But sometimes, it's a simpler, more mundane sight that grabs my attention.
A couple of years ago, after having just taken a couple of hard-boiled eggs out of the hot water and set them on the counter in the sun, I couldn't believe how beautiful they were! The shapes, the colors! I grabbed the camera and took a few shots.
Recently, I thought I'd work up some studies of those eggs in different kinds of media. Just for fun.
The first one is a colored pencil drawing on gray paper. I was as interested in the shadows as much as I was the subtle coloring of the brown eggs, themselves. Pencils allow for very fine detailing, but there's a limit on "workable" nature of the color. It's difficult to modify. I left out the context (counter, etc.), so they're kind of floating in the space.
I did the second piece in pastels, which is a medium I haven't heretofore explored well. I had some fun with the layering of the colors and enjoyed the bright, thicker lines and the speed, after the more tedious pencil version.
Third up was done with watercolor. With all the work I've done with gouache (opaque watercolor) on calligraphy, I've worked very rarely in transparent watercolors.
I plan to do more. It's the least forgiving. Watercolors go down quickly, but there's no recovery if it's not what you want. On the other hand, the surprises are fun and sometimes better than the planned ideas.
Lastly, for a completely different effect, I did one panel in mosaic. Just an experiment, and I'm not sure how successful, but it was interesting to try it out as a contrast to the other media.
The last shot shows them all hanging together in the dining area. Odd, I know. I think it might be a temporary display, but it's fun for the moment. One egg, two eggs, three eggs, four.
Meanwhile, a bit of quiche sounds good right now...
