"... the painting has a life of its own. My mission is to bring forth this life". (Jackson Pollock)

colored pencils

Windswept, NC (phase 2)

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

                            Cypress, Kitty Hawk, NC - work in progress, phase 2  Cypress, Kitty Hawk, NC - scanned detail; accurate colors (work in progress) 

Windswept, NC Cypress, Kitty HawkOuter Banks - 24 x 18 inches Pencil, Oil Pastel, Watercolor pencils (mixed media experimental, work in progress).

Low light conditions today, so the photo, above left, is dark.  I find that manipulating colors and contrasts digitally to correct them never works for these type of drawings, so included are two scanned portions showing accurate colors.

                    Cypress, Kitty Hawk, NC - 24 x 18 inches Pencil, Oil Pastel, Watercolor pencils

Plans now are to erase some of the color, then see what happens when painting lightly over some of the watercolor-penciled areas; there will be some resist because of the oil pastel base. I don’t mind taking this drawing beyond this stage because while portions are intersting, the cypress alone is not enough compositionally as I had hoped; it’s rather boring on its own. Some hints of background or interaction with another element is necessary, and once I drew the fence in, am disappointed with it in there now that I see it.

Windswept, NC - started

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

                               Cypress, Outer Banks, NC - work in progress

24 x 18 inches Work in progress: Sculptural, windswept cypress are common ornamentals in yards along the Outer Banks, North Carolina. This started as a pencil drawing, then felt I’d been playing it too safe lately, so added some energy and a few problems to solve with the use of oil pastels, which were mostly scraped away before continuing with watercolor pencils. Hoping to see the effects or textures created by mixing oil and water mediums.