St Andrew
This is a value study of… sigh… it seems to have a long history. As near as I can tell, it is a cast made from a statue of St Andrew by François Duquesnoy, a 17th century Flemish sculptor. Apparently this particular cast is used frequently in art eduction materials for teaching about values, such as this recent video by Stan Prokopenko.
If you’ve been following my history, you’ll know I have been struggling with the idea of simplification in painting, and Proko’s video takes direct aim at my failings. The oceans, lakes, and rivers metaphor really landed with me, and the challenge to do a 5 value study — 2 dark values, 3 light ones — was exactly what I needed.
I like the idea of painting based on sculpture. Removing color from the equation makes the play of light and shadow clear. I tried to plan out my oceans and rivers. I think that local contrast delusion threw me off more than expected, but after some corrections, and keeping that river notion alive, I think I wound up in a really good place. I like this little painting. And it actually only took a couple hours.
Medium: Digital
App: Artstudio Pro
Tools: Paint, rake