Rose Welty Art: colored pencil drawings

Line Drawing - Tips and Tricks: Harold Speed 9

2012-05-24T21:51:00.002-04:00

If memory serves, I took this photo at the Fort Worth Zoo three years ago.

I've been working my way through Harold Speed's book on drawing. Chapter 8 is entitled "Line Drawing: Practical". It is a large chapter full of tips and tricks - it is mostly practical whereas the book thus far has been theoretical. There is way too much in this chapter to put in a single blog post. I can't even prioritize the different tips - so I'm just going to list three quotes that I can benefit from and urge you to read the book yourself!

"Speaking generally, lines of shading drawn across the forms suggest softness, lines drawn in curves fulness of form, lines drawn down the forms hardness, and lines crossing in all directions so that only a mystery of tone results, atmosphere."

-- Harold Speed

These "rules" are generally true and can certainly be broken.
As a pencil artist who likes showing her marks (leaving my pencil strokes visible) it would be good for me to think about these rules when I'm planning my next piece.

"Don't burden a line drawing with heavy half tones and shadows; keep them light. The beauty that is the particular province of line drawing is the beauty of contours, and this is marred by heavy light and shade."

-- Harold Speed

Here Speed is definitely advocating a certain type of line drawing he finds most beautiful.
In terms of colored pencil, I think this idea can be used to support high key (all light values) CP drawings. As an art viewer, I love high key paintings. Given my way of working with CPs, high key is good - I find it difficult to get large areas of strong dark color in my work.

"As it is only from one point of view that things can be drawn, and as we have two eyes, therefore two points of view, the closing of one eye will be helpful at first."

-- Harold Speed

This is one of the first tips any one gets in any art instruction.
It bears repeating though, because it is so easy to focus attention on the exact thing that you are drawing - thereby losing the "glance" viewpoint that made you fall in love with an image. This is definitely an area I'd like to work on.

Still In Progress

2012-05-23T22:32:00.002-04:00

Work in Progress
12in x 9in
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2012 Rose Welty

My artwork has taken a bit of back seat to gardening as of late - I'm desperately trying to get the yard in shape before the heat really comes. This should, of course eventually, aid the artwork - I plant lots of flowers as you might have guessed.

But, I have managed to squeeze in the above 9in x 12in in the evenings. This piece needs to sit a bit, it is nearly what I had in mind, but I think it may need a few tweaks - time will tell.

Still Here!

2012-05-17T15:08:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to pop in and say that I am still alive and well. Just busy. I have a few major projects that I hope to finish by the middle of next week, if not earlier. I should be back on a regular schedule and the "Speed on Drawing" series will continue then.

I do have a new piece to show then!

We'll talk soon.

How to Study Drawing: Harold Speed 8

2012-05-09T14:38:00.001-04:00

This post gives some highlights from chapter 7, entitled, The Study of Drawing, from Harold Speed's book on drawing. On my favorites page you can see all of the posts in this series.

Up until this point in the book, Speed has discussed that there are two approaches to drawing - a line centered approach and a mass centered one. So, it is natural that he then argues the student should study both aspects of drawing - beginning simultaneously and separately. Essentially, one should draw entirely with line without regard to tone or mass in one drawing and then in the next drawing work entirely with masses and tones, without regard to line. Eventually, the two styles will converge but in the mean time, he argues, there is plenty to learn.

Below I give bullet point lists of Speed's points (because the modern reader finds this easier) but these are essentially quotes from Speed.

Line drawing teaches:

accurate observation
expressive value of line
hand coordination

Mass drawing teaches:

the importance of tone values
the expression of form by means of planes

If you only study line drawing, you will lack:

knowledge of the tone and atmosphere that always envelop form in nature
the ability to switch to a brush when you take up painting

If you only study mass drawing, you will lack:

accurate observation of all the subtleties of contours and the construction of form
understanding of the mental stimulus that the direction and swing a brush stroke can give

In my own experience, I can definitely say that my studies have been strong in line and weak in mass. I'm therefore very encouraged to spend more time working with masses in my studies. At the top and bottom of this post I've put a few more drawings from my venture into Bargue's drawing course - these are focused line drawings aiming at observation and accuracy - and it appears I need work there too!

