Saturday, January 1, 2011

Work in Progress #2 The Wood Nymph (nude) - Graphite and Mixed Media on Film

I have been in a bit of a rush lately with finishing this blog post and working on another drawing for the Unclad competition. Since many of the photos are self explanatory and you can get the idea of how I work, I'll let the progress images speak for themselves.





At this point I wanted to have the Wood Nymph interacting with another subject. I decided to use one of my favorites, a crow. However, I was a bit unsure of the crow, its body seemed the wrong shape. I made several attempts to correct it. I think it wanted to be a chicken! I added a wood nymph butterfly on the figure's knee.


I continued to work on the background hoping it would help the crow.


Problem solved, the crow is removed! I came to the conclusion that the crow was taking the focus away from the figure. After all, the unclad figure is the focal point and I needed to keep it that way. The crow will have to wait for another time.

If anyone is interested, here is the link to the Unclad show at Gallery by the Bay in Stanwood, WA. Thank you for taking the time to read about my work. Your comments are always appreciated. I hope you will check back soon.

Note: *One of the things that I like about film is that when using graphite on it, it is very forgiving and erases well. More care is needed when using colored pencil.

**When using film, the product is Dura-lar Matte film by Grafix.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Another exciting piece. Love it so far Barbara. I agree the crow took the focus away from the figure. The detail is wonderful as always.

Love seeing your work come alive.

Happy New Year Barbara. xx

Barbara A. Freeman said...

Thanks Dors. Good, I'm glad you agree about the crow. Happy New Year to you,too!

Unknown said...

At first I was disappointed to see the crow gone Barbara, but then when you reminded us that the wood nymph must be the focus, I think you did the right thing, because my eyes were initially drawn to the crow first (probably because he is such a signature of yours).

Barbara A. Freeman said...

Ha! That crow gave me a fit! But sometimes you just have to rethink things. I was glad after I took him out, though.

Wendy Mould AFCA said...

Nice work Barb. Your Wood Nymph is turning our well and she definitely looks better without the crow. It did seem to draw the attention away from her.I do wish you luck at the show with your work.

Barbara A. Freeman said...

Thanks Wendy. I'm happy you agree about the crow not being there.