A Wee Study in Negative Space

Did another barn drawing yesterday, but I'm trying some new things. One is vertical format with some cropping of my photo that I took of the barn. The size is much smaller (only 4x6 inches for the drawing on a 6x8 sheet of paper) and I was only doing some sample studies but the result turned out better than I expected.

I had a photo of a barn with a stand of trees behind it but I was 1) not sure how to draw it and 2) I wanted the trees to stand out to balance the image of the barn.

So I did a test drawing of the trees on the left using negative drawing (aka, draw everyone BUT what you wanted to draw). I wanted to show the light / shadows through the trees but in a way to make the trees stand out. And it worked.

I then did the complete drawing on the right to see how it looked in a full drawing with the barn. I thought it turned out really well. Just as I don't show the complete trees, I also don't show the complete barn.

Well, that's my 2-cents for today. Just sharing something new and showing others my process.

Enjoy.

Comments

There is no "Right" way.

It's not that your way is not the right way, it's that everyone has their own right way. So which is the right way? Is there a right way? Software development is full of discussions that revolve about the "right" way of doing something. The terms used in discussing software design, tools and implementation are so undefined as to make them meaningless. Code is not designed and written in a vacuum, it's designed by real people in real companies, each with their own constraints and issues. Code that may look like a hack could have been the result of an employee dragged out of bed at 2am by a company shirt that only cared that they they did not lose their personal client the next morning. Everything must be looked at in context. A project written to "Best Practices" may never be finished before development funding dries up. Goals, vision, constraints and thoughts should be somewhat aligned for project to be successful (or at least enjoyable ...

3rd Try is a Charm

I've been trying to draw / paint these barns for a couple of years but never felt or got them right. This time I think they turned out right. So What went wrong before and what's right now with this drawing? This time, the light was right. It's coming from the upper right and the shadows just looked right. The other thing is the corn field on the left had to "be in season", otherwise it's just a plowed field. I had taken other photos from different angles but they never felt right. This angle has the road, power lines, corn field, etc. all leading to the right. The shadows on the lower right helps fill in that corner (don't forget about the corners!). The last part is trying to draw (ink paint maybe) the trees in the background. Not so easy when they are kind of a blob is green shades. So yeah, it's composition that is king. Many times I just don't see it until the drawing / painting is finished and when it's right it feels goo...

So THIS is My Style?

If I play around long enough my style will appear. I'm guessing that this is kind of it. I'll keep working on other techniques in watercolor but for now this appears to be my style. I do like it and others appear (to my face) to also like this. Not every one of my paintings is a success. About 1/3 so far, but when they do I am rather pleased that anything good comes out of it at all. I do love color. Color is happy and outdoors is full of color, be it the west or back east with the greens. Color color color. Also doing some painting on hot press paper and see how that goes. Later......

A Person, Artist, Software Engineer, Geologist.

Search This Blog