Lifeless Piece of Perfect Workmanship: Harold Speed 7

2012-05-04T22:43:00.000-04:00

Bargue Drawing Course, my beginning

This post contains highlights from chapter 6, of Harold Speed's book on drawing. The chapter is called "The Academic and Conventional". You can find all posts from this series on my favorites page.

"academic drawing is all that can be really taught, and is as necessary to the painter as the practicing of exercises is to the musician, that his powers of observation and execution may be trained."

-- Harold Speed

In this chapter Speed argues that academic drawing (studying how to draw well) is necessary. He argues that academic studies train the eye to observe accurately and train the hand to reproduce appearance.

"But the vital matter of art is not in all this necessary training." -- Harold Speed

So when is a drawing good?

"The test is whether it has life and conveys genuine feeling." -- Speed

Why is not a drawing's accuracy a measure of goodness?

"It would seem that, after a certain point, the nearer your picture approaches the actual illusion of natural appearance, the further you are from the expression of life...The nearer you approach the actual in all its completeness, the more evident is the lack of that movement which always accompanies life."

-- Harold Speed

Finally, with those necessary exercises mentioned above in mind, I have begun working my way through the famous Bargue Drawing Course. You see my first drawings above.

Spring Tulips

2012-05-03T13:41:00.001-04:00

Spring Tulips
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2012 Rose Welty

My friend Jeanette Jobson issued a spring tulip challenge last week. Yes, last week - when it was still spring - it's in the 90s where I am and Jeanette is getting wet snow.

Enjoy spring while you can!

I, for one, am wishing that I had been more focused on getting the garden projects done when it was so lovely to be out there. :-)

Painter's First Necessity: Harold Speed 6

2012-04-30T22:00:00.000-04:00

This colored pencil drawing I did as part of an oil painting class with Susan Carlin. This drawing was built up in masses of color - refined to different degrees throughout it.

This post contains highlights from chapter 5, entitled Mass Drawing, of Harold Speed's book on drawing. This is the sixth post in the series, you can find all of the posts on my favorites page.

"If only the accurate copying of the appearances of nature were the sole object of art (an idea to be met with among students) the problem of painting would be simpler than it is, and would be likely ere long to be solved by the photographic camera."

-- Harold Speed

"...the problem of painting would be simpler than it is..." Another way to say that - it is harder to be more than camera than it is to be just a camera. In our day and age, where everything seems to have a camera as part of it, it is vital to be more than a camera as an artist. After all, add a photoshop sketch filter to the camera set up and you have a accurate camera drawing.

"The reducing of a complicated appearance to a few simple masses is the first necessity of the painter."

-- Harold Speed

Speed doesn't say how to achieve those simple masses - that is coming up in another chapter. He also makes the point that the painter must deal with masses as he has a brush fat with paint in his hand and not a pencil. With the limited painting experience I have, he is indeed right - it isn't easy to maintain a fine line with a brush for very long in painting.

I work with pencils and not brushes but I do try to work in masses first. Especially with colored pencil - a medium requiring lots of layering - it has improved my work to think in terms of big chunks of color that I refine with each layer. I might make small thin lines individually, but I lay them down in big masses on the paper (all jammed together).

Not Until da Vinci: Harold Speed 5

2012-04-26T13:25:00.002-04:00

My piece of an upcoming project for DC114 of CPSA

This post contains highlights from Harold Speed's Practice and Science of Drawing, chapter 4 entitled Line Drawing. You can find all of the posts in this series here.

"Light and shade were not seriously perceived until Leonardo da Vinci. And a wonderful discovery it was thought to be, and was, indeed, although it seems difficult to understand where men's eyes had been for so long with the phenomena of light and shade before them all the time."

-- Harold Speed

I just love the frankness of Harold Speed. Of course, he's right - how could we have missed for so long? Indeed, how could we each individuality miss it until someone points it out to us in an art class?

In this chapter Speed makes a multi-faceted argument about the importance of line:

imaginative works are often strong in line (William Blake and his Job illustrations)
as an emotional stimulus (violence or calm, depending on the flow of lines in the work)
it enables the artist to direct the attention of the viewer
there is a harmonic (rhythmic) sense in line

"no work that aims at a sublime impression can dispense with the basis of a carefully wrought and simple line scheme."

-- Harold Speed

This reminds me very much of my study of notan, done years ago now. Here's a post where I quote Arthur Wesley Dow saying much the same thing as Harold Speed. If you are interested in line and notan, Making a Mark's Katherine Tyrrell also studied this topic - a great post of theory and practice on notan. She also made a lens about all the different facets of her study on composition.

