Art & Illustration
Windy Day
A girl and her dog...
One night, I was thinking of what I might like to do for this year's autumn painting. I wasn't sure I wanted to do another witch for Halloween, though it's been a bit of a tradition in past years (as I'd mentioned in the Apple Picking story). I was thinking of the change of seasons and how windy it had been in the past few days and suddenly I got an image of a young woman walking along a country path on the way to visit a friend, with her hat and dress being buffeted by a strong wind. The image stayed with me and in the next day or so I tried to sketch it out.
As often happens when I put pen to paper (or in this case, my tablet) things just start to happen. I've found that if I try to fight the ideas that spring up as I'm sketching, the drawing never really feels right... so I've learned to just go with it. I took a bunch of reference photos of myself for the girl, and while the one I settled on didn't look like the image in my head, there was something about the shape and gaze I liked. It no longer made sense for her to be carrying a basket, either, but the idea of a dog companion just sprang into being. And so, the Irish Setter was added...
After the sketch was done, I got very busy with a variety of non-art related jobs, so it took me a little while to return to it. In that interim, I'd kept thinking about it and how I wasn't happy with the girl's costume. I had originally based it on a couple of Arthur Rackham's fairy tale peasant girls, but upon reflection, I decided that I wanted her to be almost Dickensian in style. So I went on Pinterest and did some research on what years the straw bonnets were in style. I found that they were around for decades, but the dresses that fit my ideas best seemed to be coming from the 1840s. I found a simple dress and based the new outfit and bonnet after those reference photos. I also looked up reference for types of stone walls that are common in England and Ireland, as well as the varieties of trees. Soon, I was pretty happy with the cleaned up drawing.
I started blocking in the colors and, once again, I was distracted by other work and had to set it aside for another week or two. When I returned to it, I found I'd lost my momentum and I wasn't feeling very inspired anymore. I found that what I really needed was to have a good audiobook to set the mood. Erick and I put on the Chronicles of Narnia, and that got me through the stone wall and most of the background. Then, I grabbed one of my absolute favourite new books: "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage." That did it. The book has a wonderful feeling to it, and it started bleeding into my own work and things began to take shape more quickly...
I was nearing the end when I realised that what was wrong/missing, was the tree branches in front. I wanted a painterly, watercolour feel, but it was lacking definition and I felt that it needed something more. So, I opened a new Photoshop project and did several quick drawings of tree branches swaying in the wind, along with some free-flying leaves of varying colours to sprinkle in for effect. I then imported them into the painting and adjusted the placement and colours to fit around the composition. After a few more tweaks and adjustments, I was finally happy! ...Then I looked again the next morning. One thing was bugging me: her outfit was a little too monotone, and that shawl! What an odd mix of blue, green and blah! I decided to change it to red, and oh! What a difference!
Et voila! Here it is!
I've certainly caught the autumn bug... I know I should be thinking about my Christmas card next, but I'm still so inspired by the changing seasons that I may need to do another autumn-themed piece next.
What do you think? What's your favourite season? Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section below! :)