Weekly OP Sketch Thread Jan 5-11

[Scarefishcrow]

Originally Posted by Bars

Thank you, Pat,Bill, Wendy and Xina, for your comments. Frankly I was surprised that I could draw an Iris, let alone have it turn out ok. I love flowers, maybe that has something.to do with it. I was given a bunch of peonies for Xmas, they were so beautiful very voluptuous sort of bloom. No way I could pai9nt them. Has anyone painted these flowers? I would love to see how it is done. Bars

Bars, I was trying to remember. Carpal Tunnel Surgery, right? How long has it been. I know it seemed to progress SO SLOOOOWLY. But hang in there. I think back now on all those years I could only hold something for a few minutes before my hand went numb. Had to hold pencils between my middle and index finger to write.

I feel the same way about Dahlias as Peonies. Someone gave this dinnerplate Dahlia to my wife and I thought it was so beautiful (digital manipulations done):



I always find iris so complicated and yours are so nice!

Bill

[robertsloan2]

Originally Posted by Bars

Thank you, Pat,Bill, Wendy and Xina, for your comments. Frankly I was surprised that I could draw an Iris, let alone have it turn out ok. I love flowers, maybe that has something.to do with it. I was given a bunch of peonies for Xmas, they were so beautiful very voluptuous sort of bloom. No way I could pai9nt them. Has anyone painted these flowers? I would love to see how it is done. Bars

Your irises are lovely, and the color is so rich and powerful. You did great with them. Irises are a bit easier for me too, than things like dahlias or zinnias. I've never tried one.

Bill, that Dinnerplate Dahlia is strangely familiar. I've either seen it as a reference here or as something Gary Greene drew, something like that -- it is very striking. Not something I would want to try to attempt in colored pencils, I'd be at it for about a decade.

[robertsloan2]

Originally Posted by christinemlr

Wendy your paintings are utterly beautiful.
Bill I really like the colours and the textures you've made in the undergrowth. Did you scrape into it? However the texture overall seems to me to bring it forward in front of the trees or am I reading it wrong?
Bars your irises have such joyful life in them

Heres a new sketch Senneliers on La Carte Sienna (about 1 hour)



This turned out to be more of a painting than intended and I was wondering whether to post it separately, but it is a sketch. It was done in poor light conditions. I was sitting idly when I noticed how the lamp light was falling on the jug on the coffee table in front of me and I just had to have a go at trying to capture that. I got an apple and a little shell to give it some company. It was difficult trying to see what I was doing in the dark and I'm suprised how well it turned out. Perhaps I should paint in the dark more often!
Xina

Xina, Bill's pointed out everything I would say about this in a critique. In whole, it is lovely and you're right -- more of a painting than a sketch. I do get the impression the shell is lighter than the vase or that the shadow is thinner over the shell, perhaps in your real setup there was a fill light coming in from somewhere?

The color is rich and lush. I love it. The feel of it overcomes any of its flaws.

[robertsloan2]

Oh why not? Others have posted their stone studies to the sketch thread too.



I'm proud. I used my Holbeins within days of their arrival. I almost never do that with new supplies, but here it is -- my first Holbein one, a stone study for "100 Stones."

[Scarefishcrow]

Very nice contrast and colors, Robert. Rather interesting pattern. More info?

Bill

[Bars]

All I can say about your dahlia Bill is wow Peonies are all sort of bunched up too many petals, too close together for me. I think your dahlias may be a little better to draw. Barb.

[robertsloan2]

Thanks, Bill. I wrote it up as a demo and posted all the stages with an article around the notes I took while I was painting. I got going painting and scanning and writing, finished it, posted it here and on 100 stones and then put it on the Holbein review and did it as my second art lesson.

I'm not sure what the topic is of it as an art lesson, it wasn't planned as one but I had all the stages except the line sketch scanned. The line sketch was on gray paper and I forgot to trace it out to have a copyable contour drawing, so I just suggested they try drawing from it and linked to the page on how to sketch for OP.

I had a fun but very intense day writing that, I think that was one of my tougher articles to create but very fun.

