Did you know....

Here is a little experiment that I saw on one of Terry Harrison's youtube videos a few months ago and just had to try it for myself.  I thought you all might enjoy trying it too.  To make a "Full Moon" or a "Perfect Circle" follow the written instructions from my journal.  I also posed a question on how would a crescent moon be made....any ideas?

February Challenge-Contour Drawing

“To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” 

                                                                                                      Claude Monet

 February Challenge:  Contour Drawing   by: Cynthia (Cindy) Powell ©2014

 Whether you work with positive or negative shapes, the size and shape of the subject being painted, is established at its edges, by the application of a line or the absence of one.  (Lost & Found)

“The quality of line is more important to the painting than mathematical precision” (Grant Fuller)

I’m not sure I agree with that statement but it certainly qualifies for “food for thought”.  What do you think?  Is perspective more important than shape or size?  Can a painting be a painting without one or the other?  Would it be considered an “Abstract” if it had no perspective? 

Why explore the concept of line drawing?  Art is line and without line we have no shape to objects, no vision-or comprehension of what we are seeing, no movement.  Lines are just one of the key elements to design and line defines the shape of all objects.  These lines can be thick or thin, visible or partially removed.  (Our brain fills in the blanks.)  Lines can also define the curve of an object or the 3-D plane along with light & shadows, which can also be defined by lines.  The lightness or darkness of a drawn line can determine where the shadows are on a subject.  These lines are called: “Cross contour lines”.  These cross contour lines create the depth of vision or depth of field in a painting.  They can be free form or be created using a straightedge depending on the object being sketched.  They can be quickly drawn or detailed with perfect accuracy, but it all takes practice.   

(Photo courtesy of Annie Wu)

The image I used, with permission from Annie, http://www.flickr.com/photos/anniew/  clearly shows depth of a person standing in a circle which could be a pool of water or simply a background to give added dimension.  Without these cross contour lines, we would have a very flat 2-dimensional outline only, which is what we usual use when painting images like landscapes.  What about urban landscapes?  Or flowers?  Would this technique of cross contour lines be beneficial?  Topography (map making) utilizes this method of drawing, but would it be useful as a tool in your art?  If so, then you may find these links useful:  They are links to tutorials for contour, blind contour and cross contour drawing.

http://thevirtualinstructor.com/line-quality-cross-contour.html

http://www.studentartguide.com/articles/line-drawings

A few other contour images to explore:

 

Blue stripped shells: (In Nature)

http://allthingsstylish.tumblr.com/post/19184764554

Wavy Lines:

http://www.contemporaryartdaily.com/2010/10/cut-at-evergreene/img_2864/

 and: If you google: “contour drawing images”, you will discover a wealth of images to inspire your practice.  Grab your art journal and have fun!

 This image is from my art journal and the drawing is of glazed ceramic bottles that I used as a practice reference because I loved their shapes.  I first drew the shapes (outline only) in pencil, then painted the contour lines (+shapes) and finally, erased any pencil lines. 

To get crisp edges, you can use a piece of paper or other mask, like tape, then paint the lines and remove the mask.

Are You Ready for a Challenge?

I've asked several of the members of the Guild if they would be interested in participating in monthly painting challenges and the response was very encouraging, so I created a painting challenge for January 2014.  If you have time, please join us for some fun monthly challenges.  I will try to make them as diverse as possible, so that everyone can play along.  Please bring your results to our January meeting on the 16th for a quick Show N' Tell.  Remember, Ian Ramsey will be our guest speaker!

Painting with a Palette Knife Experiment by: Cindy Powell

Notice I said experiment in the title of this challenge-the results I managed to accomplish were random and unpredictable.  I think that is why I love this technique so much.  No two paintings would be the same.  Each painting will be unique to the individual artist, so please, if you have time, take a few minutes to do this experiment and bring your results to our Jan. meeting for Show N’ Tell on January 16th. 

I have provided a pencil drawing for those who would simply like to trace the “Hose bib” as I have drawn it, using graphite paper or you can use it as a reference for your own drawing or you can go to this website: SplashingPaint to download the original image.  Notice this is the link to the download page, so check out the other free tutorials offered.  (We may use this site again in the future as there are a few good free tutorials here).  The tutorial given is for the use of a limited palette, my version is using the image provided, but with a different set of instructions that I found in a wonderful book titled: “Watercolor Wisdom” by Jo Taylor AWS from our local Sandy Library.  (Book Review Coming Soon!)

First draw the image on your watercolor paper-and this doesn’t have to be perfect-a quick sketch will do just fine!  Make some changes if you like or use another image of your choice.  Right click the image below for a full sized image to download or print.

Select your color palette:  I was using a cheap Master’s Touch Travel Palette so I have no idea what colors I was actually using.  Blue, Red, Purple was what I had available.  Wet your pigment with a spray bottle of water, or whatever method you use to wet your pigments and using a palette knife, pick up some pigment on the tip of the knife and apply it to your image.  Your paper should be dry at this point.  (You may want to EXPERIMENT with how wet you want your pigment at this stage.  Very dry pigment seems to cause more problems and is harder to work with.) (You may also want to dampen your paper with a sponge-the choices are all yours!)

Once your pigments are where you want them, load a 1” flat brush with clean water and start to apply really wet washes everywhere you applied the pigment.  Tilt your paper and let the water & pigments run.  Let it dry to see if you need to repeat the steps. 

Personally, I was not happy with my results so I applied more pigment to darken the blues and purples. 

When I repeated the step to apply the pigment, I used very wet pigment with a very wet brush and simply let it run.  Very loose and very free flowing.  This is the end result of my experiment and I look forward to seeing your experiment at Show N’ Tell.  Have Fun!  :-D Cindy