Blue Vase and Blue Mug Art Project

Sunday 18th March 2012. 10pm. I have just been taking some digital images of a couple of items in my kitchen for drawing purposes.

I like to draw with soft pastels onto coloured paper.

This project will be about A3 in size 420mm x 297mm.

As I do not have the time to draw up the dimensions of the picture as an artist should properly do, I shall take every short cut that I can in producing my picture.

Stage one. take some photos of the items. Using a cheap digital camera and some artificial lighting. halogen lights on a stand.

Stage two. Import the images onto the computer and edit them with an online photo editing tool.

Stage three. Print the image that i have chosen onto A3 paper made up of two A4 papers stuck together, I use the poster function on the printer to get the size that I want.

Stage four. Transfer an outline of the image onto the drawing paper. Use a coloured soft pastel and rub the back of the printed paper and cover it with a light coating of pastel, put the printed paper on top of the drawing paper and keep in position, using a sharpened H2 pencil or HB pencil I draw over the printed paper following the details of the printed image and transferring the information onto the drawing paper underneath. Remove the printed paper and an faint image should new be left on the drawing paper.

Monday 19th march 2012.

Stage five. Start reworking the drawing with more detail and re define the image as more detail is applied with the soft pastels. Continue drawing in the mid tones and then work form there to the high lights and the darker shadows, rebuild the volume areas and then go back over the detail until an image appears that resembles the original photo but with some alterations to fit the composition.

First full layer of pastel completed, the shape of the vase and mug still needs working on, the left hand side of the blue mud is wrong and needs adjusting. I am compelled to use a method of drawing that we correct my error. I shall make a tracing of my greyscale picture, cut the shapes out as a stencil and lay it on top of the soft pastel picture, the stencil will give me a defined edge to the shapes and also give me the correct shape of the vase and mug.
Stage six. Fix the picture with spray fixative and allow to dry.

To be continued.

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