Sunday, November 20, 2011

Emerging Rhubarb

Today I began an illustration of rhubarb, in particular Victoria Rhubarb:


I decided to try to work a little more loosely again on this one after reading an article in Watercolor magazine in which one artist said they start by working all the large shapes out and then go into the smaller and smaller details. Sometimes I can get caught up in one little area until it seems perfect and have a hard time moving on; and sometimes that turns out looking really neat, but other times it means I can't fit the rest of the picture in while making it in proportion to what's already there. I also thought that this might once again help me work faster. (If I had endless amounts of time I would probably spend twelve hours on every little painting at least, but I  guess that's silly.) Tomorrow I will put in the details, probably with colored pencil.
So, an interesting fact about rhubarb, (that gardeners know, but if you don't garden you probably don't), is that the leaves are poisonous. They contain oxalic acid, which is corrosive and bad for your kidneys. Although wikipedia tells me that it has been used in Chinese medicine as a laxative.

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