WIP 4 SWANEY RD. Barn (Buckeye Red, White & Blue)

Thanks for coming back and following along with this one. It is fun to watch how a drawing develops and this one is full of fun. The drawing is completed and on my gallery pages for sale but, it is the Work In Progress posting that help to bring a drawing to life for the viewer. Other artists tell me that they like to see how another artist develops a piece and this is one of those ways to see the work as it progresses. I always enjoy seeing other artist at work.

Well, now that the big secret is out as to what is going on the facing side of this barn to make it so special, it was time to get back to the work at hand. The weeds and mid-ground grass work. I love weeds in my drawings and especially this one as they have the front and center stage this time. Many times they are in the mid or distant areas of the drawings I do but, this time they are close up. You can get a good look at them by clicking on the two images I have posted this time. The weeds are made up of Thistles, Fox Tail and Golden Rod as well as some tall grasses. These can be mixed in what ever way you decide. I try not to get to regular on my spacing or the number of each. Nature doesn't do this so neither do I.

The mid ground grass work was all done by individual pen stroke with my fine point pen. While the weeds in the fence row were done with both medium and fine point pens. The weeds were drawn in by line work and then some over-lapping tone layers to give them depth and dimension. The grass work as I said, was done one stroke at a time. I pay close attention to the contour of the ground and the distance between the weeds and the facing side of the barn. The strokes are short vertical lines. The lines get longer as they get closer to the viewer. I tend to start the grass work in the lower left corner of the area that I want to cover and work to the upper right. I don't work a row across the page and then come back like a type writer would. That gives a manufactured line look to your grass. Again, nature doesn't do that so neither do I. Pay close attention to what you see in nature and try to stay close to it in what and how you render natural areas in your work.

Well, that's about all for now. If you have any questions for me about any specific techniques or any part in the drawing please feel free to drop me an email directly to vince@rural-route-one.com and I will answer them as quickly as I can.

Cheers!

WIP 3 Swaney Road Barn

As you can see, I have done the work on the facing side of the barn that I had kept a secret till now. This barn drawing is different from any other that I have done. It is the first time that I have put color Ball Point Pen work in my drawings. I wanted to do this to show my love for the flag and my country. I am a disabled veteran and very proud of my service. I have painted, if you will, this flag on the only barn I own. If I had a large barn like this, I would by the paint and paint one on the side of it. One interesting note about the flag image is that I took the reference photo of this flag during my attendance at the OSU football game at "The Shoe" in Columbus, Ohio during the home game against Wisconsin. It was my first time in the stadium for a game. I was impressed ! The most beautiful sight for me that day was the huge American flag flying at the end of the stadium. It was perfect. I knew then that it would be my model for the barn drawing. The flag is done in light layers of red and blue ink while the white areas are negative work. I also finished the facing siding of the barn as well as put in the stone corner around the window of the barn. If you look in front of the corner you will see that I have put in the apple ladder, the paint cans and artists tool box in the mid-ground to show that the artist had just finished his work and as it were, has stepped out in front to admire the work before picking up his tools. If you click on the image you can see a closer view of this image. I have also included a close-up crop of the paint cans for you to see. Thanks for following along with me on this one...Keep On Creating !

Vincent