Last night I grabbed some time to draw, and I decided to look at a retro yellow alarm clock that I bought from e-bay last year.
I started off by taping down some pastel paper to a board, making a square about 14" across. Then, with soft pastels, I worked in the colours. The paper was grey, and the shadows were grey, with harsh light reflecting on the glass cover of the clock. I didn't like the pastel strokes, so I smudged it all with my finger working in an anti-clockwise direction, which caused a lovely dark area between the minute and hour hand. I sprayed it with fixative, then painted over with inks - black Indian, canary yellow, and an opaque white. Then I stopped, as I wasn't getting anywhere fast.
Looking at it this morning I can see that the yellow needs to be much warmer, the shadows need to describe the shape of the clock and I want more detail on it. It looks mucky at the moment, but I don't want to scrap it. What to do next, I wonder? Any suggestions?
3 comments:
I like it a lot. Already it's more than just a study of a clock - it has an emotional quality. I think it's the mucky smudgy colours and quick confident strokes. It makes me think of times I've spent in dirty train station waiting rooms. It gives me a feeling of blended anticipation and ennui, and disgust at sitting amongst cigarette ends and the smell of pee.
Mel:- All this from a picture on a screen? I'm afraid all I could conjure up was 'Hey, I like this!'
Thanks for the comment about dirty train stations. You've given me an idea for what to do with it now.
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