Mixed Media

Artist Statement

This piece is a drawing of a picture I took on a swing a few years ago. I made this work with the grid-technique, which I found very helpful. I sketched it all out, then used ink pens to stipple and shade the chain links. I used charcoal to create the sky, and I used some water colors to deepen the shading in the dark parts of the chains.

I used value, shape, and texture here. Value; I shaded rather intensely and used both white and black where they were necessary. Shape; I had to make sure the links were all correctly shaped so that they would line up with each other.

The point of this piece is mostly me learning how to draw more realistically. I tried using the stippling method to create a more convincingly detailed texture. This turned out to be very time-consuming but it ended up being quite rewarding as I am happy with the final result. This project is related to my life because it is a drawing of a photo I took on a swing set a few years ago. If I could change one thing about this piece, I would make the background more detailed, and define the clouds better.