Sun sun sun, here it comes

 

"Girl in sunlight"
Graphite on paper, 4 x 5 1/4 inches
Not for sale

La nina has finally let go and out weather is returning to the regular hot and humid January we know.  Sounds awful and at times it is, but it is just wonderful to have some consistent sun in our lives.  It struck me on this morning when my daughter turned to say goodbye how unusual it seemed for her to be in a hat, in strong sunshine, and all the cheer that comes with the prospect of a sunny day.  I held her up a moment to grab a photo.

Last year I started off the year by doing 30 drawings in 30-ish days.  The undertaking was to train my eye-brain-hand in identifying and simplifying value relationships, and to test through drawing if a subject has good structural elements to support a painting.

I ended last year with a break over Christmas and New Year to rejuvenate and before kicking on with a year of work I thought it would be a good idea to do this again.  I'm 10 drawings in so far.  Girl in sunlight is number 1 and was done in 10-15 minute stints over 4 mornings, while having my first coffee, and before getting ready for work.  It's also more careful and detailed than a preparatory sketch would be but hey it's my daughter there's a little homage there too.  When I'm done with the 30 drawings, I'll make a post of the complete set, successes and failures, because they're important too.

I think drawing should have the intention of supporting my painting practice.  By this I mean the process for the drawings should produce learnings which inform the process for painting.  Otherwise I'm not engaging in intentional practice.  The process is to rough in an accurate, but not necessarily detailed drawing, then concentrate on big value shapes, then the smaller value shapes, gradations and edges, and a line here and there, which make up the detail.

Value is a main focus.  And for those unfamiliar with art jargon, value is a step on a grey-scale.  In this little drawing the big values shapes are made up of 5 values; (1) white on the left of the hat and chin, (2) lightest grey on the shirt, (3) the hair in sunshine and hat in shadow, (4) face in shadow and hair in shadow on the left which is catching some filtered and reflected light, (5) background and hair in shadow.  Appearance of detail is built from this foundation.  This is the same process for the painting but add the problems of a different medium, colour, etc.  With a value study in hand it leaves only two other colour choices I can make while painting: hue and saturation.  Less to mess up.

The other focus for drawing is composition.  Value and composition go a long way to understanding the why I'm doing this and what is the end goal.  If I can clarify my thoughts up front, I'm in a good position to start and increase the success of the undertaking.

The other part is understanding your practice.  Last year was a few different things I was trying to achieve:

• Start painting again regularly.  Tick.
• Develop a drawing practice that supports painting.  Tick.
• Get a better handle on developing value relationships and composition.  Tick. 
• Get my work out there.  Blog and Bluethumb gallery.  Tick.

This year is about consolidating last year's achievements and adding the goal of developing my use of colour.  I'll post more on this topic as my thoughts clarify on what this goal will mean.

Welcome to the new year!