Debbi Friedman’s Blog

I spent the past two weeks working on these three little stones drawings.  It’s always fun to do these smaller pieces and work out some ideas quickly.  Well, I suppose quick is a relative term – quick for me!

I have more ideas for little drawings to do in the future, but now I’m on to another larger stones drawing.  It’s a piece that is being executed for publication in an art magazine that wants an “exclusive”, so I can’t reveal the image until it’s completed and published.  It’s exciting to think about sharing the stages of my drawings in this venue.  I would have been doing this piece regardless, but their timing was excellent.  It’s going to make me think more clearly about delineating the stages of my more complex drawings.  That’s always good practice and helps one to be able to better “present” their art, whether it’s verbally or pictorally.

Thanks for reading!

And Presto-Magic, the rocks appear!!!  I had a lot of fun drawing these stones. The reflections, shadows and distortions were quite challenging, especially where they all converge at the same point.  The most obvious place for this is just under the meniscus line.  The overall color probably isn’t accurate due to the lighting in my studio and my photography skills, so I am very excited to see how it looks after my photographer does her work.

I’ve started work on two new pieces, both of stones.  One is a small,  zen little drawing, and the other is a larger composition of stones in a water vase with new angles and colors.  I’m going to see how it goes working on two pieces simultaneously, as I’d love to increase my output.  (I know, wouldn’t we all!)  As always, thanks for reading.

Here is the second stage of my current and very violet/fuschia still life. And Oh Em Gee, it looks like I forgot to draw the stones (wink wink Jeff George)!

No, it did not take me two weeks to draw this much of the glass!  I am almost done with the stones.  The colors are really working wonderfully off of the background and it amazes me how much it pulls together when the concreteness of the stones are in place.  I know I mentioned in my last post that the glass was definitely the most challenging part of the drawing, but it’s not!  These stones have very intricate interplay with the glass and water, creating complex light distortion and reflections. I used a piece of glass propped up on blocks when I set up the initial still life,  and then cut a hole in the fabric directly under the vase.  Then I played around with shining a flashlight up through the bottom, as well as having another light source from above.  It’s subtle, but doing this did create different illuminations in the set-up.

It’s really been quite fun to do this one.  Next post will be the finished drawing.  Thanks for reading.

Here is the first stage of my new still-life drawing, and as mentioned in my last post, it’s very purple – or fuschia, magenta, plum, eggplant. . . . whatever you want to call it!  It’s also large (for me) measuring in at 22″ x 16.5″.  I’ve completed as much of the background as I’m going to do for now, and will most likely tweak some areas later when the vase, stones and water are in place.  I used a Caran d’Ache watercolor pencil layer to begin, and after blending it with water  I started in on the dry layers of Prismacolor pencils:  #924 solid color stick, more loosely applied for texture, and then Black Cherry, Lavender, Raspberry, and then Indigo, Dark Umber, Violet Blue, Black Grape, Tuscan Red, Orange and Olive Green in places, depending on the desired color effect.

I’ve started on the glass now, and it’s definitely the most challenging part of the drawing.  The top of the vase has so many aspects to it:  light shining through it, light reflecting off of it, color distorting through the glass, and stones/water reflecting on the sides.  Plus I’m changing the colors from my two reference photos, as one is very pink and the other is very dark purple.  So this is really a color creation.  I’ll post another photo when it reaches the stage where all of the glass/water areas are complete, but not the rock areas.  I’m executing this one with the same approach as “Counterpoint in Green”, which is archived on my blog in  April, May and June of 2010, if anyone is interested in referencing it.

Here is the little Hawaiian Pebbles drawing I recently finished. My sister-in-law who often visits family in Hawaii gave me these little stones and they are all quite “aqua” in tone. But to accentuate them, I photographed them after wetting them in water. It really brought out the colors. If I have time, I plan to do another drawing of them “dry”, as the color is so delicate and soft.

At present I have started a much larger drawing of stones in a water vase, with a very plum-colored fabric background. Mean Mr. Plum, Purple Haze, Purple Rain, hmmmm, I can’t think of any other purple connections – can anyone else? The color is super-saturated and not for the faint of heart. I’m going to start blogging more actively now that summer is coming to a close, so look for a photo update soon! Thanks for reading.

