My Laura Ashley striped cardigan
Was it worth it? I've been inspired by some of the detailed drawings on other blogs and thought I'd try to capture as much as possible. But it took me so damn long. The light source started with the sun shining through the french window on the left and a shaft of sunlight from another window behind. The shaft of sunlight then disappeared. The light from the left softened as time went on. Then people started putting lights on so there was electric light from the right. Then there was electric light from behind. Then I couldn't see my drawing at all so I thought 'sod it' and put the light on above me.
I'd forgotten that when I did drawings like this when I was a student I didn't need to worry about a horde of children bumping the subject matter. I also didn't have to worry about using up a big dollop of good-will (by expecting everyone else to attend to Xavier). This took ten times as long as the drawing below, so what should I do – more of the shorter drawings or save up my good-will time to do drawings like this?
posted by Julie Oakley at Saturday, November 19, 2005
16 Comments:
What a beautiful job!
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! And, though you had much to contend with, so so incredibly worthwhile (in my humble opinion!!).
Julie,
This thought it interesting. Long draw or quick draw. My daughter is taking a high school drawing class and is making the most beautiful long drawings. Part of me is jelous but I too have adult time constraints. I think I"m going to try a long drawing every so often because if find them very satisfying.
I love your fold drawing very much.To me it looks worth all the agravation.
Julie, it looks so good, I thought it was a photo! Laura Ashley would be proud!
Well done!
This drawing certainly seems worth the time spent! I know what you mean, however ... one of my goals when I first started the EDM challenges was to pick up speed a bit. Since I have the tendency to get WAY too detail oriented, I would sometimes do the challenges when I only had 10 or 15 minutes to complete the drawing. It turned out to be a very useful exercise, although now I sometimes have to make myself slow down rather than speed up ... I'd guess that you need to be able to do a bit of both! Don't worry -- the children will one day grow up and you'll have PLENTY of time on your hands!
Beautiful work, Julie. Love, it.
Detlef
http://www.detlefjumpertz.com
This is excellent Julie, and the finished product is testament to the time you put into it. :o)
Wow Julie, this is just awesome! I love the blues and whites mixed with the pencil shading. It sets so well against the yellow background. Well done!
It´s a great job and it's worthing the time spent. I also love the next sketch because it's full of life and movement.
hfm
http://tcores.blogspot.com
Beautiful drawing Julie, and very detailed!. I have the same problem as you do. I'd like to do detailed drawings such as this one, but if I think about how much time it would take to make one....I still can't decide.
I have to say, I simply adore your fast sketches. They're so full of life and beautiful. The drawing above is exquisitly exicuted, but not nearly as lively/interesting!
Long drawing, short drawing makes no matter to me just so long as you keep posting them because they are ALL simply delightful. Love, love, love your folded sweater but of course you won't always have that kind of time.
an amazing drawing Julie, amazing! I can even see the pattern of the knit in a few places which must have taken an incrediible amount of concentration to do. it's beautiful and well worth the time.
I have a lot of work on today so don't have time to respond to you all individually. However I would like to thank you all for looking and giving me your thoughts, which have helped me to crystallise what I think.
Christina, I think you make a very good point and I think that was what I was trying to ask. When my older children were little I hardly drew at all because it never occurred to me to take five minutes to just do something.
I think I didn't draw because I knew I couldn't take the time to do this kind of drawing.
However I'm so grateful for the few drawings I did do that record something of their babyhood. Having done this drawing - I did kind of think 'well, it's some folds - so what!' So I think what I realise is that although it's enjoyable to luxuriate in this kind of drawing and to work at developing these kinds of skills, nevertheless when I'm very old I'll really enjoy looking back at a larger quantity of drawings that (however badly) capture the fleeting moments of both my life and my childrens' childhood. So although I will do some drawings that take longer - I won't allow that to inhibit me from mainly doing shorter less accurate drawings at this point in my life.
Also I think when I do a long drawing, I should choose the subject matter carefully - if I'm going to take four hours over a drawing then it should be a momento that I want to keep!
Thank you all very much for looking and commenting and giving me food for thought
Julie, that's beautiful.
Julie, it is a beautiful drawing, no doubt about it but if it doesn't make you happy then maybe it defeats the purpose? I found your conclusion very interesting. I used to do worthy drawings - life is short, precious etc etc - but that can stifle too. I want to draw things that mean something (since joining EDM) but I'll give myself permission to fail too!
I think it's wonderful that you have learned something so valuable from this one drawing and shared that.
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