{"id":3305,"date":"2008-12-19T23:11:55","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T06:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=3305"},"modified":"2008-12-19T23:17:07","modified_gmt":"2008-12-20T06:17:07","slug":"not-quite-as-cool-as-the-time-release-camera-would-have-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2008\/12\/19\/not-quite-as-cool-as-the-time-release-camera-would-have-been\/","title":{"rendered":"Not quite as cool as the time release camera would have been."},"content":{"rendered":"

When Will was born, our multi-talented friend Dave<\/a> (really, folks, this guy can do anything) made a pencil drawing of infant Will being held by Paul based on a photograph he took of them.\u00c2\u00a0 It was and remains one of the most precious gifts we’ve been given.\u00c2\u00a0 That feeling of seeing something handmade capturing my baby… the surprise of it, the delicate details within it, the touching realization of someone laying out each detail with line by line care… it hits straight to the heart.<\/p>\n

So a few years ago, when I wanted to do something really special for Gwen on Clare’s first birthday, I remembered Dave’s gift.\u00c2\u00a0 It had been years since I drew with any regularity — and more than a decade since I had drawn my last portrait sketch.\u00c2\u00a0 But I decided I was going to do it, so I made a few practice sketches and worked up to a final product<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A year-and-a-half later, I drew one of my nephew<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And ever since then, I’ve wanted to do more, but couldn’t get around to it.<\/p>\n

I knew, too, that I really wanted to try and draw from my own photographs (if possible) so that I could use the camera with a drawing in mind (not every good photograph lends itself to a good drawing).\u00c2\u00a0 Ultimately, though, I knew that I wanted to make one for Emmy.\u00c2\u00a0 At one point, my goal was to make one as a gift from the school to our director.\u00c2\u00a0 But I couldn’t get it together to make it happen.\u00c2\u00a0 Even as the thought remained, nothing clicked. \u00c2\u00a0 Then she had Oliver this fall and I knew.<\/p>\n

In order to make sure I’d follow through, I TOLD a few people.\u00c2\u00a0 Then I started.\u00c2\u00a0 Checked on what supplies I needed, dug out my old sketch pads, and dove in.\u00c2\u00a0 After a few passes during my work and commenting on the progress, Paul finally commented that I should be taking pictures of it step by step.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is what I took:<\/p>\n

This is my set-up… a few versions of the same photograph in black and white, three graphite pencils of differing softness, charcoal sticks, blending papers, erasers, tissues, a rag and (not pictured) a lamp.\u00c2\u00a0 I try to use tissue paper under my hand so that the oils from my hand don’t smudge the rest of the piece.\u00c2\u00a0 The rag is to wipe occasionally in case my hands get hot or cramped, the lamp turns on and off to help me see things differently, and I use a ton of erasers because I’m still not convinced any of them are my eraser of choice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the picture above, you can see that I’ve filled in some hair, part of an ear, an eye, and his nose.\u00c2\u00a0 You can just barely make out the lines of faint charcoal that mark the features I’ve yet to fill in.<\/p>\n

Below is another view.\u00c2\u00a0 Note that the tissue paper lifts off the charcoal as I go, which is a bummer.\u00c2\u00a0 I freaked out a bit when I got to his lips and they were almost completely gone.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here I’ve filled in the other eye but still have a lot of detail work to add.\u00c2\u00a0 I think I ended up re-working this eye three times.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was most nervous about his lips.\u00c2\u00a0 They are so full and puckered — a prominent part of his features.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew that this was the make-or-break part of the picture.<\/p>\n

This is getting close to done, or so it seems, but really there was still a lot to do.\u00c2\u00a0 Filling in the rest of the facial features, shading in the whole face so everything balances.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Almost there!\u00c2\u00a0 Can you see any of the detail difference?\u00c2\u00a0 Or, better said, do you FEEL the differences?\u00c2\u00a0 I feel them before I see them, which sounds a bit out there but is completely true.\u00c2\u00a0 Or maybe it’s evidence that I don’t use my words well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here is the FINISHED version.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew I had to have a frame on hand immediately — lest I would be pulled into messing around more with it and risk ruining it with too much.\u00c2\u00a0 (This is one of my greatest weaknesses when I work on a piece… I can’t pull myself away.)\u00c2\u00a0 I’m bummed I didn’t think far enough in advance to get a mat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I gave it to Emmy this morning.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, I wasn’t there when she opened it, but I know it meant a lot <\/a>to her to receive it.\u00c2\u00a0 And maybe this sounds a little trite and Pollyanna-ish, but it meant so much more to me to give it.\u00c2\u00a0 I know what it feels like to receive something like this and can say without hesitation that it feels even better to know you’re passing that feeling on… so it makes me all awkward to say ‘you’re welcome,’ when I’m just so happy to have done it at all.<\/p>\n

And now?\u00c2\u00a0 Now I’m bummed that I just agreed to teach this spring because I want to draw more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Will was born, our multi-talented friend Dave (really, folks, this guy can do anything) made a pencil drawing of infant Will being held by Paul based on a photograph he took of them.\u00c2\u00a0 It was and remains one of the most precious gifts we’ve been given.\u00c2\u00a0 That feeling of seeing something handmade capturing my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88,81],"tags":[137,138],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3305"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3318,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3305\/revisions\/3318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}