I created several original pieces based on a distant view, a city view of the Rocky Mountains.   I have taken photographs of them for years; so often I can see the mountain ridges crystal clear; but my photographs never captured their essence.  As an Artist I often don't rely on my camera to capture it all; I really enjoy a 'painterly' view compared to a photographic image.  So on this day I forgot about taking more photographs and I did what Artists do; I sketched.  Sketching is nothing new for me; I can remember being as young as six years old; sketching in my little sketch books.  I still have those.  On this day I decide I need a bigger platform to work from so I sketched what I could see on a canvas. The canvas was 12" high x 60" wide.  I can barely balance it; but somehow I do and my focus turns to the linear edge of the mountain tops.  I'm concentrating on shapes and value.  Scrubbing with my B6, being careful not to let the graphite of the pencil smudge the areas I want to keep the value light.  Keeping my eye on the curves and lines of the peaks its difficult to keep track of where I am, I'm reluctant to take my eyes off the mountain.  Finally my pencil hits the end of the canvas; I'm done (sort of). I spent sufficient amount of time reviewing what I've captured with my pencil before I take it into the studio to focus on a color theory that I think will work with the simplify of what I've created.

After this first attempt, I repeated the process several times on multiple formats; its been a wonderful adventure to exploring the shapes of our majestic Rocky Mountains.  I hope you have a chance to come by MICHELANGELO Gallery to see these original pieces of artwork.

Jack Taylor's (1917-1970) wrote:  'whether or not an artists uses a subject as a point of departure, his main aim is to construct on canvas the simplest statement he can make.

See more of Sheila Schaetzle Art on my website