Its been a while since I posted partly because I keep forgetting to bring the camera cable down stairs plus life getting in the way.  Just looking at my previous post and really hadn’t realised it had been this long.  I actually finished this drawing about 2 weeks ago and its was by far the biggest drawing I have done to date. (approx 18″ x 26″)

It is also totally different from my usual type of drawing (with pencil) as I was trying to do a tonal drawing.

I found the flower pattern very difficult to follow and I ‘cheated’ by using tracing paper to grab the main design.  This also helped with the scaling as it made the drawing a lot bigger scale than if I had drawn it free scale.

My reasoning for concentrating on the tonal aspect was because basically I have a lot of difficulty dealing with tone. When I did an art class just after arriving in Austin, I was introduced to red acetate.  I had never come across this before.  By placing it in front of your view and it gives an idea of the tonal value of each colour. Of course you still have to use your own judgement but it is surprising how close some colours are tonally to each other even though visually they look a lot different.

I also have a grey scale and value finder but I will admit I don’t know how to use it. It came as free gift.  So this is what all these exercises are about relearning or teaching myself how to draw and paint again.   The internet is a great tool for this as I can read the books but it tends to go in one ear/eye and straight through the other ear/eye.  Looking at demonstrations by other artists via video is more informative, even if I am not keen about the art created.

So now the drawing is finished, I have started the painting and I have already run into trouble as I did not tackle the tonal aspect of the flower background.  Yes, it is white but it is not the lightest part of the group, that is actually the left hand side of the figurine.  It is very close but not quite white. The white band behind the Buddha is a yellowish creamy colour but the white in the fabric is blue/grey with a hint of red.   Anyway, that is another blog post in the making.