Finally, congrats to the five DC114 members who got works in the international show this summer! They are a talented group and I am blessed to live in NC and be a part of their chapter.

Shocking State of Neglect: Harold Speed 4

2012-04-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

Sketch after Mary Cassatt

This post is a brief summary and highlights from chapter 3, entitled Vision, in Harold Speed's Practice and Science of Drawing. You can find all of the posts here.

"If so early the sense of vision is neglected and relegated to be the handmaiden of other senses, it is no wonder that the average adult is in such a shocking state of neglect."

--Harold Speed

Speed demonstrates that the sense a child consults when they first draw the face is touch - not sight. This is why they draw outlines around things that do not have outlines in real life. I'm not going to retrace his argument, but he makes a convincing one - it's true what we first draw has very little in common with how we actually see.

From here he concludes that there are 2 ways to "see":

mental perception - derived from our sense of touch (outlines, where our hand would travel)
visual perception - arrangement of colors on the retina (vision as a mosaic of color)

These give 2 different ways to approach representing the visible on paper (drawing):

line drawing (mental perception)
mass drawing (visual perception)

"The visual blindness of the majority of people is greatly to be deplored, as nature is ever offering them on their retina, even in the meanest slum, a music of colour and form that is a constant source of pleasure to those who can see it."

-- Harold Speed

"It is the privilege of the artist to show how wonderful and beautiful is all this music of colour and form, so that people, having been moved by it in his work, may be encouraged to see the same beauty in the things around them."

-- Harold Speed

Finally, I just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have taken the time to send an email or leave a comment to let me know that you are enjoying this series. It is very encouraging to hear - I appreciate it.

Life at Second Hand: Harold Speed 3

2012-04-21T21:54:00.001-04:00

Sketch of Wildflower done in 2009
copyright 2009-2012 Rose Welty

This post is a summary of highlights in Harold Speed's Practice and Science of Drawing, chapter 2 entitled Drawing. You can find the series (to date) on my favorites page.

"Art...enables us to experience life at second hand."

-- Harold Speed

"There is a feeling of being lifted out of one's puny self to something bigger and more stable."

-- Harold Speed

Who doesn't want their drawing to be described by those two statements? I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I remember as a child going to a Degas exhibit (I believe it was at the Huntington Library) and thinking to myself that I could smell the sweat of those ballet rooms, I could hear the sounds. It made me want to learn to draw - it seemed an amazing ability.

" Drawing, then, to be worthy of the name, must be more than what is called accurate. It must present the form of things in a more vivid manner than we ordinarily see them in nature."

-- Harold Speed

Notice that he says *more* than accurate, meaning that accurate drawing is a bare necessity, not a "nice to have." He says to create worthy drawings an artist must be able to select the essential or expressive elements in a subject.

Speed urges the art student to "let your aim be a searching accuracy" - arguing from the lesser to the greater:

"For how can the draughtsman who does not know how to draw accurately the cold, commonplace view of an object, hope to give expression to the subtle differences presented by the same thing seen under the excitement of strong feeling?"

-- Harold Speed

Something Better Than Copying: Harold Speed 2

2012-04-18T21:40:00.000-04:00

Dogwood Branch
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2012 Rose Welty
click to buy

"It is surprising how few art students have any idea of what it is that constitutes art."

--Harold Speed

Continuing on from last time, I've got a few tidbits from the introduction to Harold Speed's The Practice and Science of Drawing.

Speed spends the introduction (chapter 1) discussing what constitutes art, seeing as he feels that most art students don't know what it is. You have to love the frankness. ;-)

"It is highly essential that they [art students] have some better idea of art than that it consists in setting down your canvas before nature and copying it."

-- Harold Speed

If you take one thing from the chapter, that's it. Art is not photography. He has plenty to say about the necessity of accuracy, he just feels it is more of a "given" or basic thing that should be there and then the artist needs to go beyond that.

Speed also gives his goal for the education of a painter:
"The study, therefore, of the representation of visible nature and of the powers of expression possessed by form and colour is the object of the painter's training."

-- Harold Speed

Dogwood Branch is available for purchase at Daily Paintworks. It will come to you matted to 8in x 10in and ready for framing.

