Scottish Deerhounds

[Mike Sibley]

ScottishDeerhounds.jpg

"Scottish Deerhounds" by Mike Sibley

This was commissioned by my New York dealer on behalf of their client, and Limited Edition prints (provided by me) were to be for sale through the Scottish Deerhound Club of America. Various suggestions for the setting were made including "no dead animals" (I agreed with that), a loch, bagpipes, castles and kilts - all of which I chose to ignore

The entire project from accepting the commission to print delivery in the US was accomplished in an extremely hectic five weeks! Some years later a box of unsold prints was discovered under a bed, and earlier this year I bought back the final 36 unsold copies (at 10 times the price I was paid to produce them!). They are available here with close-up views of the drawing.

[Laurene]

I'm glad you chose to ignore some of those suggestions! Some of us in North America get our impressions of the UK from watching too much Downton Abbey an other PBS/BBC period dramas!

The more I explore your drawing Mike the more I appreciate how you composed your subjects to guide the viewer through the scene. The hound on the left is looking at the one on the right, but then the handler is looking across to the deer in the field and the stag's position brings us back to the hound on the left. Brilliant!

Sorry if I'm over-analyzing this but that's how I learn about composition which is a very elusive subject for me!

[Mike Sibley]

The more I explore your drawing Mike the more I appreciate how you composed your subjects to guide the viewer through the scene... Sorry if I'm over-analyzing this but that's how I learn about composition which is a very elusive subject for me!

You're not over-analysing at all! That's how I learned composition. I've been interested in the subject since my school-days. My Eng Lit master, Doc Urwin, had two interests in life: comic art and composition. The day he explained how a simple toothpaste advert steered the eye around to land on the pack-shot and brand name was the day I was hooked on the subject

The devices can be as devious as Stoppers and Pointers; or as subtle as a gradual loss of sharpness, detail, or strength of value. Really, the only way to learn is to study the art of other artists and to analyse what you see...

...or to take my Advanced course (Sorry! Fought the temptation to mention it but lost )

[Laurene]

Ha ha! I should have mentioned it myself! That course taught me to study other artists' works to try to understand how certain rules of composition were applied, and more importantly how sometimes rules of composition were broken yet the piece works! It's a bit of magical mixture of rules and instinct and if it works, well...it works!! End of discussion!