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The third times a charm or so they say...

I just finished the third in the series of the Giant Pacific Octopus. Why am I doing so many octopus? For details as to how this all started you can read my past blog post on A-Muse-ing Encounter. This idea has been in my head for many years and now that I have lots of time to create, it is time to put paint to canvas, wood and charcoal/pastel to paper. 

The title of this piece is: "Do Octopus Dream In Color?" it is 22x30" on Rives BFK paper, medium, charcoal and pastel. The background of charcoal powder was applied to the paper, sprayed with water, brushed, sprayed with denatured alcohol and sprayed again with water, finally left to dry. 

Once the paper was dry, I used a white charcoal pencil to sketch in the octopus. It takes some time to follow the patterns of the arms and the suckers. I used two photo reference pictures, one in color, I took the same image, making it B&W, it helps to see the contrast and details using both. Kneaded erasers become a drawing tool for me, using them to pull out some of the charcoal background, creating light, mid-tone areas. For me, this is like magic. Watching the lights, forms come into being from a dark background. This is my favorite technique. It is also one of the techniques I will be teaching in my workshop in July: Pastels as Mixed Medium, through www.commongroundonthehill.org, I know shameless plug. But, if you would like to learn more about this style and more you still have a little time to sign up for this class. 

Moving on, I find working on the octopus, very meditative. I have to work in a pattern, going from top left moving to the right. There is some leeway, going left to center, moving down to lower left, back to top center...you get the picture. On these bigger pieces I work with my paper mounted to a drawing board placed on a easel. When a drawing is upright you are less likely to place your hand on the surface. I have a habit of using my pink-y  finger to hold my hand just above the surface. Good or bad it works for me, you can use a maul stick, or place a tissue under your hand if it must come down to the surface. Okay, enough tricks and techno talk. 

Here are a few pictures of this piece in process. I finished using charcoal pencils and pastel sticks. I hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of my inner soul come to life in this piece. In these times of solitude being in my studio, making art, is what keeps me happy. I hope it makes you happy too. 

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