Finished Charcoal Drawing

Hello all! You have been very patiently looking at my recent sketches and workshop paintings and photos, so I thought it was time to share a finished piece with you. Yes, I do actually finish pieces, believe it or not! I would love to share my most recent watercolor painting, but that will have to wait since I entered it in a local competition.

charcoal on Rives BFK paper
15" x 22"
Stacy L. Rowan

Instead, I am sharing another piece I am excited about, this charcoal drawing which I finished earlier this year. I completed it as part of my mentorship work with Michael Newberry. It may look familiar since the idea came from one of my graphite thumbnails that I shared earlier. I also did several other graphite thumbnails to investigate lighting and values. I’ve even done some color thumbnails of this same set up. I have to say this is the piece which taught me the true value of prep work!

The story behind this charcoal drawing is that it represents a scene that is found on many winter evenings in our house. After dinner, while the children are upstairs cleaning up and getting ready for bed, hubby and I often sit on the couch for “10 minutes peace”. Loosely translated that means ten minutes of adult talk time without the interruptions from said children. Since I am typically cold all winter long, I often have a cup of hot chocolate. And since sweets are a personal weakness, especially in the winter when my body thinks it wants to be hibernating, I also have two Oreo cookies to dip in my hot chocolate more times than I care to admit. Hey, at least I wait until the kids are upstairs so they don’t see my bad example.

These ten minutes of peace are when hubby and I reconnect and talk about our day. A little breather in a hectic life that we really look forward to, and that keeps us strong as a couple. I even feel more peaceful just looking at the drawing and telling you about our routine.

I’m still working on a title for this one. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share.

Edit: On my screen the image appears to have some pink in it . I have no idea why. I promise you the image I resized and uploaded had no pink in it. It is way past my bedtime, so unfortunately I have to leave it for now. I will try to correct it later, but other than uploading the image again, I have to admit I am stumped as to what to try.

My Newest Adventure

My family knows that I am good at keeping secrets. If you tell me something and then say, "but don't tell anyone", I really won't tell anyone. I also like to try out new experiences quietly and only talk about it once I see how things are going. This drives my mom a little crazy. Maybe because my sister tells everything right away. When we were teenagers, my friend Trish used to to tell my mom things too. Sometimes things I hadn't told Mom and that I didn't really want her to know. Luckily in addition to being good at keeping secrets I'm also pretty good at forgiving my chatty friends for spilling them.

Recently, I filled my family in on my latest adventure. That means I can

now share it here. (I couldn't let Mom hear my latest secret by reading it on my blog, now could I?)

In May I signed up to be mentored by Michael Newberry. I met Michael when he taught an online class on Wet Canvas. After that class, some of my fellow classmates signed up for mentoring. They spoke so highly of Michael and are producing such wonderful work that I couldn't miss the opportunity of working with Michael too.

So far I am extremely pleased. Michael is a professional artist living in New York City. He is very knowledgeable, a super nice guy and easy to get along with. But don't be fooled, he knows how to make you work. The thumbnail I posted a couple of weeks ago was done for the mentorship. So were the two in this post. My next assignment is to develop a very similar thumbnail into a large charcoal drawing. I will also be working on some thumbnail sketches in watercolor.

So, if you don't see me posting much artwork, have no worries. Michael is cracking the whip and making sure I am working, I may just not be ready to share yet. You know, I like to see how it's going first. I wouldn't say I'm secretive...how about we use the word patient instead.

thumbnails copyright 2007 Stacy L Rowan