Thursday, July 28, 2016

New Drawing; "Morgana"

 
"Morgana" pencil drawing of a Morgan Mare


While watching the Democratic National Convention this week, I've been working on this drawing in one of my sketch books. 

As reference, I'm using a photograph taken several years ago at a Morgan horse farm. Her name was Lady, and she was a broodmare. In fact, she is the mother of Bullet, the Morgan colt that I've painted twice. The reference photo shows her with mouth open eating hay; a not very flattering picture. The challenge was to change the mouth, and I'm quite pleased with how well that turned out.

The drawing needs a lot more work. I will keep working on it to get it as close to the photograph and artistically pleasing as I can, keeping in mind balancing the values. It will be excellent practice in building up my "seeing" muscles again after such a long layoff. 

So, here you have "Morgana". The drawing is not big; about 6x6 inches done in graphite mostly with a 6B pencil and a little with an Ebony pencil to get the darks more dark. It has a ways to go. Already I can see about ten things that need to be corrected. It will be posted again when it's finished. 

I've always loved to draw  and used to do it endlessly as a kid. I'm really enjoying getting back to my drawing roots again and will be doing more of it from now on as part of my Stepping Stones project of rehabilitation and building up confidence in my artistic abilities again. 

 Please let me know what you think of this new drawing (remember, it's not finished yet).

Thank you for stopping by.

2 comments:

Elizabeth Merchant said...

'Morgana' - your appreciation and love of these fine animals clearly comes through in your rendering.

'Closing a door and opening another' - thank you for sharing this story. 'They' say in any business ... 80% of
one's business comes from 20% of one's clientele.

The good news is you have a record of what sold in that shop. What sold in the shop will sell in other venues.

Allow me to suggest ... Artist's and Graphic Designers Market 2016 edition... especially the sections titled - Greeting Cards, Posters and Magazines.

Norman Rockwell did very well with magazines. In my humble opinion Rockwell would say you are very good in rendering your work. As editors appreciated his rendering ... I feel that editors will appreciate your bringing your work to their attention. And will reward you accordingly.

I have bookmarked your site.

Karen Thumm said...

Thank you, Elizabeth. I used to buy that book every year when I was more active with my art. A bad experience with a licensing agent several years ago has made me a bit gun shy since then.