A dear friend asked me to do something almost impossible. He wanted me to draw something for which he had no photo: the Mineral King Pack Station as it appeared in the 1980s. This was before everyone and his brother carried a camera around, documenting lives as if getting paid for it. (Or is it that people now document their lives because if it isn’t recorded, they aren’t sure it happened??)
I put out the word for help. It took 6 months, but I finally located a photo that I could almost see to draw from. If I knew horses and mules, this might be adequate. Barely. However, there is a lot of detail buried in shadow and the general mushy deterioration of a photo printed on a rough surface about 30 years ago.
I soldiered on. Gotta start somewhere, so I started with what I know – the mountains in the background. Printing the photo larger after converting to black and white helped somewhat.
Notice the collection of erasers. This is too hard, and a friend who knows horses offered this most welcome advice: “I think the mule may need a bit longer ears still and the dark horse in the front needs a bit of work. His face seems a bit too long and narrow to me and the front hoof seems a bit too big and clubby (that’s what we call hooves shaped like that in the horse world)”. See why I need all these erasers? Very non-forgiving subjects from a very non-visible photo by a very non-horsey artist.
I almost finished it but forgot part of a saddle. Forgot? More likely procrastinated, because it was a blob of dark shapes. Regardless of the missing saddle, I scanned it and sent it to another very horsey friend.
I await her counsel as to whether or not these horses can be ridden or if they need a veterinarian or perhaps a bullet.
Wise artists know better than to draw or paint things they don’t know; someone who does know will know that I don’t know. Wise artists know better than to accept commissions for which there are no or poor reference materials.
Kind artists tell their dear friends they will try.
Wise or kind? This is a little bit too hard for me. And,I may not be charging enough. . .
6 Comments
Google is my friend! (All I could remember is “Fortius, Altius” and had to look up “Citius.”)
Next week’s lesson: quantum physics!
The white horse’s eye is too high……
Bummer, Gina, because I am now finished and the drawing is at the framer. Big lesson here, the usual Big Lesson of IF YOU CAN’T SEE IT, YOU CAN’T DRAW IT! And that rule about no faces smaller than an egg applies to horse faces too. . .
I think the drawing is marvelous! I would be very happy with this result!
Well, this is a different looking page! But I digress. . . .
It’s very helpful to have the advice of people who know your subject well (and a good supply of erasers)! And while you may not be charging enough, you’re challenging yourself in unfamiliar territory, which is invaluable part of being a creative artist. Maybe you should be paying her? (JK!)
It’s looking very nice to me, anyway. Keep at it! Tenacity! Determination! Fortitude! Citius! Altius! Fortius!
Sharon, you have taught me about Roman numerals, Arabic numerals, how to spell “penstemon”, and now you are speaking Latin! Is there no end to your knowledge and talents. . .?
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