Sunday Ballade Progress

My art composition method was as follows: I drew some quick sketches first to help me define the subject matter and the general composition. In Sunday Ballade, I wanted the dancing figure of the woman to dominate the canvas, so I placed her close to the center of the composition. All the while, in an open composition style, the garden and sound elements were placed to the right of the artwork to complement the cadence or rhythm in the dancing action.I then elaborated a little more with vine charcoal on a large drawing sheet, establishing the light source and the proportions, and refining the movements. p.s. Vine charcoal allows for easy erasing with the fingers or a napkin, therefore making it easy to draw over erased areas.

I also decided on a color palette. I painted small patches of the selected colors next to the sketch. The color palette is generally a good indicator of the mood I want impart in a piece.

In Sunday Ballade, I wanted to express an electric, dynamic mood. I found that using a few pure warm and cool hues together would help with this effect.

Thus, I settled for cadmium yellow, cadmium red, magenta, and brilliant blue as the dominant colors. Once my rough draft was done and the color palette was chosen to my satisfaction, I redrew the composition directly on the canvas with a NO. 2 pencil.

Finally, I proceeded with painting Sunday Ballade.

Enjoy!

Jacqueline