Lock Down Blues

[LindasPencils]

Melbourne is now up to 250 total days of lock down - the most locked down city in the world. This is our 6th stint. Needless to say it has been tough. All my classes, workshops, exhibitions and plein air sessions have been cancelled for the past 6 months and nothing looks like going back until maybe the new year and our vaccination levels reach 80%. sigh.

So I haven't been motivated to do much of anything apart from binge watching (Great British Backoff, Squid Game, etc) and playing mind numbing video games. Much less keep up with things here on the forum. Sorry if I sound whiny.

But spring has happened! The sun is shining, and the daily walks (5k limit) are full of flowers, nesting birds and laughing children in the park. And I have been doing various blog posts with my students to keep things ticking over.

And although I haven't taken up Mike's butterfly challenge, I did do a small work in negative drawing a couple weeks ago after being inspired by his latest video on the subject. My neighbor's iceberg roses are just starting to bloom so I did a little work on 250 Art Spectrum drawing paper based on Mike's techniques. Thanks for the inspiration Mike!

IcebergDWM_edited.jpg

WhiteDWM.jpg

[kwheller]

It's beautiful! The flower is so alive, it makes me want to reach out and smell it! So sorry about the lock down. Take care of yourself during this difficult time.

[Mike Sibley]

My only reservation would be: "Work over the entire area with an F pencil to add soft tone, more mid-tones and to blend over the darker areas."

It's a good technique that adds solidity, and I'd use a 2H rather than an F - but the entire drawing part worries me. That results in no pure white remaining at all, which reduces contrast - even if minimally.

Possibly that bothers me most because I learned to leave whites white in drawings destined to be prints. Lightly coating everything in 2H results in all parts containing a litho dot pattern. That's OK... until it's matted. If a white margin is left visible (all mine were) then the margin is now the brightest value in the frame. And that tends to make the image look dull.

Apart from that, I love the three-dimensionality and life in your rose!

Also - just looking at your image as posted here - it has a quality that someone once remarked was present in one of my own drawings. Something I hadn't appreciated until it was pointed out that...

Surrounding the white flower with dark foliage actually makes the flower a brighter white than the paper. Now, I believe that's due to Simultaneous Contrast, but I didn't know about that at the time.

You rose GLOWS!

[JayS]

I enjoyed seeing the progression of your work. It helps me understand how you get such great results. Thank you.
There is an old (by now) joke about Covid. Introverts love it. Extroverts are going crazy. Living in a wilderness area I hardly notice. Your reaching out in this forum really is a safe connection. Best wishes and warm thoughts.

[LindasPencils]

My only reservation would be: "Work over the entire area with an F pencil to add soft tone, more mid-tones and to blend over the darker areas."

Oh Mike! MY MISTAKE - I really should have phrased that better!!! What I meant was 'work over the entire area except your whitest whites with an F'. I was trying to be brief in the caption and was a little too brief. Thanks for the heads up, I will amend the original.
Re the 'F' pencil - while I agree with you that the 2H is a better option, many of my students struggle with the hardness of that pencil and find the F easier to handle. While in class I recommend the 2H over the F, but have found some start to grind the 2H into the paper trying to get it to go darker. It is a fine control with the 2H and sometimes the slightly softer F can give a softer result and be easier for them to handle.
Yes, I agree with you that the white should be left white! There is no tone at all in the whitest areas of this rose.
And some good news this week, Victoria (my State) is now 70% double vaxxed and we start to move out of lock down tomorrow! Yay! Thank you all for your good thoughts - even us introverts were starting to go a bit cabin crazy.

[Laurene]

Hi Linda. I haven’t been around lately either. I’m happy to hear that spring will bring a little hope where you are. The rose is soft and lovely and also speaks of a hopeful future.

[LindasPencils]

Thanks Laurene. I put this little rose in the Victorian Artist's Society 'Small Works' show this month and it sold! Yay! Some spare cash for Xmas!