If, as some say, repetition is the heart of good design, then this post must be a good one! Here are two drawings continuing the recent tree theme - similar views of a huge maple that overhangs and shades our back deck. Sometimes we feel we live in a tree house.
I love it!
I also love the use of repetition as a design element in a work of art, as a means of understanding the subject itself or simply as a way of honing one's skills as an artist. (Everyone knows the quote regarding "the way to get to Carnegie Hall" right?)
Working with simple black Prismacolor Pencil and lightly toned paper allowed the addition of white pencil in the one above, giving a bit more contrast between subject and background and a nice sense of atmosphere. The one below, more linear, puts emphasis on edge and shape so is more graphic, a bit more abstract yet still descriptive in it's simplicity. That slightly abstract quality shows the work not just as a representation but as an arrangement of repeated verticals and diagonals. Variation in that repetition like light and dark pencil marks, weaving tilted verticals, emphasis on the one trunk with it's rough bark, etc, creates visual interest. Even putting the two drawings together on one page like this to make comparisons contributes to the interest of this blog page it self.
All this, perhaps found in the original scene or more likely seen in the flat rendition later, makes drawing an act of discovery. While observing a subject and putting marks on paper we create an object that "speaks" to us, giving us feedback, new perspectives, new ideas and real reasons to continue our work as artists. What do your drawings say?
"Repetition is the mother of study." (Latin proverb)
"To paint is not to copy slavishly, it is to grasp a harmony among many relationships." (Paul Cezanne)
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