Breezing Into Blooms - 9

The beginnings of which can be seen here in this close-up...

 And a little bit further along here...

to here, where the water drops are now given some visibility...

Breezing Into Blooms - 8

The pump is now done...   now can begin the rock background...

Breezing Into Blooms - 7

And the pump now is beginning to take real shape...   would had more done by now, but spent the past day doing work on a power point for a talk to do next month [something new to me, working up a power point]...   when the pipe is done, then the back ground rocks will be done, thus showing the spaces for the rest of the water drops...

Breezing Into Blooms - 6

An in progress look, showing how it develops into the shading...

Breezing Into Blooms - 5

The pump and sluice now done, next is the handle [and rod]...

 Which is, except for the handle, here...

 And with the handle, seen here...

Breezing Into Blooms - 4

The 'easy' part of the pump is now done - the 'hard' part, that of having that white area covered more or less evenly light, remains...  this means having the nib tip just touch the canvas for the tiniest of dots, over and over and over...  the easiest way to do this is to hold the pen such that one of the fingers hits the canvas first and acts like a spring so that the nib tip just barely hits the canvas - and do this repeatedly until the area is covered...









                       Had hoped to get this all done, but found myself engrossed in The Girl Who Played with Fire - and ended up staying up all night [great book, second of a great trilogy], so only got this much done today -

Breezing Into Blooms - 3

Beginning to add some detailing...

Breezing Into Blooms - 2

Continuing, getting into the pump part...  one thing which should be noted is that the drops are mere indicators - the actual sizes will be more on the order of 1/3 those...

Breezing into Blooms

And it has begun...   am using this time a crow quill nib and FW black ink...  and yes, am stippling this, fine as it may be, as it will allow me to detail, whenever, all those little quirks like rust or pits or bumps or other irregularities should they be desired...

Furthering the Drops...

At the moment, there is nothing to show, as the pencil sketches are too light on the newsprint...  but, none the less, there is in progress another 'landscape in water drop' rendering - this time, as indicated elsewhere, a series of drops showing a progression from desert to full bloom and development...  there are many ways of doing this, but I thought having a sluice ending to the pump would do well, and angle it slightly for more a 3-D effect, with the wind blowing into the pump, and thus having the drops in a series going to the rear of the pump as seen - but with the progression being from the furthest drop to the one just about to leave the sluice [and yes, this would mean the viewing would be reversed, the pump seen facing the other direction]...   am also considering making it more a full landscape one, meaning that there would be something of a background, mounded rock slabs, light in tone, against which the drops show their reflection of the landscape as a panoramic presentation of the scene as it develops...   if this comes out  as mentally 'see', then there will be a revision of "Clear In The Air" in that a like kind of rock background would be added, removing the starkness as it presently is... 


At least that is the idea in mind.........

"Clear In the Air"

"24x18" FW Acrylic inks on canvas sheet...  using a crow quill nib...

Showing the land scape, which, as in a real water drop, is actually inverted and curved...














Question - think there really needs be something of a background, perhaps some light rocks mounded behind ?

Miniature Landscapes...

These are for the "Clear In The Air" rendering, the water drop at the end of the faucet...  they are studies, a rarity for me, but because never did miniatures before, thought worth playing with...  there is the canyon, seascape, and field...  the top shows how they'd look if attached to the faucet, the bottom so the landscape part can better be seen...   done with a crow quill using FW acrylic inks...  the actual size is about 3/4 inch squared - not much room...

"Coffer" - The Finish...

Update11.......

And here are the coins, all goldy looking...  indeed, actually did 'cheat' a bit and used the gold  color pencil, along with the verithin dark brown for the shade areas of the ribs...

Update 10........

Still have the coins to finish off, but otherwise -  used just the tuscan red over the indigo blue for the back ground...

Update 9........

And here is the fore ground cloth, blended and done...

Update 8.........

Just a wee darker than usual, but less of the glare look to it, more as it actually is...  both the layerings down, and needing now the white highlights and a blender to smooth it all out...  then turn to the rear part - and after that, the coins...

Update 7.........

Beginning the layering, first use tuscan red on the deeper folds of the fore cloth area, then, as seen, beginning to layer in the raspberry, which will then have crimson lake layered over that - as seen on the far right ...  note nothing has been burnished per the cloth - and will not until all the layers are down...

"Coffer" - Update 6.....

Spent the afternoon working on the back ground, and refining more the fore ground folds...  there is a glare here, as there is less the whiteness in real life, but the details still are as such, and will now get on with the layering of colors...

Putting It Together...

And, with the piping sections done, all is complete - except for the landscape in the water drop, yet to be done...

Playing the Pipe....

Slowly making my way down the pipe sections, with - at this point - four more to go...

...and the Parts...

The plunger rod, brace, and handle are now in place...

Clear In The Air - the Pump...

Shifting from stippling, as seen on the lit side, to stroking on the shade side, turned to using the Staedtler 0.05 for the shading - going, for both, to vertical in applying...