Myself and Lynda Schumacher with our artwork

 Another CPSA Convention has come and gone and what a great one this was in Dallas.   So many artists who are good friends congregated for this annual event that, despite the 100+ heat, I think it’s safe to say all had an incredible time.  There was a fun member’s meeting with door prizes, a slide show of every piece that was entered into the competition, and a silent auction.  There are workshops, and an awards banquet.  This year I was so honored to receive an Award for Outstanding Achievement for my piece “Counterpoint in Green”, shown above on the left.  This photograph also features good friend Lynda Schumacher, CPSA (MI) and her piece “Canadian Cowgirl”.  In addition to receiving an award, I earned my signature status in the CPSA (given for being juried into three shows within ten years) and Lynda earned her five-year status.

Dianna Soisson with "Beyond All Boundries"

 I’m taking a moment to highlight several, but by no means all!, artist friends who had their work on display in Dallas.  Dianna had an incredibly powerful piece of a leaf floating down a waterfall (above).  Below is Kendra Bidwell-Ferreira’s delicate “Sea Foam”.  For those of you who live in the Boston area, you may have had a chance to see the two person show that Kendra and I had last March at the Wellesley Free Library.

Kendra with "Sea Foam" (top)

California artist and inventor Ester Roi (photo below) received an Award for Exceptional Merit for her piece “Social Network” (top).  Ester is such an inspiration and source of information to so many artists, always looking to break new ground with technique.

Ester Roi with "Social Network"

Perhaps one of the most memorable events was the Cowboy Boot shopping trip that several of us had been talking about since the San Jose convention of 2010.  Suffice it to say that we had a successful outing to Pink’s Cowboy Boot Store in Dallas.  We all left with a new pair of boots that seemed well suited to our personalities – for now! (Left to right, Kendra Bidwell Ferreira/Old Gringos, Dianna Soisson/Old Gringos, Lynda Schumacher/Old Gringos, Moi/Stetsons, Elizabeth Patterson, CPSA (CA) Ferrini’s).

Cowboy boot final choices!

On a final and silly note, here’s a photo of Lynda and me cooling off in the freezer section of Walmarts. . . .with their hilarious ice cream novelty packaging.  Just can’t let us gals go out anywhere without a commotion. . .   Thanks for reading!

Here is a post of my newest drawing, another “Balancing Act”. . . in stages.  I started out, as I mentioned in my last post, working with only Faber-Castell Polychromos on Canson Mi-Tientes peach-toned paper.  I have notated under the images which colors were used in that particular photo/stage (reading left to right, top to bottom).  I know there’s a big jump from the stages to the finished drawing, but after a while it’s just too tedious to continue working in this fashion.  Perhaps the stones are calling, and I want to start to do the more creative blending and drawing?   I’ve now started work on a smallish  drawing of some gorgeous, aqua-colored stones from Hawaii that someone gave to me.  I’m using a different approach for this drawing, working on white Bristol Board paper with Caran D’Ache Aquarelles and then dry layers of Prismacolors.

Tomorrow I’m off to Dallas to join other artists at the 19th Annual CPSA convention and exhibition.  My piece, Counterpoint in Green, was juried into the show, and I’m also excited to be receiving my CPSA Signature Status this year.  This is awarded to artists who have been juried into three shows within ten years.  I’ll post some photos from the convention when I get back.  Meanwhile it’s time to finish packing the coolest clothes I can find!

I finished working on this piece over two weeks ago, and have been keeping it on the back burner, so to speak.  I would just glance at it from time to time, and I’m finally getting the sense that it’s done.  It took so long to achieve the feeling I was looking for by combining several photographs  for the setting, as well as achieving the “snow” essence.  I thought I might never finish the snowy areas!  I could have worked on them for much longer, but I don’t think that would necessarily have made the drawing any better.  I think that knowing when to stop working on a piece is an art in itself.

I’ve started work on a new stones drawing on Canson Mi-tientes paper.  I generally like to leave the color of the paper showing through for the background, and this piece is no exception.  I am letting myself  use only Faber-Castell Polychromos for this new piece, and am enjoying using them.  They are much harder than Prismacolors and blend very nicely.  I only have about 35 or 40 Polychromos pencils (if that!) so it’s been interesting to spend more time combining colors vs. being able to reach, instinctively, for the color or colors I want when I work with Prismacolors.

I’ll post a series of this new drawing in stages next week.  Thanks for reading!

I have been working so hard on this drawing and it feels like it’s taking forever.  I am working uninterrupted now that my spring travels are behind me, but it still feels like such slow going!  This drawing is about 22″ x 26″ and there is so much snow and delicate detail to accomplish.  I think I’m going to basically execute the entire background and then go back and insert the fine details, such as little bits of debris on the snow, etc.   Maybe a touch more blood?  There is more blood in my original photograph, but I’m still deciding how much to put in.  Meanwhile, it’s a gorgeous spring here with everything in full bloom, the birds are singing, mating, worm hunting.  It’s an odd juxtaposition to find myself working on this winter scene.

