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| 1/11/17 Pablo colored pencils, Stillman & Birn Alpha |
Last month I started talking about the question of looseness and whether it can be achieved (at least
in appearance, if not in execution) with colored pencils. One way I started
experimenting with looseness is by using a limited palette, and lately I’ve been using the more severe restriction of a primary palette only.
Because my main objective in making these still life studies
is to eventually apply what I learn to sketching on location, I’ve been trying
to get away from the highly controlled, painterly look of my previous colored pencil works. I want to explore ways to make
the still lifes look fresher and more spontaneous – which is how I want my
urban sketches to look, too.
Decreasing the time it takes to make a sketch is not a
primary objective, although it does seem to be one result of my quest for
looseness (and in urban sketching, speed is almost always an advantage).
Shown above is a recent Envy apple (delicious, by the way –
this season’s favorite at our house) sketched with a primary palette. I was being
so loose (in this case, also known as careless) that I started coloring in some
of the highlights I had taken the time to save out, so I had to use an eraser to get them back again. I was
tempted to cover every speck of paper, which is part of the time-consuming
aspect of using colored pencils, but I resisted. The apple took half the time I
took for the pear (below) sketched back in September – I did a thorough job of
covering every bit of paper surface that time. As is often advised by watercolor
painters, I think allowing some of the paper to show through gives the sketch a
bit of sparkle and, I hope, a bit more freshness. What do you think?
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| 9/6/16 Pablo, Polychromos colored pencils, Stillman & Birn Epsilon |
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ReplyDeleteVery nice. I think it's easy to forget not to cover every inch of the paper. You did well.
DeleteThanks, Ching! :-)
DeleteComparing the two sketches, Tina, the pear will get my vote EVERY time. I'm always struck by how, when people talk about "looseness" they never feel compelled to say why it should be better or even what it is. And in the end, I'm very glad that in the days of DaVinci, Rembrandt, Renoir, and Durer that "looseness" was not seen as an automatic improvement.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Larry. Looseness with pencil is just not the same as with paint. Watercolor collaborates when given room to play. Pencils just don't.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts, Larry and Pilgrim. I'm not even sure if "looseness" is the right term I should be using, and I'm certainly not trying to determine which result would be "better." I just know that I can't do what I did with the pear when I'm out in the field, so I'm trying to figure out what methods I can use with colored pencils that will work in the field. And I'm happily trying different things to get there! :-)
ReplyDelete:-) It's your sandbox! You are so good with the colored pencils; I hope you figure it out.
DeleteI like the apple but I wonder if you could have gone even looser?
ReplyDeleteAlso: did you try watercolour pencils + water?
If we didn't have house guests this weekend I might have given it a try. I think you are on to something. Looking forward to seeing the next one.
Thanks, Allan! I use watercolor pencils with water in the field a lot because they are much faster in producing intense color. I haven't used them much with still lifes, though. I'll keep them in mind for future apples and pears!
DeleteIn watercolors we're always trying to "save the whites" for sparkle and highlights, but it is so easy to lose them...and you can't get them back with an eraser. Sometimes like with the apple less is better. Although the pear is beautifully rendered, I think the apple shows more of an artistic look than the pear which is more realistic.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joan. . . I'm going to keep experimenting and see where it takes me! And that's what I find so challenging about watercolors -- you can't erase in the highlights! ;-)
DeleteI really like both! I can see where trying to use fewer pencils and take less time to render would free you up when you don't have time to do a more complicated sketch.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly! Speed isn't always the objective, but sometimes it's really important, as I believe it's always better to get the sketch than to skip it for lack of time.
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