More progress

All the pencil work is done. I've kept to simple line work in most areas and only slightly hinted at where the deep shadows will be to keep the watercolour clean and not contaminated by the pencil lead.

Colour-wise I shall attempt a more restrictive palette, maybe just four colours. Having just read James Gurney's brilliant 'Color And Light' it seemed the right thing to do if I want a more harmonious colour scheme. Also I will be more wary of the colour reflecting into the shadows which could be a challenge.

Progress Shot

Progress can be slow when you're having to work on other things at the same time, however I have managed to get started on the final piece for my Brian Jacques homage.

To the left you can see my initial sketch and the reversed and enlarged print of that sketch that I used to trace and then transfer onto the stretched paper (right). As you can see I've just started to reinstate the details with pencil on the final piece.

Rest In Peace Brian Jacques

 
I was shocked when I heard about sad passing of Brian Jacques, author of the superb Redwall series. I pretty much grew up on his books so I felt the only way I could honour his life was to create some art!

Above is my first foray with pencils. I'm planning to work on this is in Watercolour and Gouache keeping the palette restricted but warm.

Rockwell's America In England, Dulwich Picture Gallery

Last week I finally visited the Norman Rockwell Exhibition in Dulwich. WOW!!!! What an artist. I thought I knew his art reasonably well from books but seeing the original work blew away any preconceptions I had.

One thing which surprised me most was the seemingly random scale he worked. In his 'Norman Rockwell Visits A Ration Board' I was amazed to see how small it was (13 1/2" x 23 1/2") akin to Millais' 'Isabella'. Hung nearby was a famous Christmas Saturday Evening Post cover 'Knight Looking In Stained Glass Window' which was massive in comparison at 44 1/4" x 34 1/4". The smaller painting contained much more detail and depth but the larger was more striking and impressive even though it was for a magazine. Maybe Rockwell had more time at his disposal for the Christmas image and possibly hung the canvas in the festive season, who knows?

The technique was sublime and characters rich. I could barely move for fellow gallery goers gasping (say that after a few shandies) then laughing, running over to a friend and pointing out something new.

The setting was rather nice too. Dulwich is a very upmarket pat of South London, crammed full of parks, colleges, and what look like to me, mansions. While I was sat outside waiting for a certain somebody to come back from a tea hunt I took this panoramic. Not five minutes after I had packed my camera away a fox shot right across the grounds, just my luck. I'm afraid you'll have to imagine it in the photo.

Click here for some videos about the exhibition.