I was recently interviewed by Paula DeMarco, the host of “Art Beat”, for a local cable station.  I’m attaching a link to the interview, which is available on line throughout the month of May.  You can access it here:  Art Beat interview.

As always, thanks for reading!

The hawk has it’s squirrel in it’s talons.  I am enjoying the challenges of this drawing -specificially the creation of all of the blurry masses.  And the contrast between the softness and structure of the hawk and it’s feathers versus the soft form of the squirrel’s fur.  I have moved onto the woodpile and adjacent snow, which is posing it’s own set of demands.  Stay tuned for an update.

“Rock/Candy”, my two-person show with colleague Kendra Bidwell-Ferreira, came down on March 31st.  It was a very colorful and fun exhibit, and I’m a little wistful to have it in the past.  But I have been working hard all along on this new drawing, pictured above in a very initial stage.  This is quite a large drawing compared to the sizes I have been working on in the past couple of years (it’s about 22″ x 28″) and I thought it would help me to start out with the hawk’s head staring out at me,  inviting (or taunting ?) me to keep working on it.

This initial photo shows the head, as well as some tree trunks in the distance that I quickly sketched in with Caran D’Ache Watercolor Pencils.  I did this to  help me to define the parameters of the composition.  The hawk has a squirrel in it’s talons, and I’ve placed it atop a snow-covered wood pile, with some tree trunks and foliage in the background.  I’m working from photographs taken in my yard, and some of you may recognize the hawk and squirrel photograph from my blog pages “Scenes from my birdfeeder #2″.  However, I wanted a more interesting setting and chose to place the hawk on snow-covered wood, similar to the setting of “Winter Throne”.

The photos below depict the development of the hawk’s tail.  In some parts of drawings I first execute layers of Caran D’Ache Watercolor pencils to help establish background layering and depth of color (usually in the darker areas).  (Please excuse the re-appearance of the hawk head photo.  I can’t seem to delete it without deleting it from above as well!)

The photo on the far left shows the tail with the initial layering of dry Caran D’Ache Watercolor pencils.  The photo in the middle shows the same area now blended with a wet brush.  This step aids in the build-up of color and provides me with a “road map”, so to speak, of how I want to develop the area.  The third photo shows the tail nearing completion.  I’ve also started to develop the squirrel’s body, and have been working the three areas (hawk, squirrel and surrounding snow) simultaneously, as there are so many blurred borders between them.  It was a challenge to take on, but I’m nearing completion of this area and will be posting an update next week.  Then it’s on to the wood pile. . .

Thanks for reading,  and happy spring!  ~Debbi

“Rock/Candy” – is currently up at the Wellesley Free Library from March 1st through the 31st, 2011.  Please click on this link for hours and directions:  www.wellesleyfreelibrary.org.  This is a two-person show that colleague and friend, Kendra Bidwell-Ferreira and I are hosting together.  We are each exhibiting over 20 drawings done in colored pencil.  The opening is on Saturday, March 5th from 2 – 4 p.m., and I hope that if you live in the area you’ll stop by and say hi!

This is the third in my new trio of leaf drawings.  It measures 9″ x 15″, done in colored pencil on Strathmore Bristol Board.  I am really enjoying working on this series, if I can call it a series.  I’m planning on doing a very different drawing next of a hawk on a snow-covered woodpile.  But I’m sure I’ll return to this subject matter at some point in the future.  I have an incredible trove of photographs I’ve been working from, taken a couple of years ago on a clear fall day after a very violent night storm.  It knocked down leaves that hadn’t lost their vibrancy yet, and knocked down all at once leaves that usually fall at very different times.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for a storm like that next autumn.  For now, us New Englanders are just trying to survive this winter – it has been crazy with record snowfalls, ice storms, rain, and cold.  Spring and Summer are looking really good right now!

Here is the finished version of Leaf Litter number two, obviously wanting for a better title.  I am pretty satisfied with the final drawing, but have moved on to a new drawing in this series, so that’s where my heart lies at present.  I ended up changing several aspects of this drawing from the original working photograph, which was both a challenge and fun.  I wouldn’t like to be just copying photographs for my work.

As an aside, can people find the image of Cape Cod and Massachusetts in this photo?

