I liked this odd composition better than any of the more ‘normal’ ones I tried to impose on these grape leaves. I find my compositions when I’m half asleep in bed, scrolling through my photos using filters that only show abstractions, so maybe that explains why they’re odd, or instinctual, or something.
Anyway, since I’m turning 65 this summer, I’m practicing eschewing rules in general and drawing whatever makes me happiest. I’m drawing this piece with my new non-blended method because I think the texture will add a little extra something, and because it’ll just be fun.
Fabriano Artistico
I’m using Fabriano Artistico paper because it’s easier to get to. My Arches paper is in full sized sheets enfolded in cardboard within more cardboard, and I tried to convince our sixteen-year-old cat to get off the bed, so I’d have a flat space large enough to do all that unfolding, but he refused.
The Artistico, which is in smaller sheets, has a clear diagonal grain that becomes visible after hatching with soft leads. I’m filling that in diagonally with a second layer of harder leads, and it creates a lovely texture when fleshed out this way. It seems to erase well enough, but I’ve only had to do some light touch-up erasing on this piece so far.
These are wild grape vine leaves that run up and over our driveway gate. Yesterday we saw one of our town police-persons eyeing our property again because our vegetation is about to overgrow the sidewalk. I’m sure we’ll be getting ANOTHER thirty-day citation to trim them back.
The THING IS, people don’t realize that the vines and various other vegetation along our northern fence are some of my finest subjects for drawing! It’s hard to eschew the rules and live a life of artistic freedom when your town has yard-police! I’m not sure what to do about this development. Details to follow.
Textures
I’m experimenting with various textures in this piece. In my last non-blended drawing, I tried to keep my textures all the same, and it looked okay, but it was a headache that wasn’t needed. As a matter of fact, I think different textures will look even better. For example, I’m keeping most of the background textures very rough, but the leaf textures range from rough to smooth depending on the type of pencil grade and the pencil point I used to create the hatch.
Contrast
I enjoy this type of drawing because it allows me to experiment with highly contrasted highlights and shadows, but I’ll only use it on larger pieces for now. For example, a 5”x6” non-blended drawing of a flower could hold a lot of detail and be quite beautiful, but a 3”x4” non-blended drawing would be a little difficult for me to do at this point because of size. I’m not ruling it out, though.
My beloved Grafwoods don’t cover the range I need in the H and harder grades, so I’ve had to change pencil types. I’ve never had this problem on Arches’ paper, so it must be a combination of the Fabriano’s surface and the pencils. The wonderful Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils have come to the rescue, and I’m having no trouble with them giving the values needed.
What caught my eye about this scene, besides the leaves, were the gradations in the background. They are lovely in the reference shot. I can’t hope to duplicate what a camera can produce, and I don’t want to, but I’ll do my best to make them interesting.
My Bipolar Brain Took Another Dive
During this drawing, my brain decided to take another mood dip while adjusting to a new medication. I kept drawing through the dip, but it was hard to focus, and my drawings times were cut short. Now that I’m through the dip, I’m grateful that I stayed with my daily drawing, even though it was a struggle. I have this piece to show for my effort, and I think this drawing shows that I lived through these weeks as well as I possibly could.
Self -gratitude is hard to come by when you’re bipolar. There’s nothing like knowing your brain isn’t functioning well to make you feel inferior. But, pulling this drawing out of several weeks of depression has set off little burbles of self-gratitude inside me that feel like the effervescence inside a bottle of pop.
Drawing has been a real touchstone in my life. Even when I’m in utter despair, I can always manage to draw for a few minutes a day. If you’re bipolar, I recommend that you practice your most loved art form every day, too.
The Last Steps
I realize that there’s a lot of work here that I didn’t write about. Please forgive me. It was part of my depression to think that I wasn’t progressing very much, so I didn’t scan my work and I didn’t keep a journal about what I was doing either. I’ll try to remember to continue scanning and writing next time.
Briefly, I darkened the gradations to give the drawing some depth, since there are so many mid-values in it that it was verging on washing out in a sea of mid-gray. I also put some machining lines along the round fence rail near the top of the drawing, and even though they aren’t perfect, I think they set that gradation apart and make it look more round.
I’ve come out of my depression again, thanks to my doctor and a final medication adjustment. Hopefully I’ll be alright for a long while. I look forward to drawing more and also making more sculptures that I’ll be showing you soon.
Much love and light,
Carol
PS – We didn’t receive a citation for our overgrown vegetation after all! This might be because my husband trimmed back a few of the less artful subjects. :p