Thursday, October 26, 2006

Abandoned Waterworks


At 6 1/4" x 10 ¼”, Abandoned Waterworks is one of the largest drawings I've done to date. I didn't keep track of hours, but this one took ten days or so- Including at least a couple sessions spent working up, smoothing out the mist at the bottom.

I like mist I can see into, and the best way I’ve found to achieve transparence and depth is by building it up slowly, with many layers. I begin with a light layer of charcoal dust, lighten too-dark areas with a kneaded eraser; repeat the process; at the last, I’m using my hardest pencils to add very small marks and dots, and a dirty eraser shaped to a fine point to lighten or remove them.

Admittedly, a labor-intensive approach- But there are times when it’s the right kind of work for a couple hours. And usually, the results seem well worthwhile.


4 comments:

Philippe Mouchel said...

Il est très beau et mystérieux, ce dessin.

Andrew Glazebrook said...

This one is fantastic,my only crit is that the pics are very small when I click on them so I can't see as much detail as I'd like :(

Philippe Mouchel said...

Bon, c'est vrai qu'ils apparaissent très petits à l'écran, vos dessins, mais c'est égal, ils sont très forts et m'ont beaucoup inspiré, aujourd'hui
(j'ai visité toute la galerie de votre site)
et donc, Mark, c'est moi qui vous remercie :)

Philippe

Mark Reep said...

Philippe, le seul mot français que je sais est 'Merci '- ainsi j'ai employé Babelfish pour traduire votre poteau, et réponds si tout va bien. Merci pour visiter l'emplacement, et des mots aimables. Tout le meilleur !