Saturday, February 03, 2007

Finally on the way to a new piece.


I have not posted because I have been working hard on the inspiration stage of my mentor program with Michael Newberry. I have worked on at least 30 gestural thumbnails and have finally found an image that I would like to put on the big sheet of the Rives paper. This will be an emotional piece and I must say that working with charcoal on such a big format in a different technique is being an exciting and fantastic experience. The process of saturating you paper with charcoal and then taking some of it off, is a very fulfilling practice. I started my big piece yesterday and have put five hours into it. There is not enough to show yet, but I do hope to post an update in the following week.


In the meantime I am posting the compositional thumbnail sketch. The practice of doing these sketches is to use as a guide and a tool as with the atmospheric sketch. They are sketches that are not supposed to take more than 2 min. to do but the purpose of doing so many is to have several alternatives to choose from for the real thing. The subject of the sketch has to have some emotional meaning and the objects used should be part of that meaning. Once I have posted an update I will write a little about it.

14 comments:

Philip said...

Nice to see you back Mary! I look forward to seeing your new work.

Mary said...

Thank you Philip! I hope to post the first update, soon!

Stacy said...

Yay Mary! So glad to see a post from you. I have been wondering how it is going with Michael. Can't wait to see your first update and hear more about your experience!

Mary said...

Thank you Stacy for your visit and comment. I'm working my way on it and the update I hope will be this week.

Cynthia said...

It sounds like you are doing some intensive work. I like you sketch and look forward to seeing some of your progress.

Mary said...

Thank you Cynthia! I am very excited because I have worked 9 hours on the new piece and hope to post the update day after tomorrow. I am nowhere close to finishing but it is beginning to take shape.

Stoy Jones said...

Mary, good to see what you are up too! The charcoal sounds great. Always a lot of fun on large supports and getting those hands dirty. Its amazing what can be accomplished with that medium. Looking forward to the updates. The sketch looks good too. Looking forward to your thoughts on that.

Paula Manning-Lewis said...

So good to have you back. Also good to hear what you have been up to. I look forward to seeing your drawing!

:)

Mary said...

Thank you Stoy, Paula and Robin! I have a session after sending Michael my first update then I will post it here with comments. I am enjoying this techinique very much.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary .... this looks an exciting way to work. And thank you for sharing it ... I am very interested in any method that might also ignite a spark in me and get me enthused!

I know that, like me, you have been been struggling a little lately to find a way forward ... it looks as if this is just the thing you needed.

Looking forward to seeing the next stage.

Anonymous said...

Mary

just to say could you email me so that I can send you the Art Blogs 4 U periodic newsletters? (no-one's email address can be seen by anyone else).

hope this new project is still going well.

Making A Mark said...

Nice to see you back and blogging again Mary!

Mary said...

Thank you, Lesly! Yes this is an interesting approach that I had not encountered. I have worked on the new piece but I am still in the process of finding the right lighting for the piece by doing very small thumbnails with just the light, for impact.

Katherine, thank you for your visit and comment. I do hope to be back blogging and commenting on other blogs as soon as I start producing on a regular basis. Blogging is so inspiring and enriching, besides meeting with such wonderful people.

Unknown said...

Reading your blog today took me back to my drawing classes in college... I used to hate charcoal because it was so dry and "scratchy" on the paper until one of my profs introduced me to soft vine and a supple soft paper that absorbed it like baby powder... oh, it was magical. So smooth and lush. Sorry I am going on and on about this, you are just making me want to go buy some new materials and follow your lead! This mentor program sounds very interesting - SO looking forward for what's next! Happy drawing to you :)