Have you ever decorated a Christmas tree with kids? Magical Moments!
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| THE FAMILY GATHERING - Coloured Inks - Nearly Finished |
When our kids were very little we got the tree
ready in the evening and enjoyed the joy and excitement as they added the
decorations the next day.
Then they
got older.
No more surprises of a ready to decorate
tree. They wanted to help with
everything. Right, you say, as it should be. But
the first time didn’t work so well.
There was tears and frustration.
You see, there are moments in decorating that only 1 person can really
do it- fitting the tree into the stand.
Putting on the lights.
And the worst of it is, they must happen first .
. . . when all the excitement is bubbling in the air. Practical stuff, boring stuff.
I realized what was happening, who wouldn’t,
tears were falling because they ‘couldn’t touch the tree till dad was done’.
Anyone could see things needed to change.
I quickly redirected. “Let’s make popcorn for the chains”. A bit corny
now in this day and age, but it was kind of fun. Making chains with popcorn and cranberries
was fun and if you had lots of chains they looked kind of neat on the
tree. It became a family traditions for
a few years.
Starting a new drawing/painting is exciting. . .
.
But of course there is some boring stuff to do
first. Karina, my student and I, wanted
to do a bit more with our pens so we started a new project. Of course we had a challenge: Limited pallet
and using dark blue as our dark. (The
one colour in our limited set of pens we hadn’t used yet. Read more starting here . . .)
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| THE FAMILY GATHERING - Reference Picture |
Our first task - match colour to our Values
Sounds analytic, eh?! But really isn’t that what
you are doing in your painting. Picking your colours, deciding what colour
you will paint your flower, tree, sky . . .
Considering the value of the colour, and the colours of your
shadows? Working with a limited pallet,
as we were with our pens, really forced us to confront some boring stuff,
before we started in.
First we grouped our Values
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| Pitcher & Pears - I grouped the values into only 3 values |
In my mind, everything falls into a value
range. For example check out this jug
with the pears. It can be broken down
into 3 groups: white, black, mid tone.
The marks to make the value are solid black, black stripes and white
space.
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| Pitcher & Pears using only 3 values to complete |
“The Family Gathering” needed breaking down. . .
To meet our challenge, the dark was blue. It was also the local colour for the log.
This meant our sepia was the mid value and provided the local colour of the
mushrooms and the green was the light value and local colour for the moss. Transition points were lightened by mixing strokes
with two colours and also spacing the lines.
Very analytic, I know, but what I needed to internalize before I
began.
I hate doing the boring stuff. . .
No, I didn’t make a careful chart as to
everything I was thinking. I know you
probably expected that but really . . . Where’s the fun in that!? I thought about how things should be then I
jumped in . . .
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| THE FAMILY GATHERING - Under construction - Getting a feel for my pens and the drawing |
Well, I did proceed cautiously but I did jump.
Actually my official term is ‘felt my way into
the drawing’. I tested my colour system
to see how it would work on a bit of the moss, the log and one little
mushroom. Probably shouldn’t have used
the mushroom front and center but it really caught my eye.
Once I was happy with my colour/value match
things happened fast and furious. Kind of like painting when you are totally in the flow.
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| Detail of THE FAMILY GATHERING - note the hierarchy of the values and their colours within the drawing. |
Well for pen work it was fast and furious. Once I knew how my pallet works with my
subject I could relax and draw. Sure there
is tweaking and refining on the way but I have an overall plan in place. The boring stuff. Taking that time, you know, like putting the
lights on the tree before the decorations rather than after, can make a big
difference to pleasure and success.
Am I the only one that analyzes things like
this? How do you attack this issue? Starting a new project this week so moving away from my ink for a bit. see you next week.
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Just in Time for Christmas - My Dog & Cat Lover Christmas Cards Instant Download Cards so you can Print and Give, right away. Etsy - WendyMouldsArt
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| Max was very happy to see My Dog/Puppy Cards, of course he was my Inspiration! Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack. |
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| Excited to share my Cat/Kitten Cards as instant digital downloads at my Esty Store - $12 for the 3 Pack. |
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Have a great Artful Day,
Wendy
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