April Showers?

Lately April has been full of art and some pretty severe storms here in the South. Luckily my area of TN has been saved the worst of it all, but I did have to work about 3-4 hours in candlelight last Monday after our power went out for a while. It was interesting, but only minimally slowed things down. I had to put all the design work on hold, but started the final piece of the Twins for the Untitled Spring show (yes, yes, drop off for that show was only two days after the storm...but I've been busy with freelancing!)



So above we have the ancient original sketch and the recent study (in purple) above the current larger version in gray. At 16"x20" this version of Twins was the largest squiggle to date, so while working by candlelight I laid in the basic shape and position of the heads, the ribcage, spine and a few major drips and stretches. You might still be able to see some of those original pencil marks.

After I was happy with the basic shape, I started shading in the larger basic areas very lightly with a Bic Ballpoint. Those are probably the only pens I can achieve this level of shading with, and would just cry if they were pulled from the market.
I try not to even think about what I'm shading if it's not a vital section, like the head/torso/spine, because the more I think about shading the area, the less organic it becomes.

Every once in a while I set the drawing across the room and seriously just cock my head to the sides and stare at the piece, judging the shaded areas and comparing them visually with what will become the highlights. Pretty much just weighing the visual balance.
After my little brain is happy with the shading process I then attack the highlight areas with a white colored pencil, when go back into a few places to push the darkest areas even darker.

Most squiggles will also get a background treatment of colored pencil a shade or two off from the paper, but I was really digging the monochromatic image and smooth texture of the paper, so I let it be.

Not only is this method a little theraputic with it's slightly brainless execution, but I really enjoy people looking up close and HARD trying to discern what instrument I used. Twins was really well recieved at the Untitled show, and even if the title block reflected the wrong piece, people got a kick out of the figures. A new art friend even claims he was struck by inspiration through the figures, which is a higher compliment than money in my little brain.

I really enjoyed socializing and making new art friends this time around, so I honestly can't wait to get out there & do it again. The Untitled meeting tomorrow will start the ball rolling on plans for the 20th Anniversary Show in July, so I expect more hard work will be put into it, too.
Below is a before/after photo of set-up...though I did forget to take a Really Before photo without the walls. You just get Ryan and Joe hanging pieces, and then the first visitor to the same area the night of the show. Maybe someone else has a photo of me hauling around those panels or being a short little She-Ra...but if not, there's always a chance to photo those moments in the next install.