Artistic Indigestion: Harold Speed 1 - Preface

2012-04-17T13:33:00.000-04:00

After Degas - a sketch copy I did a few years ago

"It is no wonder that a period of artistic indigestion is upon us."

--Harold Speed

I'll come back to the quote in a minute.

Do you have any books that you reread on occasion? Harold Speed's The Practice and Science of Drawing is one that I've read a few times before and always come away thinking that I missed a good bit of it.

I saw it mentioned on James Gurney's blog the other day and thought it was about time I revisited it. The book is full of fun quotes, so I though I'd share some of my favorites here on the blog. So, today I'm hopefully beginning a series through Harold Speed's book - not comprehensive or sequential, but regular enough and I'll tag all of the posts with Harold Speed so that you can find them all.

From the preface....

"It is no wonder that a period of artistic indigestion is upon us."

That is just a funny sentence.
If you substituted " information " for "artistic" you'd have a fabulous summary of the internet age.
But he's really talking about how easy it is get access to quality reproductions of art from many different traditions. He wrote that a hundred years ago - all the more in our day.
He argues that you need some basic artistic principles to help you navigate the rich and turbulent seas of the art world. Once you learn a few fundamentals you can understand art across culture and time. I certainly know from personal experience that some art takes a bit of studying to truly understand and appreciate. But, that art was worth the effort! :-)

Spring Show Off

2012-04-16T14:33:00.001-04:00

Spring Show Off
7in x 5in
colored pencil on paper
copyright 2012 Rose Welty
click to buy

Do flowers speak to you? It seems like they speak to me sometimes. When I'm walking along, just enjoying the scenery...daisies and pansies always say "here to brighten your day"...roses say "elegance is always good"...but bearded irises just say "look at me, I'm amazing." I love the irises nonetheless, but they do show off a fair bit. I told my son they wouldn't last too long in the garden, so he runs off the bus each day and counts how many we have.

If you are interested in Spring Show Off you can purchase it at Daily Paintworks. It will come to you matted and ready for framing, as below:

Spring Show Off, matted

Gdansk, Poland

2012-04-09T12:06:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to pop in and show you a little sketch I've been working on. I did it using Google Street View - Gdansk is the Virtual Paintout this month.

This is the Google Street View.

Hope

2012-04-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

Hope
7in x 5in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty
click to buy

My kitchen sink is in the corner of the kitchen. Consequently, I have two windows to look at when I'm washing up. One looks onto a redbud tree of mine, the other looks onto a white flowering tree of my neighbor. I haven't had a chance to ask him what it is, but it so lovely this time of year. This bud is from his tree. It starts out green like it is here, then when it unfurls the petals turn white. I will be doing another drawing of the white blooms.

I was down in the dumps last week - I had been trying to photograph some birds and not having even mild success. Then, as the sun was setting I looked out at that tree and saw these elegant buds - my hope was restored and I went out with my camera. I got some great shots and went out again the next day and found more beauty - even a few birds.

If this "Hope" has caught your eye, you can purchase it at my Daily Paintworks gallery. It will come to you matted (to 8in x 10in), ready to frame, as below:

Hope, matted to 8in x 10in

Just A Glance

2012-04-03T10:53:00.001-04:00

Just A Glance
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty
click to buy

I am reposting this piece as it is now available for sale on Daily Paintworks.

American Robins are quite plentiful around where I live. They are some of the first birds you see as winter slips away and spring edges closer. I love their beautiful golden breasts and dark gray heads - a lovely combination. They are quick - you only get a glance before they take off.

"Just a Glance" will come to you matted to an 8in x 10in, ready for you to frame:

Also a shout out to Ann Thompson Nemcosky - I was a part of her daffodil challenge over the weekend. Ann does some lovely work and has been a good friend over the years. We met through our blogs but really got to know each other better studying a color project together. Check her out!

Keeping An Eye

2012-03-29T13:58:00.000-04:00

Keeping An Eye
5in x 7in
colored pencil on colored paper
copyright Rose Welty
click to buy

When I was out photographing flowers the other day, I turned away from the tulips and was startled by this cardinal standing behind me. He didn't tell me what he thought of my photography, but he did allow me to grab a few quick shots before he scampered off.

This piece was done on Stonehenge "Fawn" paper. It's a "tan" sort of color - the paper shows through in several areas.

