Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Color Does the Heavy Lifting

 

2/11/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood
There’s an oft-quoted art adage that goes something like this: Values do the work, but color gets the credit. Looking back at these walk-taking sketches from the past couple of months, however, I’m struck by the simplicity of high-contrasting hues adding interest to otherwise ordinary compositions and mundane subject matter. The dynamic combo of Uglybooks and Posca paint markers makes me lazy: They do most of the heavy lifting to make these sketches sparkle; all I have to do is draw.

2/17/24 Roosevelt neighborhood

2/18/24 Line out the door at Macrina Bakery,
Maple Leaf neighborhood

2/22/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

3/4/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood

3/4/24 Maple Leaf neighborhood


3/23/24 Green Lake neighborhood

3/23/24 Green Lake neighborhood

3/27/24 For this one, I took the term "sketchwalk" literally: I walked
slowly behind this pair as I sketched. Northgate.

4 comments:

  1. You make the posca paint markers sing. Nice sketches!

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  2. Yes, I find the color of the paper in these sketchbooks immediately challenges my brain to look more closely (? not sure that's the right response I'm trying to describe) because it is so unexpected and has nothing to do with the scene you are sketching. Well, white paper doesn't either but our brains are used to seeing simple sketches on white paper. The orange paper in particular seems to shout at me "hey look!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, good -- I'm glad the color gets the attention it deserves! ;-)

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