Another view of the local botanical gardens. Today’s image is much sharper than yesterday’s – less muddy from a bit of blur. Again, Weltur, Ilford, and Xenar.
It seems the Xenar is quite good at handling contrast. The LR historgram shows both in its display. As well, the Epson V600 handles C-41 processed B&W film with Digital Ice – very little clean up done in post. With one roll of the XP Super film left, I am tempted to get some more . . .
I’ve long wanted to try one of Rick Surowicz‘s online watercolor classes, but haven’t felt focused enough to take the time to do so. Yesterday I decided I was ready. His classes are not expensive compared to other artists’ classes – $39.00. I think that is a worthwhile investment. And a bargain. Surowicz has a number of videos on YouTube which I find so informative and educational that I thought a class with greater depth of what he does, how he thinks, would be a great benefit.
The class I decided on is called “Abandoned.” I can do okay with water and trees, but buildings and perspective are a problem. This was the primary reason for this choice. Additionally, there are structural elements, such as planes and angles and deciding proportions. I am not good at this at all!
So, today I sat down, downloaded and printed out the PDF files. I got out my sketchbook and did the preliminary work – sketches of four different compositions and value studies of two of them. (Click on one to see the gallery.)
I am full of good intentions, but very bad at executing them! I keep telling myself to do value studies, but don’t.
Making all these sketches -12 in total – came with an amazing “ah ha!” moment: drawing the same thing multiple times gets you familiar with it. I started learning where the chimneys were, the slants of the roof, the arches. The house became like a friend who you haven’t seen for awhile – but the features are so familiar.
Here, on the one with 3 values (white, medium, dark), Rick had us consider light from the left and light from the right. There are similarities and differences, and if you look, you will see them. This was fascinating as I have never done anything like this – I’ve done value studies, but not with a changing direction of light.
So far I am really pleased with the course content. Rick has an even pace when he speaks, and his reasons are clear. As someone who taught for many years, I tend to be highly critical of online courses. So far, I am very happy. Content is clear, and progresses logically. I am looking forward to continuing more tomorrow! Thank you, Rick!
A tree, a sunny day, a canyon, a 1937 folding Welta Weltur camera, a colored filter, 120 film shot in6x4.5 film, Ilford film, a Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 2.8 80mm lens. Such a delight to get back from the lab (even if I have to do a bit of cleaning up in LR)!
If you look closely, you will see there is blur in the image. I finally figured out that the way I was pressing the exposure button was the fault. I did it too quickly, and the result was a sort of little jerk. Motion and blur. That is why some pictures from this roll are sharper and others softer. Interesting how you have to really think about things differently depending on the camera you are using.
I decided to attempt a more high key painting today – one with a lot of white! I always look for contrast, but here I tried to lessen the usual contrast. Maybe it’s because I rather like contrasty photos as opposed to subtle one with a long scale of color or black and white. Even here, I kept adding contrast! It’s a fixation . . . but contrast is how we differentiate shapes and depth, so it’s necessary, but I am trying to minimalize it. Not sure if it worked or not!
The Caribbean is a magical area – palms, sunny, sandy, windy, brilliant light, azure waters – and a place of terror, such as the fury of hurricanes, and in the olden days, pirates! Here is California we also have such brilliance, but our hells are fires and earthquakes. It seems there is always a counterpoint for something.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 