjacent subjects as I mentioned, will maintain the accuracy of the glass shape, assuring that you don't loose this line while blending.


Step Three...I've begun on the glass (my favorite subject). If you check the image above you will see that this is all about identifying and drawing the shadow shapes. From here on out I will be shading the various smaller shadow shapes found within the the larger shapes outlined in the initial drawing. The darkest areas are applied directly to the paper using a 4 or 6B carbon pencil while the lighter areas are applied with a stump. The base color for the tea was applied using an artist brush.


Step Four...I continued applying carbon with an artist brush, creating the subtle shadows and highlights in the tea and sculpting the shape of the crab apple in the glass. I've started on the cinnamon sticks, making sure not to leave out the reflected highlights on the front of the glass.


Step Five...The glass and the crab apple on the table are pretty well defined at this point. There are still some subtle shadows to incorporate but for the most part I'm satisfied.


Step Six...starting again on the left, I've defined the table and begun on the cut lace doily. To render the wood table, I first made marks with a 6B pencil for the wood grain...then added a solid flow of carbon using first a stump (loaded with carbon) then a chamois. Carbon was applied to the doily, defining the shadow shapes, using a brush. I've also worked a little more on the glass of tea and deepened the shadows on the crab apple laying on the table.


Finished Drawing...This is a camera photo, not the final scan. I should have this drawing posted to my website in the next couple of weeks. The scans are done, I just have to upload and correct them in photo shop. The difference in the amount of detail a high resolution scan captures compared to a photograph is amazing. My camera lens does a good job but just can't compete with the final scan.

Crab Apple Tea will be offered as a print...check my website later for price and availability.


Links:
Fine Art Blog...The Extraordinary Pencil...blogspot
My Squidoo ...Drawing Techniques


PS...make a "Point"...leave a comment. Read More

I've been working on this new piece the last few days. I felt the name was perfect for both the flag and the old basketball and shoes. I hate to admit it but these are the type of basketball shoes that the guys wore when I was in high school! The older I get the more "dated" I feel...and I don't mean that "dinner date" feeling!

I took some WIP photos while I was working on the drawing, but didn't take time to computer edit and post until I was finished. I was really in a zone with this one and didn't want to break the rhythm. Hope you enjoy. I realize the lighting isn't very good...had to take these in my studio as I was working at night, still don't have that lighting figured out very well yet! I may come back and use this for a tutorial at a later date, if I do I will work some more on the WIP photos that you see here. The color is a little off and the contrast could be improved...the photos simply need more work, but I wanted to get this posted.

You can't tell too much here because this is only the top portion of the drawing...but it is an American Flag draped behind an old worn basket ball with a pair of old basket ball shoes in front. I have the top portion fairly done (for now), and starting to do the shadowed folds of the white stripe behind the basket ball.

I've worked on down the paper, finishing the flag and basket ball (the flag was hard, the ball was fun), and am starting on the shoes to the left. From here on I will be working pretty much left to right in order to keep my hand out of what I've already drawn. These shoes are going to be really time consuming.

Well, as you can see "shoe #1, to the left is almost done", I have filled in more of the flag in the background and done some on the toe of the other tennis shoe...working my way down the paper adding some tone value to the foreground.
This is the finished drawing...it will sit around a few days before I spray it with fixative. There's aways some final tweaking to be done. Also, keep in mind that these are photos corrected by a not so good "photo shop" person. You'd think that I would eventually get better at correcting the color and lighting...honestly, I don't find it enjoyable, I would rather be drawing!

I'm having all my new pieces high resolution scanned in a couple of weeks and should have them posted on my website by June 1st...then you will be able to see a much better photo with all the subtle detail that a camera photo just cant capture. This one will for sure be offered in Open Edition Prints.

Gotta head back to the drawing board...want to get two more drawings done before I do the scans. Will keep you updated.


Links:
Fine Art Blog...The Extraordinary Pencil...blogspot
My Squidoo ...Drawing Techniques




PS...make a "Point"...leave a comment Read More