Touching Base

What exactly are you trying to do with these?

Yeah… I admit it. I talk to myself alllllll the time. Doesn’t mean that I listen appropriately or often take the advise given, even if it’s sound advise. I probably should, but I don’t.

I was trying to explore tonal variation using shadows as it moved through colors and over the form, but not only did my stradegies for colors groupings not play out as I was planning (I didn’t really have a working plan), and my outlines missed an opportunity to do something interesting (the colors should have changed with the shadow terminus), but the use of black for the nose and mouth collapsed the exclusive use of color as an element in the experimental composition.

I don’t mind that the drawing flails about. It’s more interesting flailing around than if it was an accurate drawing. There’s bits and pieces of this drawing that I really enjoy. The outline moves over the form in a way that translates as a sensuous line and I actually like the color pallet. Still…. it would be nice to see what would happen if it all pulled together.

The second drawing was another collaboration. 

I pulled one of Jess’s sketches from her pile from life drawing. The challenge was to explore color pairings and the push/pull of warm colors vs cool colors vs earth tones. Setting the cool toned figure on a warm toned base with touches of warm tones in the background and hair played nicely together. I got off on the blues and green in the butt and shadow and the hot pink out line separating the two toned yellow base. The earth toned background made the figure successfully push out. Probably should make a mental note to use this pallet again.

It’s interesting that an activity like this could be such a mixed bag of internal conversations and sensations. I pat myself on the back for being able to have the confidence to try and do drawings like these. I genuinely enjoy the process, it really is just play, but I usually feel dissatisfaction with the results immediately after its finished. It doesn’t look like “all the other kids homework” so I just don’t know how to tell if it works, I have to judge it for myself. I’m not all that sure I want to be like the others and make work like theirs, they already make that work and they do it really well. So I need to continue to develop stradegies that enable me to make the work that I make and focus on encouraging it to bloom.