Concentration 9

A Dancing Angel  

Pencil 

9" x 11"

For my 8th concentration, the medium I used for A Dancing Angel was pencil.  

Because the face is almost completely white, the darkness of the background balances it out. The different values of the flower are repeated in the folds of the statue’s hair.  For this piece, I used a 2B, 4B, 6B, and a 7B.  I used the 7B for the background to make it dark.  To lift the dark spots in the hair, I used a kneaded eraser.  I also used the kneaded eraser to give a worn and weathered look to the statue.  I overall really enjoyed drawing this statue because of the unique proportions of the face and the extreme lighting.  

Concentrations 8

A Solitary Messenger  

Painting 

7" x 11"

I decided to branch out from scratchboards and pencil and use acrylic paint for my 7th concentration.  For my background, I decided to give a gradual lighting to the foreground which progressed into black.  The lighting is very harsh which gives an unearthly feel to the angel’s face.  For this painting, I only used black and white acrylic paint.  The highlights in the clothing gives importance to the angel against the dark background.  The fingers are pointing upward towards the main focus which is the face.  Also, the shadows in the folds in the hair are pointing towards the face. 

The Cloaked Woman

The Cloaked Woman 

Scratchboard 

8" x 10"

With this concentration, I chose to scratch another scratchboard.  I decided not to add anything to the background of this piece, which gave a sort of importance to the statue.  The isolation around the statue draws the viewers eye to the statue.  The different values in the folds of the statues dress draws the eye upwards and points to the darkened face of the statue.  I used an exacto knife to scratch away the black paint.  I also used a small rough brush to give a smoother and softer look to the folds in the clothing.  Before I scraped away the black surface, I drew a sketch on another piece of paper and transferred the contour lines to the scratchboard as a guide to help keep the statues proportions accurate.