Friday, July 14, 2006

contes on the boat

Summer is here and it's a great time to be out on the water. Thought I'd post a couple of conte sketches I've been doing in gig breaks at my Friday nite boat gig. The breaks are short, and I never know when someone is going to move or get up and walk away, the usual story with sketching, except for Greg, the barman, who was kind enough to pose for me. Even still, he was moving around a bit, but at least I knew he wasn't about to walk away....


"Yukata" - conte on toned paper, 33.5 x 24.5cm (approx 13.25 x 9.6")





"Thank God It's Friday"conte on toned paper, 33.5 x 24.5cm (approx 13.25 x 9.6")





"Greg, A Quick Sketch"conte on toned paper, 33.5 x 24.5cm (approx 13.25 x 9.6")


The boat runs back and forth from Hinode pier to Odaiba, doing 3 circuits during the evening. For those who aren't local, that's in Tokyo Bay, crossing under the famed Rainbow Bridge. The boat itself looks like a spaceship and was designed by a well-known anime artist (whose name escapes me). It looks way cool. I'll have a few more weeks worth of sketches and after that the musicians will be rotated so I will be landbound once more. There's a lovely view from Odaiba pier at night in the summer with all the traditional party boats floating on the bay all lit up in many colors. If I can find the time I'd love to go down there one night with my oils and paint them. In case you're wondering what the boat looks like, here are some pics on a blog I happened upon called frangipani. And a daytime "promo shot" in case that wasn't enough for you.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Julianne, I like these group compositions very much - especially the second. Amazing job on that little face way off in the background. The colored Contes are working well for you.

Have you given any thought to using any of these studies back in the studio to produce something more finished? When I look at these, I can invision them in larger scale in oils or acrylics - in the same loose style as the studies. Very loose - for example, as in the style of this Alex Kanevsky WIP - http://www.somepaintings.net/progress3.html .

Steve

11:00 PM  
Blogger Julianne said...

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your comments! Actually, no, it had never occurred to me to take these any further myself, I've tended to only see them as sketches. But I like the stuff on that link a lot, very nice. I see what you're suggesting with this.... so I'll keep it in the back of my head and when the weather cools down again and I'm not dreaming of plein air, maybe I could give it a try and treat it as loose a loose oil sketch. That could be fun. I like the idea. I remember you suggesting this to me before, though I couldn't imagine doing that with B/W sketches, but with color sketches it makes more sense to me.

1:35 AM  

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