Monday, May 30, 2011

Within the Lines



As a child I would spend hours colouring. Having finished the placement of the images on the grid I revisited that long ago, warm, safe haven as I applied each base colour, staying within the lines. Base colour. Yes. I began with the trees. Not all of them. The ones separating each section were to be a specific colour. Applying phthalo green to the spruce trees I made a mental note once again about priorities. Eventually I overcame the desire to remain perfectly within the lines. It is amazing how my childhood still rules my present unless I make a conscious choice to change. Brushstrokes are of the utmost importance. It is really the brushstroke which creates the illusion of spruce against poplar. Brushstrokes add variety and interest to an otherwise bland surface. I did not want too much busyness in an already busy panel. I covered the green with ultramarine blue. Lovely turquoise. The other trees would be a little more distinct if I began with gold…. The other bank across the river would not be so dark. I put the green away and brought out the gold. A different brushstroke for each area. One for the distant hills, one for the aspen and poplar, one for the grass. There is a lot of gold on this mural. The blue went directly over the distant hills and into the grass. Green graced the poplars. The verdict is still out as to whether I will add blue to make turquoise trees… With burnt sienna I continued forming value studies of the images before me. Burnt sienna smothered in ultramarine blue makes black. Not a dead black but rather a lively one. Although the photo references were largely black and white my intention is to create full colour. Such power. This is a heady experience!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Convergence

There is something to be said for ten foot ceilings. Twenty feet might not be too much. We recently unveiled a mural sixteen feet high…. Sigh. Another item on my wish list for my new studio. Since the current mural is nine feet high there had to be a solution; there is always a solution. Eight feet is all there is. I had chosen not to work on the floor so I strung a couple of tables together with a plywood panel I used for my 60” x 40” watercolour sheets. The bottom of the mural lined up with the top. Flipping up the end of the main section onto the table I used paper clips to hold the pieces together as I continued the development of the drawing. Certain things had to line up. When it comes to man made objects, yes, I use a ruler. My freehand straight lines are beautifully irregular and not really conducive to imaging the rigid structures of buildings and maypoles. Again, I moved the group one square to the left knowing there would be room to extend the maypole into the top panel. There remained a rather large space for what I had filled with one book and a pot of pencils. It called for something different. I decided to add a small library with titles from local authors. Yes. Much better. And that gives me another idea… extracts and poetry. Mmmm. Glinting water and shiny grass blades. Oooooh. Giving me shivers.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Transferring the Image

Decisions. I have little problem making decisions. It was not always so easy. At one point I had trouble deciding what to have for supper. No more. It is a good thing. Every time I pick up a pencil or a brush there are a thousand decisions to be made. As I mentioned last week, there turned out to be one extra square along the width in my grid. I wanted to move the images slightly to the right so I placed my figures one more square to the right. I begin with some phantom drawing. Phantom drawing allows me to put the major shapes in the correct place without locking me into a final position. Phantom because it is light, barely visible. Usually I do not use an eraser. I rely on the contrast of my final marks to outweigh the first so they do disappear. The first marks are geometric, circles, flowing curves, rectangles. Having drawn the head ovals in the appropriate square and in the approximate proportion I left my preliminary sketch behind in favour of the original photograph. It quickly became apparent that the sketch had not been accurate. I became ever more grateful for the extra five inches. Other decisions were made along the way such as using the foliage as a more complete separation from one grouping to the next. And there is always one challenging drawing in every group. Again I was thankful for the extra room as I took a wet rag and erased the whole thing to replace it one square to the left this time…. Watercolour pencil. Love it! There is a lot of green or turquoise in the mural. I had chosen Shiraz as my drawing colour. Complementary. I love complementary colours. This is going to work beautifully!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Gridding the Mural

Over the years I have tried all kinds of different methods for transferring the image onto mural panels. Often I have used a projector. In this case I really did not wish to destroy my drawing (it is frame worthy) in order to fit it into the clamps in the projector so I opted for an age old method of transfer: gridding. Usually when I grid something I use a fairly large dimension for the breakup, a simple centre repeated twice so the image is broken into eight segments each horizontally and vertically. This time I used a smaller square because of the amount of detail in the image. I suspected I would get a far more accurate drawing. It takes a while to grid a nine by thirteen foot sheet in five inch squares. I decided to run a line of squares across the top to find out if my ratio was correct. It ended up one more square than the original. One more square and an inch and a half. I ran the square down the height and found I had about an inch left over. Mmmm. I could use some extra room at both ends. Moving the images slightly one way on another would give me the wiggle room I needed for accurate proportions and a less cramped result. It is amazing what an inch can do. Three hours later I decided to give my back a rest. Bookwork anyone? 

Monday, May 2, 2011

Fun and Easy!

Yes, we were ready for the fabric. So do I tape it to the support? Screw it on? Nails? Masking tape has always been a staple for my watercolours. I thought perhaps it would be sufficient to hold the fabric in place. And it was until I attempted to install the second sheet. The bolt of fabric was short so the forty-eight inches needed to be expanded to seventy-two. The mural is split into two sections. The first is six feet by thirteen feet. The lower part is three by thirteen. Since the surface of the building has a one to two inch lip from top section to bottom section the mural must be split. So… a two foot addition needed to be attached to the first piece. I wanted a relatively smooth surface. Sewing was not appropriate. I decided to treat the material like paper and left an extra bit of width to glue to the first sheet. Good plan. Now if I could just get the second sheet to line up with the first…. Oops! The whole thing came tumbling around me ears. Another advantage to using fabric! I do not get hurt when the sheets crash around my ears…. I just get frustrated. So. Yes. Back to the first list. My first choice had not been a good one; I did not like the others. I gazed around my studio and my eyes grazed the small pill container holding some craft pins. That is it! I did manage to get the two sheets up on the frame but with the force of gravity and the subtly of the material I could not pin it well enough to have it lay flat, one against the other. Time to glue them together. Laying the frame on the floor once more I removed the pins and suddenly I no longer had ripples in my project. A little gel, a little molding paste and all I had to do was wait for it to dry. Mmmm. Watching paint (or glue) dry was my cue to leave for the day. Tomorrow I would paint.