Monday, October 11, 2010

The Lamp Post



20" x 18 1/2"

10/23/10
I added a revised picture of the finished piece. What I did mainly was add shadow under the bench and around the edges with more black ink and outline the man's arm better. That, and I got a better photo! The original photo is a bit too light.
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The basic image for this came together quickly, but implementing it was where I spent more time! I generally start with a piece of muslin to put things on - and the piece I pulled out already had a lamp post and a path drawn in, long enough ago that I forget what I had planned. However, a lamp post is certainly a source of light, so I went with that, using some Angelina fiber for the light, and a bit of tulle for the rays emanating from it. I added some glitter paint as a last touch.

What I had gleaned from some of the links to chiaroscuro was shading from light to dark, and I tried to create a shading effect using diluted ink. The trees and other greenery filled in nicely, but left a blank spot that needed something, and that was the bench with the man asleep on it, with a newspaper over his face to save me from trying to draw it!

I am not all that happy with this piece, though not sure what I would change. I found my Micron pen cap-less, and so too dry to use, and I want to outline the man's arm and the newspaper to define them better. I welcome any comments.

2 comments:

Julia in NZ said...

Tobi, I think the light source and the way it shines on the tree works really well, very dramatic. I am wondering if the bench and the man are the problem. Maybe if there were shadows behind the bench and the tree, or a darker background for the area not in the rays of light? I would just mess around in Photo editing and try out some options. Coincidentally, I was also thinking about a street lamp image.

Cynthia Ann Morgan said...

Hi Tobi, what a lovely little scene! Great job on the composition...though I'd love to see more darkness around the perimeter, so the mood was more nighttime and contrast between the lamppost shining and the dark night was more dramatic.
Cynthia