Stargazing at the haunted observatory. Pigment ink sketch. Ink wash, watercolours. 150mm x 210mm. While simple, this piece had taken hours to conceptualise. Firstly, the pencil sketch, then, the ink outlines, and the watercolours and ink washes in the final step.
wow I love it! especially the colours. great!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteHis works tell stories and make one think deep. Hmm... secluded and dilapidated but deceptively quiet, dwelt the shunned and unspoken. The dome is good, he tells me that it's a time way before us? There was already great knowledge and discovery of the cosmo by the quiet knower. And secrets that we know not. The colour worked very well, brilliant!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words, Helena and Graciela. I appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mitchell.
ReplyDeleteI had worked out the colour scheme in my head the night before and when I started I had completely forgotten all about it and I had to .... repaint the watercolours and ink washes on a part of the piece.
Mitchell, I need a larger canvas. I haven't the skill the bring out the sun and moon motifs that were inscribed on the cracked dome of the observatory in a small space and the shadows obscured more details but it is important for them to be obscured.
I also think that this theme can be explored further though a different and more dramatic perspective. Likewise the architecture can be ornate and perhaps different, one suggesting alchemy, one suggesting heresy and more.
ReplyDeleteAn edge, a story within the narrative of the canvas.
ReplyDeleteHmm...but I thought the sun and moons were distinctive that drew me the idea of olden times. But the way I look at it, it's good enough honestly and more work it's gonna make darker until it disappears.
ReplyDeleteArtists are always fastidious with their own work. Know what, do a "MkII" version of it. Don't worry about it. That's what I do, sometimes if I find a piece that not up to mark and it's pointless to work I'll do another. You can imagine, I have damaged my own stuffs by overdoing and wished I have a "undo" button for my paper or canvas.
Ah.. I think your point is probably correct. Distinctive enough without being blatant and overshadowing the observatory itself. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about being fastidious with one's own work. We all fret over our 'children' to the extent that we overdraw, overpaint and more.
As for pointless to continue, yes, I need to tell myself when it is proper to abandon a piece and start on a new one. I can surely relate to what you have just said. And I overdraw too.
ReplyDeleteThis has such a feeling of mystery to it! It seems like a departure from your nature drawings... but that adds extra delight to seeing something unexpected amongst the trees.
ReplyDeleteAugust 17, 2010 1:21 PM
ReplyDeleteNot abandon, keep it. As there is no complete satisfaction in every work, we are just bitches for our own art. Don't stop drawing! ;)
Mitchell, ahhh... I can take a long time to finish certain pieces once I lose interest. Sometimes, I finish it, sometimes, I don't. I drew a Aichi D3A and a Hawker Sea Fury last night. I also drew a forest scene at TCC!
ReplyDeleteCarla, I decided against further embellishments and wanted colours. I am now thinking of old American and European water towers and how that can be placed.
ReplyDeleteThe barns you posted would be ideal in that sense. I am wondering as to the placement of such structures and their co-existence with the wilderness.