These are preliminary sketches for my paintings.
To see title, size, materials, year, and present location of picture, hover your cursor over the image. To view all pictures as a slideshow, click on any picture.
They are 1 1/2" x 1", roughly twice the size pictured here.
Technique
The purpose for doing them that small is so that I will be proportionately the same distance away from them as I would be from a painting that is across a large room. The highest priorities in making these sketches are:
-to establish the break-off points that run to the outside edges of the canvas
-to arrive at a dynamic composition
-to identify the rank of the importance of the objects
-to play with the implied lines inherent in the scene
- and to balance the size and relationships of the light and dark areas.
Materials
I use a 1B Dixon Ticonderoga pencil on heavy hot press drawing paper with white vinyl erasers. Drawing tools may entail rulers and templates, possibly a compass, but for the most part just an eraser shield.