Eric Orchard's Blog, page 36

" Begin It Again And Trace It Again "

I'm still working on this years Christmas print. I finished the final pencils on Arches paper and I'm just about to start the inks (right after one more coffee). Above are some photos of my tracing process, rather than a light box I use tracing paper. This is how I learned in art school to do refining and tracing but I intend to give a lightbox a try some day. I essentially do a loose, finished pencil rough and trace it repeatedly until it's how I want it. Some people are opposed to a lot of redrawing as the feel something is lost in the process. This might be true but something is gained as well so I think it depends on what you want in the end. As Edgar Degas has said "Make a drawing, begin it again, trace it; begin it again and trace it again" 

Working On New Christmas Print

I'm spending a few days away from Maddy to work on a new Christmas print, I'll be posting peeks like this one while I complete it. This is my Christmas monster. I'm done the rough pencil drawing and I'll spend today refining it before transferring it to high quality paper to do the final.

Wishing everyone a safe few days as hurricane Sandy passes through our part of the world. Only drizzle here right now.....

The Rest Is Noise

I just finished the wonderful book The Rest Is Noise by music writer Alex Ross and wanted to do my weekend post about it. The book covers the last century of classical music, more or less, through a series of essays about periods or composers. I discovered a number of composers I now love, like Lou Harrison and it also explains why I find so much of 20th century classical music too difficult to enjoy. Ross links the abandonment of melody and tonal music to responses to fascism and a rejection of ideologies, basically music and the kind of music you wrote or listened to became very political. I found this fascinating because the same kind of thing happened in visual art at the same time. I'd love to read a book that links these trends in culture and explores it more broadly. To reduce the idea, Beethoven was loved by the Nazis and linked to that regime by Hitler so the music became toxic to many. In the case of Wagner it was even worse because Wagner had so many horrible ideological ideas. There's a lot more to it than that but this is an important aspect. There was also the excitement in new ways to write music that made people want to distance themselves from the old.

It was also fascinating to read about the slow road back to tonality and melody and how stigma slowly fell away from music.

An amazing book and highly recommended. After I was finished I ran out to the library and grabbed a pile of books examining 20th century music.

Above are drawings of Igor Stravinsky and Steve Reich, two very important figures in the last century of music. 

Th Rest Is Noise

I just finished the wonderful book The Rest Is Noise by music writer Alex Ross and wanted to do my weekend post about it. The book covers the last century of classical music, more or less, through a series of essays about periods or composers. I discovered a number of composers I now love, like Lou Harrison and it also explains why I find so much of 20th century classical music too difficult to enjoy. Ross links the abandonment of melody and tonal music to responses to fascism and a rejection of ideologies, basically music and the kind of music you wrote or listened to became very political. I found this fascinating because the same kind of thing happened in visual art at the same time. I'd love to read a book that links these trends in culture and explores it more broadly. To reduce the idea, Beethoven was loved by the Nazis and linked to that regime by Hitler so the music became toxic to many. In the case of Wagner it was even worse because Wagner had so many horrible ideological ideas. There's a lot more to it than that but this is an important aspect. There was also the excitement in new ways to write music that made people want to distance themselves from the old.

It was also fascinating to read about the slow road back to tonality and melody and how stigma slowly fell away from music.

An amazing book and highly recommended. After I was finished I ran out to the library and grabbed a pile of books examining 20th century music.

Above are drawings of Igor Stravinsky and Steve Reich, two very important figures in the last century of music. 

Britten Sketch

Quick morning warm up sketch of the brilliant Benjamin.

Crayon Sketch

Here's an older drawing I found in my computer that I like. Can't remember when I did this, maybe in the last two years. I'm still just working on Maddy, really pushing to get it done. Listening to Mozart a lot which tends to help me along. 

Sketchbook Creature

Here's a subterranean doodle I did about a week ago. I like to imagine this guy under the house in little tunnels running through the suburbs. Speaking of underground I'm really burying myself in work these days and am offline for long stretches. Reading books and listening to music in my down time. And doing lots of sketching. I think it's good to get some balance now and then.

I'm reading The Rest is Noise by Alex ross about 20th century classical music and it's just amazing. I'll do a post about it when I'm finished. I've got a whole new respect and understanding of the last hundred years of music.

Also, it's my son Henry's birthday! He's officially a big boy. We're going to a farm for his birthday and I'll take lots of photos.

I'm mostly working on Maddy Kettle right now but am taking some time to work on a Christmas print, which I posted about earlier this week. More on that soon. 

Sketch Of Henry

A lot of you have probably seen this as I've posted it elsewhere but it's a fun drawing so here it is again.  A quick iPad sketch done of my son. 

Christmas Print

Taking some time to work on a new Christmas print, maybe two of them. This means pages and pages of sketches, here's one of the first ones. 

Splike

Just back from a wonderful Fall bike ride. It's gorgeous out there today. Here's a sketch of Splike a character in the first Maddy Kettle book, part of an army of scarecrow guards. This guy seems appropriate for the weather today. This weekend I'm off to cottage country in the north, Muskoka, and it's the first time I've visited there. Really looking forward to this.

Besides working on Maddy I'm also working on two new Christmas prints which I want to get out there around American Thanksgiving, so keep an eye out for that!

Happy weekend everyone!