sketching

You probably know the saying Value does all the work; colour gets all the credit. I’ve been thinking about that as I have been working on this background. I have been putting in squares and then taking them out when they clearly did not work. My original idea was to have light values behind the shoes working out to a border of darks. But when I saw that the light values were not working, I realized that it was medium values that were needed to enhance the shoes. With a light value, the small strip of lining inside the shoes disappeared and the eye was confused.  I took a look at the original posterized view of the shoes and my thoughts were confirmed. Medium values working out to light would work much better.

After a lot of pulling out strips and replacing them with medium values, it looks like this. I’m gradually working to a lighter value at the edges–being careful to make sure to move only one value step away. Working in medium and lighter values is much harder than working in dark values–somehow the darks allow more flexibility and imprecision. The eye seems to pick up any irregularity in both colour and value on the light side of the scale, making the background a distraction, not an enhancement. This seems better now; I’ll post again when it is completed.

On a totally different note, the Toffee Delta is finished and will be on the blog and  in the on-line shop by Tuesday. I have been waiting for some good weather to photograph it. What a crazy cold and wild weather weekend it was!

And finally, we went out to Prince Edward Point to see the bird banding and do some sketching. It was so cold I had to stay in the car! Here is the photograph and the very quick sketch of the lighthouse, sadly missing its topnotch. And, oh yes, I got to hold a Baltimore Oriole at the banding station–magnificent!

I’ve been fooling around with my paints this morning. This was a challenge to paint and would be even more so to hook.

Yesterday I was in Napanee for a meeting about the upcoming OHCG Annual where I am giving a talk. Napanee is one town east of my town–with, as I discovered, a great independent espresso bar. How perfect to find a unique coffee spot with a congenial atmosphere and personal connection and great coffee–in a historic building to boot. It was a cold, windy day–but I had time to begin a quick sketch, mostly in the car (!) and finish it at home.

On another front,  I have been hooking my left shoe. Here it is as it stands now. This is an exercise in looking and looking again. It’s a lot like painting–trying to see the shapes and the values. I have been doing a lot of pulling out as I try to make this shoe come alive, but as I said before, the wool and linen are very forgiving.

I was away on the weekend so I had a chance to sketch more than I usually do. I am thinking of hooking my shoes, so am doing some sketches first. I got the idea in class at Hooked in the Mountains last November where I ended up hooking the red high-heeled pump below.

I went searching for this image from one of David Hockney’s sketch books. Then here are some pics from the Mulberry, which I visited two days in a row. Great architectural details, great coffee, great sketching ambience. I’ve posted more pictures on instagram. Click the button on the right to check them out.