Wow!  How did I find myself with some extra time on Christmas Eve day (I’m hosting 15 people tonight. . .) and ready to update my blog?  Here is the first leaf litter drawing, almost finished.  As usual, I still have areas to tweak, mainly the rain drops, as I got very tired of doing them, and since they are so tiny I didn’t want to “overdo” them.  I am curious to know if anyone has suggestions about how to classify these drawings?  Are they landscapes?  Still-lives?  Any input or thoughts are most welcome.

I’m planning on doing a series of three of these drawings.  Here is the second one, very far along, and displaying some different aspects from the drawing above.  There is much more movement in this drawing, and I eliminated the rain drops. . . was I really that tired of drawing them?  No, I just this drawing to be more about the gorgeous and tattered green leaf that was lying over everything.  The second drawing is slightly larger than the first one, but both are in the 8 x 11 1/2 to 9 x 12 range.

A very warm and merry Christmas and New Years to all!  Thanks for visiting my blog in the past year – I appreciate it!

Here’s the new piece I’m working on with the secondary leaf layer in place.  I’m having fun working from “back to front” on this one, and have started on the primary/top layer.  There are a lot of blurred and disappearing edges in this drawing which is a change for me.  I’m curious to see what it looks like when the last, crisply focused layer is drawn.  Stay tuned, and thanks for checking out my work.

Here’s my new drawing and I’m beginning, yet again, in a different fashion.  Can you tell what this is a drawing of?  Probably, because the pencil sketch is pretty visible.  I’m working from the depths forward, starting with the darkest areas that are also the blurriest, and working up to the foreground.  Once the darkest areas are complete I’m planning to move onto the next layers. .. .

I’ve also been repairing “Amber Bowl”, which I picked up from the Springfield Art Museum yesterday.  It had some wax bloom, which was a first for me.  I’m hoping that a more thorough fixative application will prevent this from recurring.  I have to ship it to New York City in a couple of days for the Allied Artists of America’s  97th Annual Juried Exhibition.

So how does the drawing look with the dark-eyed junco popped in?  Not only is the bird in place, but I tweaked several areas of the snow, adding some bits of debris or grass here and there, darkening shadows, etc.  It’s been over a year since I’ve drawn a bird, and while most of my work probably looks detail “spot-on”, it’s not, and birds really have to be spot-on.  I forgot how mildly tedious they can be to draw.

This is a common scene around New England in the winter, so much so that I take these little snow birds for granted.  They start returning from their breeding grounds up north in late October/early November.  I have yet to see one this fall.

It’s on to something new, but I really have so idea what just yet.  I’m playing around with some ideas and photos I took last year.  It’s too noisy in my studio right now to work up there – we’re having our roof replaced, and since my studio is on the top floor, well you can figure out the rest.  And every window seems to have a roofer outside it, looking in.  What’s that about?!?!!?

I wanted to post a photo of this stage of my current drawing – I’m almost finished with the tree stump and snow, and about ready to start on the dark-eyed junco.  This piece is about 19 x 13 inches in size, and I’m pleased with how quickly the detailed stump has gone.  I know I’ll have to go back and forth with the snow contours once the bird is in place, and tweak some of the bark areas and shadows.  It’s been interesting to draw  the detailed snow and stump areas of the foreground and the less focused snow and stump areas of the background.

This is the first post of my current drawing, a dark-eyed junco perched atop a snow-covered tree stump.  I’m approaching this drawing in an entirely different manner than usual.  First of all, I’m not using any watercolor based colored pencils to build up areas before moving onto dry pencil.  Secondly, I usually work top to bottom, left to right when doing a bird drawing, but this time I’ve filled the huge area of the stump, and am working more from bottom to top, right to left.  I have no idea why I began working this way on this drawing, but I’m enjoying the process and the change.  It’s pretty evident where the detailed areas and flat areas meet.

I built up basic flat areas of lighter and darker wood tones, and am subsequently going back into them with tape and a pencil and removing highlights and texture.  Then I’m following up with more detail with darker pencils, and in some cases varying wood tones where I might have removed too much base color with the tape.  It’s looking very detailed, but in reality it’s just a different way of creating detail, and I like the quickness and freedom of this method.  The snow is also done in a much looser and quicker manner,  loosely layering various colors (French Gray 10%, Grayed Lavander, Slate Gray, Cool Gray %70, and then surrounding wood colors) over a white base of colored pencil.

The bird will be the last part to draw, and it’s difficult to see where it’s going to sit at present.  I think one can just make out faint delineations of the wings in the upper right area.