Day Thirty-Three, Taking shape

More progress on Panel Two tonight. Started some black oulining. I am liking the result.
A PROGRAM NOTE: I will be out of town from Saturday until Wednesday. Therefore I will be unable work on these panels or post about them. But things will resume when I get back. Stay tuned.

Days Thirty-One and Thirty-Two

Did not get to post yesterday, so this one will have to do. Did a lot more work on Panel two, and started fleshing out some of the details. The yellow is blocked in and some of the other colors. All still need highlights and shadows, but this one is taking shape.

Day Thirty

Roughly sketched more knotwok on panel two and colored it yellow. This has been mostly to get rid of the graphite on the board and have a nice clean yellow go down. While rough looking now, all this will be outlined and cleaned up in time.

Day Twenty-nine.

The pencil work on panel two continues.

Day Twenty-Eight

More pencil work on panel two. This is going slower, as , unlike panel One, this knotwork has to be drawn in completely and outlined before painting in yellow.

Day Twenty-seven, pencil work on panel two

More fleshing out of the knotwork on panel two. Did not put in much time tonight, but got a little done.

Day Twenty-six. Panel Two progress

Here are two pics frompanel two. I actually took the one without a center last night, but was too exhausted to get the photo ready for publication. Tonight I drew in and painted the center. None of the colors on any of the photos show the actual finished product, remember. There is still shadowing and highlighting to be added as well as the black fill around everything. That is when these things really come alive. But this underlying color is the first step. Stay tuned.

Day Twenty-five

More pencil work on panel two. Making progress.

Day Twenty-four

Pencil knotwork blocking on Panel Two tonight. It is a slow process, but will be worth it in the end.

Day Twenty-three

Taking a break on this dark and stormy night to catch up on some much needed other things. Will resume tomorrow night. Stay Tuned.

Day Twenty-two

Blocked in a little color on panels two and three. This helps me get my bearings, and establishes the color scheme for the whole work.

Day Twenty-0ne, more progress

More progress tonight, as more blue knotwork is filled in. All of this knotwork still has to get divided into over-under patterns with shadows and highlights. Another good working session. stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Day Twenty A new color added

Red has entered the picture - literally. Finished the inner blue knotwork and a little more yellow framework tonight and added a touch of the red outer border base color. This is the first time I am seeing this color scheme for real, and I find it interesting. A lot of work still to go. Stay tuned.

Day Nineteen, More knotwork progress

Got a lot farther on the knotwork on panel One tonight. I spent about two hours on this tonight and got this far since yesterday. Should finish this central part tomorrow and move onto the outer framework.

Day Eighteen more color

Just got hooked on color. I think I can control things enough to actually do these in color from this point on. My technique is as this: I draw in a guide - (this first panel has far too much drawing involved, so it will be a little different than the other two) - then i add the color applicable to the areas needed, then paint in shadows and a highlight to the colored areas. Finally, I will finich everything off with a black outline. I think it will work out well. Every time I do one of these, I find a different way of doing it. Soon I will develop a technique that is foolproof. Here is a pic of the latest progress. Stay tuned.

Day Seventeen

No new photos tonight. Just some more simple 'fleshing out" of the knotwork on panel One. Just pencil work tonight, and hard to distinguish the new from the existing. Stay Tuned!

Day Sixteen, some experiments

I took a bold step this evening, and added some color to panel one. I have been concerned about the amount of graphite I am laying down on this first panel, and decided to see if my paint could cover it over. I think it does a good job, so If I lighten up my hand on the rest, I should have no problem. This area has yet to receive both the highlights and shadows, but it is enough for tonight. The color scheme on this one will be: Blue Knotwork, Red outer frame and Yellow inner frame. The background will be either black or gray, I have not yet decided, but am leaning to black. Stay tuned.

Day Fifteen

No progress today on the panels, too many other things took up the time. Will resume tomorrow after work.

Day Fourteen - Panel One blocked in

All the knotwork guidelines have been drawn in on panel one. I am now fleshing them out and making the over-under interlacing. This will take the next several days, then the process will be repeated on the other two panels. Knotwork on those should go a little more quickly, as I have this one to follow. It looks a mess now, but won't when done.

Day Thirteen - Back to work

Have begun filling in the central knotwork plan. This part is pretty tedious, so it might occupy a few days. First, I draw in a grid. Then I draw in the knotwork center line to points on the grid. Finaly, I flesh out the knotwork band and weave it over and under . The detailed photo shows the process. All this is still on panel one. The process will be repeated on panels two and three.

Day Twelve A major rework

In order to proceed as I had originally intended, I needed to correct a major design flaw. I had originally placed the crossing circular section about an inch too far from center. Tonight I corrected this, and the pattern is back on track. As the photos show, the resulting correction is messy, but more balanced. The mess will go away when painting begins, and will not be visible.

I have always said that my celtic drawings "grow" on the page, and these are true to the rule. I make modifications depending on the way things look in the overall composition. I don't think there has ever been a time that a drawing has gone from start to finish without changing along the way.

I now have the rest of the knotwork planned out and can begin drawing it in.

Day Eleven - No posting today

Was sick today, so am not able to post any progress. Therefore there will be no blog post today..........:)

Day Ten

Working again "off the panels", working on designs in my sketchbook. When they are completed, I will transfer them to panel one and copy them to panels two and three. Stay tuned.

Day nine

No photos to show for tonight. Am working "Off the Grid" on the central design. Am also working on my website a little. Will have something to show either tomorrow or Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Day Eight, A new week begins

Wow! It has been eight days so far. I have only gotten to work about two hours a day so far, but it has been EVERY day, so that is quite an accomplishment for me. The outer Medallions are drawn in on panel One. The corners remain to complete the frame. I have traced the outline of the inner, circular frame on tracing paper, so I can work knotwork into the space left. The original design was much bigger, and the proportions have changed, so I have to re-design the knotwork. I did not want to just reduce the design from the original, so this new dimension is a challenge to make everything fit. The next photos might not be of the panels themselves, but the tracing paper design work necessary to do the fill. Stay Tuned!

Day Seven, more framework

Day Seven Frame knotwork panel one is filled in. Will work on the other medallions and the center tomorrow and the next few days. Then repeat the process on the other two panels.