Tags
acrylic paintings, grayscale images, Jake's Sunday Post: Black and White, Lisa Brunetti art, Rufous naped wrens, watercolor paintings
An Ebony drawing pencil provides strong darks.
Jake’s Sunday Post prompts us away from today’s brilliant color applications and asks us to submit images in black and white. He reminds us that long-ago photos included subtle nuances of gray that made them uniquely appealing. The pencil drawing (above) adapted to the grayscale format, though the watercolor butterflies on the “Happy Shoes” (below) look real – even to me!
Holding out for a great model butterfly, I was delighted to find this one in the yard!
This acrylic painting of rufous-naped wrens easily converted into a black & white scientific illustration. When my students have trouble understanding the importance of light, dark and middle values in a painting, I urge them to make a black and white copy, which instantly shows the weak areas.
Converting full color to gray helps find the darks, lights and middle values.
Almost always a zebra-striped frog or iguana adds whimsy to my solo exhibitions. They often become the stars of the show!
Zeebra Frogs and Zeeguanas remain popular! Surrounded with various shades of green, their uniqueness remains in shades of gray! copyright Lisa Brunetti-
Converting the below image of painted rocks was fun and made me wistful to paint a few more!
Ah, one can never have too many rocks to paint!
Playing with Paint.net and graytones, I enjoyed working with one of many images of hermit crabs.
Hermit crab image in paint.net and grayscale…
There’s no doubt these Ecuadorians are passionate about speaking up for peace. (Bahia de Caraquez)
When I read Jake’s Sunday Post, I thought of several options. One was the recent march for peace in Bahia de Caraquez. Reducing the images to black and white heightened the mood of each image. One reflects the collective energy and passion of the locals. The other presents an aura of calm.
Yen and yang; masculine and femine. Both are effective in speaking up for peace. (Bahia de Caraquez)
The below image of an extremely-high tide is stunning in color, but it works well in black and white as well. \
Dawn light – Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica
(Surely she’s not thinking of creating a zeebra toucan?!)
Ending this post with a Zeebra theme seems fitting for a black and white challenge; I hope that you’ve enjoyed the images. Thanks for your support!
(P.S. – My last post had a major design flaw that I can’t figure out how to fix. A special thanks to all of you who swam through the black comment boxes to leave a comment! Though I’m not sure how to fix it, I have figured out how it happened. Hopefully I’ve exorcised the problem!) Z
Excellent work for this week theme my friend ,
Thanks for sharing your stunning photography
You amaze me with your prompt replies! As you can see, I enjoyed this challenge! Z
My pleasure to hear it from you,
Have a nice day my friend
What an artist you are. In tune with nature and what it teaches you. Thank you too for the art lesson.
You are so welcome! Now that the exhibition is finally finished, I will take a few weeks to catch up on neglected ‘things’ and then get busy with some art posts.
Thank you for sprinkling your cheerful spirit throughout the pages of WordPress! Z
Beautiful in black and white!
thanks, amiga! z
Excellent posts for the challenge! Love them all…
Thanks! How’s your immersion back in the usa? Your five-color post reflected an amazing collection of images,and I smiled and thought, ‘Being in the ‘states has been good for her!’
Z
Aww, thank you Z! It’s been great being home, but the time is flying by way too quickly. It’s only 9 days till I have to leave again.
It’s nice just to escape from work and have down time. I think that’s always good for creativity and fun!!
Thanks Have a great time.
Fabulous B&W. The butterflies are great! The hermit crab is very cool. The toucan looks dashing in Zeebra.
Thank you for such grand praise! For sure I’ll have to stripe a toucan in the future! Z
My favorite here is the rufous-naped wrens. The effect of your transformation is to produce a piece that’s somehow a cross between Audubon and William Morris – a neat trick, indeed!
It reminds me, too, of the lovely art of blackwork . Have you ever seen a mola done in black and white? It’s an interesting thought.
Wow; I’m honored to be compared to the great masters of Audubon and Wm. Morris, two of my favorite artists!
I’ve seen a few molas in black and white with a touch of color. I’ll put that suggestion on the back burner for when I’ve caught up with all I’ve neglected (like my yard!!!)
Your feedback is always great! Z
Beautiful selection of black and white images … love the rocks! =D
Thanks! The rocks are fun and a nice change every so often! Z
Stunning examples of B&W shots! Hard to pick one favourite…is it the butterflies or the rufous naped wrens or the zebra frog or the Toucan? Love all of them
After a 7+ hour all-night bus ride, I enjoyed seeing this comment that patiently awaited my attention! Thanks! Z
I must admit it was kind of strange looking at your page in black and white because I am so use to the vibrant colors! Everything looks awesome and who doesn’t love a Zebra Frog?
What a nice comment! Thanks! I’m also glad that you like the Zebra Frog!
I’m behind on reading but am sure that your training is going well. I’ve not run in a long time, but now that the museum shows are over, I’ll have my old routine back. I’m thinking of trading my running shoes in on a bicycle – my joints will probably appreciate the switch! Z
Your posts are always so full of color but honestly everything works so well in B&W too. Must be a Zeebra thing!
Thanks so much! You’re probably right – it’s a Zeebra thing!
z
Interesting to see everything in B/W and to realize that we can still enjoy it. I loved the frog.
Si, the post does look atypical in black and white! I’m glad that you liked the frog! Z
Such a wealth of information you posted! I confess to being just a little in love with that frog!
Thank you! Many people love that particular frog! (Perhaps he’s a true prince?!) Z
Great tip on copying work to a monochrome format. I’ve been itching to get my drawing hands going again and your images are just the inspiration I need. Good stuff.
Thank you so much! Many students sometimes don’t ‘see’ how middle tones blend together until they convert them to grays. One boring blur is usually the result, and then they understand the importance of strong darks! Great that you’re ready to sharpen that pencil and roll! Z
Beautiful and inspiring images that brings joy, hope and sunshine to the reader. Thanks for making me smile. My day didn’t start out right but after this post, I’m back and ready to face the day. Thanks.
I am glad that this post gave you some relief from your difficult morning; Marianne’s day/week was not a good one either.
http://marianne365days.wordpress.com/
A friend from Mississippi often said, “The devil’s busy.”
We have to be stronger than the devil and not let him punch our buttons!
Keep smiling!
Z
I’m sorry I missed this back in August, Z – I’ve always loved doing a horizontal slice of the oh so vertical bamboo – I see why you said my shot of the black bamboo reminded you of your drawing
I loved the Zebra=striped frog too …