How lovely to see the range of Close Up and Personal works offered this Thursday! Each drawing shown here has a personal meaning to the artist drawn in a closely obeserved way.
MP's Hibiscus
I have to say, MP has really developed her technique wonderfully with colour pencils over these weekly prompts. This week she has contributed a beautiful drawing of a coral red hibiscus flower from her garden. MP has used Prismacolour watercolur pencil wash with Prismacolour watercolour and Premire colour pencil over drawing on Canson 300gsm HP paper to create this stunning work. Careful indenting helps to accentuate the veins. Darker purples in the red petals create form and shadows. The green of the stem and calyx is not 'too green' as MP has layered using blues and yellows creating a believable green. The only suggestion I could make is to consider possibly adding some white dot highlights to the yellow stamen to help make it stand forward more - you could use a white gel pen to do this. This is a lovely work and MP has really embraced the technique of mixing watercolour and standard colour pencils and made it her own.
'Hibiscus Flower' by MP
A Cameo by Monika
Looking closely at one of her mother's cameo pendants, Monika has enlarged the subject 2x or so to acheive all the details required. Through a magnifying glass she could see all the individual cuts and angles. Her method was to use a very, very sharp graphite pencil for detail work and to shade the darker stone background with graphitint pencil. Her cast shadow is done in a B graphite pencil. This is done in her visual diary.
This is a beautiful cameo, MP has drawn the shape quite well. The figurehead is nicely observed with the sharp cuts precisely drawn. She has used light hatching in the body to create some shading - I would have liked to see this used a bit more as although a cameo is a stark relief it will have more tones and shades as the light falls across it. The profile of the head is quite well drawn, but because the outlines on the flowers are so strong it tends to draw the eye from the the profile. I think the background of the cameo could be a darker hue to allow MP to create some tonal values across the raised carving. Note too, the direction of the cast shadow on the right, the carving on the cameo would also be casting a shadow in that direction. Remember, even thought the cuts look like lines, there will also be some tone created by the 3D effect of the carving.
'Mother's Cameo' by MP
Not having the cameo in front of me, I can only guess, but this is how I belive extra hue, tone and contrasts could be added to the cameo. Forgive the down and dirty 3D Paint work, it is just to give MP a hint of a further direction she could take with this already nice work.
tweaked by Linda
Time with Silke
Silke tells me she doesn't wear a watch, but has kept this jewel as a momento of her grandmother - a drawing that is up close and personal to Silke. Like Monika above, Silke has enlarged the subject. Instead of a magnifying glass she has used an enlarged photo to work from with the actual watch as a support reference. She has used graphite pencils, F to 4B in her Stillman + Bern sketchbook to create this lovely rendering of her grandmother's watch. Proportions are very good and the detail is observed well. Silke has used good contrasts between light and dark to emulated the shiny metallic surface of the gold. The drawing of the links in the band is loosely done and gives us just enough information without being overly complex or detailed. A very nice sketch.
- Aside- I have a very similar watch that was my great-great Aunt's given to her by her fiance, these gold watches were apparently a very common betrothal gift in Germany in our 'greats' time -
'Grandmother's watch' by Silke
Kitten eye by Jean
Jean has a new kitten! And she is a very sweet little cat, with a golden green eye. Jean has used a combination of Staedtler Mars Lumograph pastel pencils and Prismacolour pencils on Mi-Tiens grey toned pastel paper to draw this engaging kitten's eye. Jean has asked me if combining the two different pencil types is a 'no-no' - and I say, if it works, then do it! And it has worked here very well. Sometimes a chalky pastel will not take well over a waxed colour pencil - it is all how you layer them down and in which order. It has worked well here.
Jean has carefully observed the shape of the cat's eye. I love how she has used different colours (yellow, blue, ocher, green, etc) in layered strokes to create the iris. It is very effective and the splash of white highlight gives the eye a nice shine and shape. Possibly, as this is a kitten, I would have had the pupil a little more open - but maybe not.
Her attention to the fur and the direction the hairs fall is very good. She wondered if she had put in enough detail for this exercise and I say she has put in just the right amount! These prompts are always open to each artist's own interpretation - that is what makes them fun for me to see.
Great work Jean - I am loving what you are doing with these pencils.
'Kitten eye' by Jean
*NOTICE* Due to Covid 19 second wave, Thursday night classes at MMAG have been cancelled for Term 3. Yes, I am sad about this too.
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