Back to Work

We had to buy a new camera - all these technical difficulties! So, here are photos of the progress on the 2nd level Bargue. The first photo shows the shadow area stomped (the 2B pencil value is rubbed with a paper stump). This softens and presses the graphite into the paper. In doing this, the even quality of the value changes - it becomes blotchy and speckled. The speckles are lifted out with a kneaded eraser and the even tone reestablished with a 2H pencil. The pencils are held at the very end of the pencil, away from the point. This helps to maintain even pressure on the tip of the lead. It also trains us for holding a brush - never close to the tip, but way back on the handle.

The second photo shows todays work - I laid in the halftone areas. The halftone areas are the shapes between the dark and the light. This was done with  2H pencil, kneaded eraser, and a soft bristle brush. The transition between the dark and halftone is built up by light pencil strokes, over and over....

The last thing I was able to do was the "bed bug" line. This is the soft, fuzzy edge between the shadow and lightest areas. The bed bug line is a reference to the fact that a bed bug will not cross the "line" from a shadow into light. If you look along the shadow, on the shoulder or the nose, the edge between the dark shadow and the light of the paper is fuzzy and soft. Compare it to the previous photo. Tomorrow, I will work on refining the value shifts. They should not be "stripey". I can see areas were the transition is too rough.

The final photo is from the figure class. This was a single pose for the afternoon and a different exercise. It was focused on the negative areas in and around the figure. I thought this was fun and a break from the normal routine we have had over the past two weeks.

I am also preparing for a still life painting. In the coming weeks, I will tell you about the palette, subject and academic procedure for painting. It will be 12 x 16. There is an outdoor flea market this weekend and I will look for still life objects. One item has to be white, another shiny or reflective, and something to be lost in the background. Any ideas?