DrawWithMike.net

Thanks Linda!

How is this coming along, Laurene? Hope you haven't been bogged down by the Christmas rush!

Hi Linda. Yes, the last couple of weeks were quite hectic at work but I'm going to have time to work on this over the holidays. I'll post an update as soon as I have enough of that dead tree stump done.

Merry Christmas!

and Happy New Year, Laurene.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year to you too Linda!

Working on the dead tree stump now. There won't really be much bark texture here. Rather, the grain of the wood will hopefully guide the eye back to the owl's face.

I thought of adding a feather in the lower right but seeing on the screen now, I think that the one I sketched in is out of scale.

This is really coming to life now! Wonderfully woody wood and I like the way you've used it to define the edges of the owl.

How much detail are you planning in that stump? I just think you need to be careful you don't overcomplicate it and distract from the detail in the owl.... but I am sure you have already considered that.

Re the feather in the lower right. This could work, if it was appreciably larger than life, with a shadow, so it looked like it was a real feather dropped onto the work - sort of a trop loeil.

Thanks Mike and Linda!

Linda, I do intend to have much of the stump in dark shadow. There's a method I've used in the past: draw in the detail, and then very very lightly go over the area with graphite powder on a folded tissue or bit of soft T-shirt cotton. I rub most of the graphite powder off of the tissue and then apply using light pressure (kind of like a watercolour wash over an ink drawing). That way, the underlying detail still comes through in the shadow areas, and if I want it darker, I can repeat. I'm hoping it works here.

That's not a technique I've ever tried. And you're definitely braver than me But I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.