Tool of the Trade

While i was reworking the design fractures Kathy suggested i use an overlay to see if i liked the changes before making them on the artwork itself. What a great tool! i highly recommend it especially for complex designs. You get so bogged into the work itself you can't see the forest through the trees so to speak. So i made up a piece of .005 overlay plastic and sectioned it off into thirds. By laying this over the top and stepping away i was able to look at the whole area (but also break it down into smaller areas) to check for unity and variety. I could marker in some changes and tell right away whether it might work or not. Best of all i can erase all marks and use it again and again. Thought i would share this with those of you who may not already use an overlay.

I have started to add the glazes and hopefully will be ready to share soon.

Never say....final

Realizing that i went too far to the left on my last grisaille I decided to go back to the drawing board and refracture the piece. I think sometimes you need to go too far in order to know how far that is so you can come back to a place that is moderate. That is what happened to me with the last work posted. As i began to add color i came to the conclusion that i had overdone the fracturing part of the work and needed to go back to a stage where i had not fractured the space enough. From that is was able to come to the two works below. After weeks of dividing up space i think i now get the importance of fracturing with variety, rhythm and unity in mind. Not an easy task for someone who has just gone with her intuition. So much to think about! But i found eventually you are able to keep more than one element in mind when working. It just takes practice, practice, practice!!

Final grasaille, really!

A bit more (ok maybe a lot more) fracturing of the shapes before adding the glazes. This one became so much more complex than i could have imagined. I added a few circles for good measure. I'm not sure if i will keep them or not.

The learning curve on this one was how much further i could take it than i thought i could. Kathy kept gently nudging me to go a little more. I think it is really fractured now!

So I will begin adding glazes now. I think i am going to start with an analgalous palette so as not to get into trouble quickly. This is new way of using acrylics for me. While i love layering colors i believe this technique can add many many layers of glazing before complete. It will also be interesting to me to see if i can get down to my original design or if it morphs into something better. We'll see.

Two final designs....now here comes the color

Making the final revisions to the designs has really made a difference. The first one i ended up turning upside down. It seems to have more of a dynamic feel to it in this orientation. The second one needed a few more changes that i think gives it a look of design moving off the surface, that maybe there is more to it not shown that may invite the viewer to want to see more. At any rate by the end of the week i should be adding the glazes. this is such a new way of working for me. Very deliberate and thought out. I was never one to want to spend too much time in the planning stage, but i actually enjoyed coating the watercolor paper with gesso to get it ready to transfer these designs over and then repaint in gray scale. It seems like a lot of work but it also seems to prepare my mind for what may come. Sort of like waiting for Santa Clause!!