Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Graphite on Dura-lar Matte Film WIP

While I've been madly getting my work ready for the four show deadlines this month, I thought I would share a new work that I'm also desperately trying to finish!! I am currently working on a new small work, done with graphite on Dura-lar Matte film. You may recognize the characters I'm using as they have appeared in my work before. This will be a 7 x 7 inch, square format, with the same set of trees with a rabbit, so far, as the star instead of a crow this time. The rabbit is the same one that I've used in two of my new silverpoint miniatures, shown here in earlier posts. In this work, his pose is slightly different, with his head turning a bit more in the viewer's direction. I'm not sure where I'm going with this yet. I'll just have to let it unfold.

When I am working with subjects that I like, I tend to want to continue to work with them, to further their poses and settings. They are never exactly the same and instead evolve in their shape and story. I hope you like this one and follow along. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run into any problems and can manage to finish it in time for my deadline!



Here you can see more of the tree's texture added as I moved down the surface. I've been very careful not to get the marks too dark to begin with.

This shows the photo I'm using for reference. I've included the eraser, brush, to whisk away bits of graphite dust or lint, and I use the piece of soft cotton fabric to rest my hand on to protect the surface from oils and scratches. My pencil is 0.3 HB. I'll switch to harder and softer leads as the work progresses. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

4 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

'T'is going to be gorgeous, Barbara! I love seeing your in-progress works!

Unknown said...

Another gorgeous piece evolving Barbara - I look forward to seeing more :)

Debra Keirce said...

This is signature Barbara Freeman. It's going to be excellent!

Barbara A. Freeman said...

Thank you all, Sherry, Karen and Deb, for your wonderful comments. I've just been so frazzled here. My studio is a mess and I can't find a clean flat space anywhere!! But soon I'll be able to get back to a more calming state. It always makes me happy to read your kind comments and know I'm not alone! Thanks for your support!