...and Continuance...

The front drop needs shading further into the pipe, but otherwise is now ready to begin on the pump section...

Clear In The Air - Beginnings...

Using a Micron 005 on a 24"x18" Fredric primed canvas sheet, am stippling this...  will eventually use a Staedtler 0.05 for finer detailing in the irregularities of the pipe metal...   while the sections are straight, this is old piping, so there will be dents and bents along the way - a well used machine, so to speak, long subjected to the forces of nature...

"Clear In the Air" - the sketch...

"Clear In the Air"

A new rendering to be, one of pen/ink, and showing an outdoor faucet, with a drop of water on the end, which reflects a view...  a question to think on - what view could/should/would best be shown?

Update 5...

For the wood plate, for a pecan wood look - sand, goldenrod, sepia and verithin dark brown... 

Note that the listing of these colors used is in the order they are laid down, generally working from light to dark...

Update 4....

And the rest of the cherries and coins...

Update 3....

Stem - chartreuse, white, dark green, verithin dark brown...

Cherry - poppy red, white, crimson red, verithin crimson red...

Coin - Poly white, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, bronze, dark brown, verithin dark brown...

Update 2...

And here's with the back ground section grisailled... it is a little on the rough side, but wanted most to get the valuing down, and the smoothing can be with the other layered colors...  it used most of a new indigo blue, leaving me with less than a 3 inch stub...

Update...

The bottom part of the cloth now done - next is the back ground part...

"Coffer"

 And here's my latest WIP, 20"x30", colored pencil on Stonehenge paper...  the grisaille is being done in indigo blue...   what it shows is a wood plate with cherries [yes - sigh - another cherries one] and a couple outsiders on the right among coins...   there is a cloth covering the background and over the shelf to down in front...

Context and the Failed Notion...

Sometimes I have found that in the midst of many ideas which seemingly flow thru me, not all are of the same sense of life as had always presumed...   perhaps this is a consequence of living alone too much, or perhaps a growing cynicism of how the politics are in this country, or perhaps a jading sense of any of a number of things...   the point is, tho, that these are all moments out of context, not the usual, and pass as fleas dying in the cold...   usually, tho, these less than sterling theme/titles are caught at the outset and discarded without a moment's thought - but now, it seems, an exception came up, tantalizing in its creation, and camouflaged by the bright colors that the composition would have...   it was only on reflection, mulling over a satirical aspect of it, that I came to see the whole as not satire so much as sarcasm, a distinct difference, and which then put this [it was a still life] in the same category as many such of bygone eras as are in museums over the world - annointing the 'frailties of life' , the 'impermanence' of being, of 'destruction' as the norm...

Something so different from my sense of life....

No, I will not name this - and indeed it never got to beyond mental composing, so no paper was wasted over it [I will, however, keep the theme/title, and seeing if later can constructively turn it to its proper, life-enhancing venue], but it has served as a wake-up call to complacency, and a need I see of being more careful of what flushes forth as fruit from the apple tree, that some have worms in them...

and life, lesson learned, goes on...

My Bigger Back Yard... Finished

And it is done - an alternate one from what was originally conceived [the sky is different], but still as per the theme, which is what, all in all, is of importance...

Bigger yard 53.....

And except for the picnic basket and sky, and some touching up, am essentially done with this...

Bigger yard 52.....

Beginning the distance coloring, layering turquoise blue [Liquitex] and raw sienna, with some beginning use of emerald green...

Bigger yard 51.....

After many breaks, delays and mistakes, and more delays, have finally gotten the rest of the background down, including the top of the picnic basket...

Now to get on with the glazing of colors...

And It Is Finished...

And finally have this rendering of "The Hookers of Belview Lake" done...  as noted, the top part of the background is lighter than the lower, as per the light...

Shelf down........

Used sepia for the ring lines, and layered with black raspberry, vermilion, chocolate, and sand..

Background bottom done...

And here is how the layers look - as if black from a distance...  next will be the shelf, then the top background, which will be a wee lighter, for the light showing...  tho the title and siggie are down, they'll be like carved into the wood when done [is why down now than later]...

Back to my 'Hookers'....

Am back on this, finishing the back ground [even tho still not have the wanted frame for it, and thus doing this on a 10"x20" size, to be cropped if needed], doing the lower part first, using dark brown, tuscan red, indigo blue, black cherry, peacock green, and dark umber - in that order, with using verithin dark brown to sharpen the edges of the lures...

Value notes.......

What with this rendering being done in sections, and the sections are all of much color, a question was raised regarding how the values hold up... so - here's a greyscale showing [note that once colors are glazed over the grisaille, this will change somewhat] -

Bigger yard 50.....

And the background is grisailled in...  with just the river plains and the sky to fill...   then glazing colors over the lot...

Bigger yard 49.....

The bend of the right side, where the river runs beyond and out of sight...