It's a fossil my daughter gave me for my birthday after I moved in. It was very cool, a leaf from the Cretaceous in the old red sandstone. I cleared all the pencil cups off my DVD/RW, which is why the weird pattern of ridged lines and smooth darkness -- that is how it looked with the afternoon sun on semi-matte black electronic equipment. It's about two, two and a half inches across.

It was lit from a bright window behind it and a more shaded one to the right at the same time, resulting in the subtle double shadow -- it vanished as soon as it left the edge of the main cast shadow, just vanished, but was clearly there within it. I played around with all the browns till I came close to the actual color of the stone in strong sun.

I did about half of it from memory though because the sun went down while I was still working on it and I still wanted to get it done.

I did use the Intus Deluxe Holbein Pastel Holder while working on it and that worked out well even if my fingers still got sticky putting them in and taking them out. I may want to get several for different color groups though because some of the pastel sticks inside the holder to stain the outside of the next stick, which would be less annoying in "variations on brown" than "indigo on yellow."

[Yusuke]

Hi all,

Thanks for the comments on mine, Robert, Pat, Wendy, Bill and Bars.

Wendy,
You coloured the blurry b&w photo? What an imagination. I'm sure that your experienced eyes could easily see the colourful scene from the b&w photo. Great work. Your lily is also nicely done. I like the delicate touch on the petals.

Bill,
Interesting texture and strokes. It looked like abstract but it is the forest!

Bars,
Using the dark paper for purple irises is a good idea. The brighter edges show the flower shape well and remind me of the soft texture of petals.

Xina,
Beautiful piece. Sketched in a dark room? Amazing. You expressed the light condition well.

Robert,
Red Cretaceous sandstone with leaf fossil in it... you have an interesting collection! I like the way you painted the round table and the shadow dropping on it. It shows the this is a stone but not just a normal stone to you.

I sketched two more this week. A Japanese traditional wooden bowl and my son's cloth. Senneliers on a watercolour paper and a sketchpad.

[robertsloan2]

I visited your gallery out of curiosity and looked at some of your older still lifes. They were good then, but I'm seeing so much vast improvement now, Yusuke. This bowl comes to life for me.

The base is a little off center, is it shaped like that in reality? I know that many Japanese artifacts have some deliberate asymmetry for balance, it would be stable as you have drawn it and you captured the rich lacquer texture and painted decorations so perfectly. You painted the light as well as the bowl.

Your son's jacket is well drawn, and like my fossil leaf has so much love in it. Something like that is priceless. Someday he will be eye to eye with you and you will still have that drawing to show him -- and maybe paint his jacket then too. I like the way the texture of the cloth is real, the way the seams bulk up and most of the middle flattens out but has some ripples.

[christinemlr]

Yusuke, the richness of colour and the sheen on the surfaces of both of these make them stunning little sketches. I too have visited your online gallery and its so interesting to see how your application of oil pastel is changing as you develop your work, and it is very inspiring.
Xina

[Pat Isaac]

Fantastic sketches, Yusuke. The shine and color of the bowl inside just glows. The little cloth and its folds are well done.

Pat

[Scarefishcrow]

Thanks, Yusuke, and great sketches. Love the sense of luminosity and reflected light in the bowl!!

Bill

[Yusuke]

Thanks, Robert.

Oh, I have to update my online gallery... Yes, I, too, think my skill of OP usage have improved since then. The OPs I used for the works in my online gallery are only hard ones such as Pentel and Faber-Castell. After getting Sennelier and Holbein, it became much more easier to express what I want. Thanks for visiting.

Originally Posted by robertsloan2

The base is a little off center, is it shaped like that in reality? I know that many Japanese artifacts have some deliberate asymmetry for balance, it would be stable as you have drawn it and you captured the rich lacquer texture and painted decorations so perfectly. You painted the light as well as the bowl.

Ah, you have such keen eyes! This bowl is symmetrically formed, not like my sketch... Yes, some of the Japanese artifacts (especially, pottery) have deliberate asymmetry for balance as you mention but this kind of wooden bowls are usually symmetrical.

Xina,
Thank you for your comment and for looking at my old sketches, too.

Pat and Bill,
Thank you for the comment as always!