Michael Gage: February 2013

Venice sketch

28 February 2013

Working on ideas for a new linocut.

Rio dei Frari, Venezia. Pencil on paper, A4.

I've done this scene as a print before, but that was years ago. (Well, about five.) Might be interesting to see if I can do it better this time. I'd really like to get the looseness of these pencil lines into the linocut.

Thirty six hours later: Sight size 6

23 February 2013

So that's it. Thirty six hours on one drawing.

Thirty six hours isn't enough.

Nearly there: Sight size 5

16 February 2013

Week five of the sight-size drawing course. More working on the form and volume, expressed with just the light and dark of the pencil.

This is totally absorbing. Time flies... Have we really only got one more day of this? I could spend forever doing this...

Out of the grey, into the dark: Sight size 4

09 February 2013

Starting at the top of the head, and working down. Adding dark and light to the head. The form starts to emerge.

Now it starts to make sense: I start to see why the earlier stage took so long. Making sure they were correct makes this stage easier (relatively!): the shape, size, and midtone are in place, so now "all" I have to worry about is the form and volume.

One shade of grey: Sight size 3

03 February 2013

End of day 3 of the sight size drawing course. Carefully, slowly, painstakingly, covering the shadow area with a flat even tone of pencil.

Eighteen hours down, eighteen hours to go.