At the weekend my wife and I were out dining with friends and the conversation turned to art, thanks to a rather stunning drawing hanging on a nearby wall. My friend asked a few questions about drawing in general and then asked which of all my pencil drawings was my favourite, and why.
This is it ... "Glasses". It was very much an experiment with the concept that you need dark to create light, and I wanted to understand how you can put 'highlights' into a clear object to make it look solid. The background is supposed to be graduated from very light grey at top left, down to quite dark in the bottom right, but that hasn't worked as well as I'd hoped.
Running a very close second is "Newtons Cradle". Another experiment with highlights, this time trying to understand how to make something look silver. I chose not to have a background at all for this one and in this case I don't think that matters.
Though I discovered art through watercolours, and despite the fact that I spend much more time painting than drawing, for some reason I get a lot more satisfaction from my pencil work.
At the weekend my wife and I were out dining with friends and the conversation turned to art, thanks to a rather stunning drawing hanging on a nearby wall. My friend asked a few questions about drawing in general and then asked which of all my pencil drawings was my favourite, and why.
John, your pencil work is outstanding. Your concept of dark to show light is someting I try to get across to anyone attempting pencil .
ReplyDeleteLike you, I'm better with pencil in my hand but keep torturing myself in trying to better myself with watercolor .. Your watercolors are soft, and oh so 'English' and better than that I can see your 'style' . I would know your paintings in a heartbeat.. !
What a lovely comment Barbra Joan, thank you. I hadn't really considered I had a 'style' before and I find your words both encouraging and inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Barbra - OUTSTANDING!!! The glasses are beautifully drawn and simply perfect in every way. I have drawn.painted a similar thing so this is right up my street :0)
ReplyDeleteAs for the cradle - Well, it looks like a photograph! Incredible!! How long did it take?
Oh Sandra, you've made my day. Thank you very much. It was a while ago that I did the cradle and my memory is not what it was but I think it was probably a couple of sessions ... maybe 4/5 hours in total.
ReplyDeleteBoth these works are marvelous John. I especially like how you did the chromium balls in the cradle - they look perfect. I had the same challenge with the chrome headlights on the Morris car, but dind't pull it off half as good as yourself.
ReplyDeleteThanks Frank. I think you did very well with the Chrome on your Morris. I think it's something that is much easier to do with pencil than watercolour.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful John. The way you have used a drawing medium to create such a range of soft tones is outstanding. They are more like pencil paintings than pencil drawings.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Keith. I can't deny I'm always much happier holding a pencil than a brush.
ReplyDeleteThese are favourites of mine too J. I think one can tell how much you love your pencil, your results are always superb.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ingrid. You know better than anyone how much I enjoy working in pen and pencil. Lovely to see your comment - made my day. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful pencil work John and a very interesting blog and how you got started with water color.
ReplyDeleteI did watercolor first and then went to pencil.
I have watercolor work in my gallery.
A very interesting forum you have there.
I have enjoyed looking at your work and will come back.
Thank you so much for visiting my blog. Glad you enjoyed.
Thank you very much Dors, and thank you for visiting.I have a lot more on your site still to look at.
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