My favorite part of the painting process is not the finished artwork, but the very beginning sketch. A simple line drawing can create a beautiful and sensitive feeling of form and structure. This all important sketch is the very rudimentary beginnings of a great painting. Sketchbooks belonging to Picasso, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and many contemporary artists are filled with simple line drawings.
My paintings begin with a tinted canvas, usually orange or pink. I then divide the canvas into four sections and transfer my sketch onto the canvas using a brush and thinned oil paint. Using a brush instead of a pencil creates a more expressive and spontaneous quality in the drawing.
Line does not just define the image but it divides the picture plane into interesting positive and negative space and leads the viewer's eye in and around the composition. It is the most basic of elements, yet, it can convey feeling, create rhythm and movement, and express visual and verbal concepts. I can only hope that the lines in my beginning drawing will do all of that! The finished painting will come next. I am sure that there will be many changes along the way.
My paintings begin with a tinted canvas, usually orange or pink. I then divide the canvas into four sections and transfer my sketch onto the canvas using a brush and thinned oil paint. Using a brush instead of a pencil creates a more expressive and spontaneous quality in the drawing.
Line does not just define the image but it divides the picture plane into interesting positive and negative space and leads the viewer's eye in and around the composition. It is the most basic of elements, yet, it can convey feeling, create rhythm and movement, and express visual and verbal concepts. I can only hope that the lines in my beginning drawing will do all of that! The finished painting will come next. I am sure that there will be many changes along the way.
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