Thursday, October 5, 2017

Worried (Plus More Toned Paper Thoughts)

10/3/17 Maple Leaf neighborhood
If you’ve ever sketched at a work site of some kind, perhaps this has happened to you: You stand nearby, pull out your sketchbook, and start to sketch the excavator or other heavy equipment. One by one, the workers notice you. Eventually one comes over to find out what you’re doing. They may simply be curious, but often they seem concerned that you’re taking notes. A cranky neighbor poised to report the noise or dust? An inspector of some kind? When they see that all you’re doing is sketching, they are usually relieved.

Anyway, I missed most of the action. By the time I got there, they were packing up their tools and parking the excavator for the day. This is happening just a block from my house, so I’ll probably be back again later for more action. At least next time they won’t worry. 

Technical note: As much as I enjoy using toned paper for tonal drawings (like the value studies I did in Don Colley’s workshop), I don’t care for using color on it. My “heavy-equipment yellow” and “cone orange” colored pencils usually pop on white, but they seem dull and muddy here. I’m going to stick it out a while longer, but don’t be surprised if you see the return of white before I fill this book.

2 comments:

  1. LOL Some people really panic when they see you with a pen and notebook. Although the colors seem a little subdued on the toned paper, I still like it a lot.

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  2. Yes, that's happened to me. Only with a food truck. Bought a sandwich. Then ate the sandwich while sketching the truck. When I went over to show it to them, they were SO relieved as they were worried I was a Health Inspector, making notes. :)

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