Drawing Prompt #5; KD and Rosalie

Flight!

KD and Rosalie have both sent me works late last night/early this morning and I think they both deserve a look at here because they deal with the concept of flight in a different way to the previous submissions.

KD

Here we have a drawing showing a version of flight not yet seen here on the blog - that of hot air balloon travel! KD has used pastels on a 160gsm rough surface pastel paper for her charming work of balloons lifting over the hills at sunrise. As a novice to pastels KD is still experimenting with how they work, feel and handle, but her unsophisticated handling of the medium suits the subject well.  She has captured the bright colours of the balloons, even noticing the yellow glow of the gas jets lighting up the bottom of the bag. The sun is rising in a pink sky lifting out of the edge of the mountain peaks. The placement of the sun gives the illusion that the balloons are soaring high and in front of it.

I would like to work with KD on her layering techniques when we return to class and demonstrate to her ways to build up colours with her pastels. The concept and desgin of this drawing is quite good - the ovals not quite right but a good attempt and the composition is working. The bright colours make this a cheerful work to view. Plus, it shows flying in a unique way and I appreciate how KD has thought of a different approach to this weeks theme. 

'Morning Flight; Up and Away' by KD

Rosalie

Using a family photo as reference Rosalie has created a dramatic and dynamic graphite pencil drawing of her neice feeding a seagull chips. She has used F, B and 4B graphite on Fabriano 300gsm Hot Press TW. The compositional balance of this drawing is just right IMO - there is a strong diagonal line of the child's arm linking to the gull. The outstreached wings of the gull are at a 90 degree angle to the arm creating a positive and negative space that interplays pleasingly. Rosalie has captured the somewhat anxious pose of the child holding out the chip - delighted to feed the bird yet also slightly fearful of getting her fingers nipped. The tones of the work are generally well balanced. I think the childs's arm is a touch darker than her face, but as this is a summer image we can assume she is well tanned and has been wearing a hat to protect her face! Rosalie has drawn the hair to look wet, as her niece had just been swimming, and this works well. Also, the girl's eyes in the photo were shut, so thet have been redrawn as open quite successfully. I find I am a bit confused at how the left wing joins the body of the bird - I think it should be darker and the body lighter to force the wing back. The shape of the bird pose works, it just needs that area refined with more information to detail the shape. 

Another pleasing and unique drawing of flight!

'Feeding the seagull' by Rosalie