Saturday, May 05, 2007

Do I seem a little crabby lately ...


SOLD

Have you noticed that crabs seem to be on my mind lately?

This is another dungeness crab that I've tried to capture in a loose manner. My work ususally is so tight, that I need to make a concience effort to loosen-up. The support for this crab is regular brown craft paper, upon which I've used charcoal to draw the shape of a crab, then using pastel to create the middle and light values... then back to charcoal to make the shape of the legs - then a touch of brown conte' here and there.

What I learned with this painting/drawing:
  • The craft paper was not very forgiving. When I wanted to blend the colors, the paper just held on to the pastel ... such as the white on top of the crab back. I was going to blend the white lines ... it just sat there, not blending.
  • Craft paper has a great brown color that I find attractive, so I may try pre-coloring some watercolor paper to paint on.
  • I'm not sure I will ever become comfortable with the dry chalky feel of pastel and charcoal.
  • I love the look of charcoal.
  • I would like to become better at using pastel ... even if it is messy ... I have some artist friends who really are masters of this medium and I so envy the look they can achieve.

3 comments:

  1. Nancy what a great crab! Love the way you've drawn it and the colour really seems to spring out. I've bought myself some brown paper too to experiment on ... it's just a question of finding the time in which to play with it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The crab looks great! I also like the brown craft paper. Maybe try some Mi-tients Canson Paper. I'm sure I'm not spelling it right.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great crab drawing and I actually like the white lines that you couldn't blend, gives nice definition! And the black background is a perfect foil for the crab..great drawing, great colors!
    Ronell

    ReplyDelete