The Call of the Moon Copyright 2012

Started 03AUG12. Completed 13SEP12

Graphite and Charcoal on 14" X 17" Strathmore Medium Tooth Recycled Paper.

MATERIALS USED ON ALL MY WORK

Mechanical Pencils: 0.5mm 2H and 2B (Graphite)

Generals Charcoal Pencils: 557-HB Hard, 557-6B ex. soft

Blending stumps

Paper Towel (for blending)

Kneadable Eraser

Faber-Castell Pencil Eraser (core is filled with eraser material instead of lead. Can be sharpened to a very fine point. Great for rendering hair against dark backgrounds)

I typically work with Strathmore Recycled Medium Tooth Paper (charcoal will not adhere to smooth surfaces like bristol) prefering 14" X 17


Here it is, this pain in the ass in all of it's glory. Why do I have such consternation and swarthy epithets toward it you may well ask? My best answer is, because I am very anal retentive, very detail oriented, very OCD and highly self critical when I know that my technical ability and compositional ability seemed to have taken a vacation together in Bermuda and left me to my own self to figure this out. So, without any more senseless whining, here's what I found grossly lacking in it;

1) From the start, it was doomed because I mistakenly created a dark backdrop for it foolishly not taking into equal consideration that Canadian Geese have black necks. I needn't explain further what happened there.

2) The main subject matter should be a little more centered but since this piece originally started with only the middle third of the paper as the initial background, that was OK. The faux pas occurred when I decided to make the entire paper the background and then my subject got lost in it. Again, that damned vacationing Compositional Ability.

3) Although greatly simplified from what was going on with the background in earlier stages, this background to me, is still too busy and misplaced as I feel it strongly detracts and distracts the viewer's eye from the main subject matter, which are supposed to be the Geese but apparently is some ghastly high contrast mountain in the dead center of the piece. This is where Technical Ability now catches a later flight to join Compositional Ability in Bermuda. Lucky bastards. I could use a drink and a beach.

4) I used too much Graphite in the wing feathers in the forward Goose thus making them a bit too reflective of any light and this again, creates a gross distraction. I should have used all Charcoal on it and I wouldn't have had to worry about it.

In general, in my own opinion, this piece is off center, over worked, over fussed and highly contrived and turned out to not be a very enjoyable journey for Yours Truly. But all is not lost as I did learn a helluva lot from this damned thing. Happy to be done with it.

Thanks for all Love and Commentary,

Erik