"Keeping an Eye" is available for sale at Daily Paintworks. It will come to you matted to 8in x 10in, as below:

matted "Keeping An Eye", copyright Rose Welty

Spring Burst

2012-03-26T13:34:00.000-04:00

Spring Burst
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty
Sold

The other day I was on a walk with my husband at lunch time - this tree stopped me in my tracks. We were walking more for exercise than viewing pleasure so we had to push on, but I did go back later with the camera and snap a few photos.

It is a gorgeous time of year here. The whole town is yellow - there is that much pollen in the air - but the blooming trees are absolutely stunning.

Spring Burst has now sold. You can purchase it as a notecard at FineArtAmerica. For other originals I have for sale please see my gallery at Daily Paintworks.

Two Old Birds, colored pencil drawing

2012-03-21T21:51:00.001-04:00

Two Old Birds
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty

On and off over the last few years I've thought of drawing origami. Line is so important in origami and I think there are some interesting graphic explorations to be made. So the last few days I've spent time on "Two Old Birds". They aren't old cranes, they were newly made for this project - but they weren't folded by an expert and they had to be touching to remain upright - they just seemed like an older couple living out their days in love and support of one another.

I think I have tried to draw or paint origami once before but failed (I can't find the attempt, but I did find some more ambitious origami I did a few years ago). I don't know that I'll do a series, but I'll think about it.

Spring Magnolia

2012-03-15T15:08:00.000-04:00

Spring Magnolia
7in x 5in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty

Earlier this week I went to sign up for some summer activities. It was a gorgeous morning at Blue Jay Park and I couldn't resist taking my camera. I heard many birds and saw a few squirrels. Most of the spring blooms have yet to arrive, but the Jane Magnolias are out and were the focus of my attentions.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, Jane Magnolias are a "member of the "Little Girl" group of hybrid magnolias developed in the mid-fifties at the U.S. National Arboretum."

For A Moment - updated

2012-03-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

For A Moment
14in x 11in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty

Sometimes a piece just falls short. It doesn't meet up with what you originally intended or you just feel there is more in there waiting to break through the surface. It's that latter case that drove me to update this piece. Somehow I just felt there was more in the composition then I was bringing out.
So this past week I spent a bit more time with this image. Below you can see the original stopping place and the original post.

A Quiet Moment

2012-03-10T10:48:00.002-05:00

A Quiet Moment7in x 5in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty

Horses are such strong, powerful animals. Here, rim lit and still, this powerful animal takes on a gentle feeling - a fascinating thing to behold.

I'm not sure that I've ever drawn a horse before - it certainly was a challenge. Thanks to the group at Daily Paintworks Challenge!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Daffodils and some news

2012-03-06T21:53:00.000-05:00

Daffodils
5in x 7in
colored pencil on paper
copyright Rose Welty
click to buy

The previous owner of my home was quite good in the garden. Every spring I get wonderful daffodils, hyacinths, and bearded lilies. I particularly enjoy these daffodils which she planted at the base of two large birch trees. They create a lovely view from the dining room windows.

"Daffodils" is now for sale at my Daily Paintworks Gallery. "Daffodils" will come to you matted, as below:

Daffodils, matted - note the matted image is cropped slightly on the upper right flower

Just A Glance, colored pencil drawing

2012-03-01T15:39:00.002-05:00

Just A Glance
colored pencil on paper
7 in x 5 in
copyright Rose Welty

American Robins are quite plentiful around where I live. They are some of the first birds you see this time of year as winter slips away and spring edges closer. I love their beautiful golden breasts and dark gray heads - a lovely combination. They are quick - you only get a glance before they take off.

Keeping in Shape

2012-02-23T19:58:00.001-05:00

I went for a walk today with a friend and neighbor. We were going almost every day for an hour several weeks ago - but alas, that was several weeks ago. In my defense, I have started cleaning vigorously for an hour a day - running up and down stairs to put things away, moving furniture, and scrubbing. I thought that was at least something. But apparently no it is not.

We walked for an hour today - at a leisurely pace so we could chat - and I am exhausted this evening. I suppose I need to add sit ups, push ups and more stair running to the cleaning routine! As someone has surely said, it is easier to stay in shape then get in shape - I think I'm about to get a remedial lesson on that one.

In this instance, what is true for the body is also true for the drawing skills - I need to be keeping my sketch abilities in shape too. I enjoy drawing from life, but it is so easy to get out of the habit. Today I drew from my camera "from life", you see the sketch above.