Monday, March 29, 2010

Dyer's process


Margaret first draws in her figure with compressed charcoal (I used conte crayon). Then she maps out her dark areas. She puts down a dark neutral color then goes back over it several times with layers of different color (all in the same dark value). She contends that as long as you stay in the same value, you will not get mud.

Once she has her darks to her liking, she proceeds to her light areas and finally the mid-tones.

It is always a pleasure to watch a skilled, experienced artist at work...it is like watching magic. And it is a result of years of practice! She has a DVD available of her technique. I was drawn to her workshop by her use of color but her lessons focus on values, which is even more important and leads to stronger paintings.

3 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

Those hints of red peeking through are fabulous!

Patrice said...

Fabulous technique. I'm off to look for more of her work...

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

Keeping your darks is KEY in keeping your lights looking light. This is what Carol Marine does so well in her paintings.
Your drawing is wonderful and isn't the Sedona School fabulous!!!