JayS wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 8:25 pm
There is some value in putting a drawing up and looking at it for a week, month, year and then asking whether or not there is more to do. Why do we think we have to call a work done?
That's good advice, Jay. Personally, I put any drawing away for a week - or as long as it takes for me to forget exactly what it looks like. Well, maybe a week is being too optimistic
Given that I only ever work on one drawing at a time, I can recall almost all of it for quite a long time. But
only in detailed sections; working closely, I don't have a clear idea of its overall appearance. Anyway....
When the week, or whatever, is up, I carefully extract it from where it was hiding
without looking at it. I stick two bits of Blu-Tack to the back, walk to the wall and - again
without looking at it - fix it to the wall. I walk ten paces back, turn around... and that's the first time I will have seen it, exactly as everyone else will.
Sometimes there's a little balancing required. Perhaps the focus is too dominant, or not dominant enough? Or maybe it's a little too light at one side? Usually, though, I tend to accept it as it is. Once that decision has been made, I spray it with a matt workable fixative. That's not so I can rework it, but because the matt finish removes much of the graphite sheen and the darks pop, as I intended.
That's when I
call it done and move on to the next drawing.
