...Crab Apple Tea...

I offer prints of most all my drawings. This adds to the overall money invested each season...with the economy the way it is, I've tried to keep my show costs down this year.

For those interested..."Crab Apple Tea" took close to 40 hours to complete, which is why you haven't heard from me much this week. I had to get it done because I had an appointment to have everything high resolution scanned on Wednesday. Made it by the skin of my teeth!

I've done some corrections in photo shop elements and but can't tell what they will look like until posted...so will come back and do subtle corrections at a later date and add more text. It's been a long week so far, going to try to get to bed before midnight for a change.

Hope you enjoy seeing the process,
Marsha


Crab Apple Tea...work in progress photos

Step One...You can see here how exact the line drawing is that I start with. Because I'm using carbon pencil this initial drawing needs to be as exact as possible. I've started laying down 6B carbon in the upper left...blending it until the paper is 100% covered using a stump. You can also see part of the glass outlined...when I'm going to make the background dark like this, I always outline the adjacent subjects using a B or 2B carbon pencil so as to preserve the edges.


Step Two...You can see in this photo how I've progressed around the glass of tea and on down to the table. Outlining the adjacent subjects as I mentioned, will maintain the accuracy of the glass shape, assuring that you don't loose this line while blending.


Step Three...I've begun on the glass (my favorite subject). If you check the image above you will see that this is all about identifying and drawing the shadow shapes. From here on out I will be shading the various smaller shadow shapes found within the the larger shapes outlined in the initial drawing. The darkest areas are applied directly to the paper using a 4 or 6B carbon pencil while the lighter areas are applied with a stump. The base color for the tea was applied using an artist brush.


Step Four...I continued applying carbon with an artist brush, creating the subtle shadows and highlights in the tea and sculpting the shape of the crab apple in the glass. I've started on the cinnamon sticks, making sure not to leave out the reflected highlights on the front of the glass.


Step Five...The glass and the crab apple on the table are pretty well defined at this point. There are still some subtle shadows to incorporate but for the most part I'm satisfied.


Step Six...starting again on the left, I've defined the table and begun on the cut lace doily. To render the wood table, I first made marks with a 6B pencil for the wood grain...then added a solid flow of carbon using first a stump (loaded with carbon) then a chamois. Carbon was applied to the doily, defining the shadow shapes, using a brush. I've also worked a little more on the glass of tea and deepened the shadows on the crab apple laying on the table.


Finished Drawing...This is a camera photo, not the final scan. I should have this drawing posted to my website in the next couple of weeks. The scans are done, I just have to upload and correct them in photo shop. The difference in the amount of detail a high resolution scan captures compared to a photograph is amazing. My camera lens does a good job but just can't compete with the final scan.

Crab Apple Tea will be offered as a print...check my website later for price and availability.


Links:
Fine Art Blog...The Extraordinary Pencil...blogspot
My Squidoo ...Drawing Techniques


PS...make a "Point"...leave a comment.