Back lighting

March 22, 2010 | Leave your thoughts

Not a good start to the week by breaking own of my rules – “Don’t start a sketch after 10.30pm- go to bed instead”. But somehow I was keen to try out a few things from Saturday.(workshop with John Haycraft)

1. Back lit subjects. I was thinking about this on Friday when I sketched at the cemetery and at the time was thinking of Fabrice Moireau’s work (I was recommended his work on Saturday)…so very topical. Anyway, trying this tonight I had a light bulb moment that I have always been adding shadow in architect mode not painters mode. ie. full sun on the front, shadows cast at 45 degrees – might be good for a elevation drawing…but back lighting is more dramatic. The idea of having the main facade in shade is quite foreign to my architects brain…as it would hide detail. So it was fun to experiment tonight.
2. Do a tonal diagram first. I didn’t actually do this tonight- but I did think about it. If I had drawn it I might have held my areas better
3. Try to control my looseness – not sure that starting a sketch after 10.30pm is the way. Maybe tomorrow!
4. Use a big brush more often. This was totally done with a #12 sable brush. I want to go back to playing around with my squirrel too!

… more tomorrow!

I think I want to explore this some more (this is an understatement!)

BTW, the odd position of this sketch on the page is due to the fact that I plan to jot down random things ‘This Week’ on this page.
BTW2 Don’t actually know what building this is – the book has been closed and is back on my shelf but it is an English country house!

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