FAIR VIEW

I continued to search for photographs that moved me to draw and found this one in a National Geographic Magazine. It looked like it would be lots of fun because of all of the colorful wild flowers and so I had at it with my Pentel color pens. I don’t know if I am happy with the result compared to my other works or not. Click to enlarge.

The pinks of the flowers have faded a bit and did not come out quite right in the photograph. I had lots of fun drawing the umbels in the Queen Ann’s Lace and trying to put them in three dimensions. I feared hours of work filling in the foreground, but then thought it looked fine without it.

This work has been shown at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, NY. It was completed in 1984 and was done from a photo that my husband Sean took. He was in a park in Syracuse and came upon this old woman. He asked, as he usually does, if he could take her photograph and this is the gesture she made. He shot the picture immediately. Once I saw this photo I knew I had to draw it. So with his permission, here is my pointillism rendition of Sean’s Old Woman. Click to enlarge.

She was really a challenge to photograph too because the drawing is so light (you can see my reflection in the glass). Actually, when I was doing this drawing it was quite difficult to tell when it was done and when to stop making dots. I was so afraid I would ruin the effect I was trying to capture. Do you think I stopped to soon?

This was the first ever portrait that I did of a person in pointillism. It was from a sepia photograph of Sean’s maternal grandmother when she was a young woman. I had some trouble with her hair and so some of it I did as a characterization, like her bangs, and then other parts I feel I got right, like at the nape of her neck. This is when I decided that old people would be easier to draw though I was pleased with this result. Click to enlarge.

This piece was shown at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, NY and at the Everson Museum as part of an “on My Own Time” Show, both in 1984. I also completed it in 1984. It is pen and ink pointillism on paper. Click to enlarge. The actual drawing inside the mat border is 8″ by 12″.

Verne, my brother, nearly had a heart attack when he saw it because some of the flowers are not in bloom at the same time of year, so this actual bouquet would never be seen. I had a good time drawing it because I love flowers and I chose ones that gave me the best opportunity to use the craft to its best advantage. See how the Jack in the Pulpits have lots of fluted creases to be drawn in as well as twisted petals. Those are divine to do in pointillism. Please let me know your comments.