In the course of developing my main body of work devoted to Civil War-era Americans, last year I created two 16" x 20" images, one of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the image above of John Brown. This past October marked the 150th anniversary of Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, VA (present-day WV) and much to my surprise and pleasure, I was contacted by the United States Marine Corps for permission to use this image on the cover of the Fall issue of their military history magazine, Fortitudine.
Since that time I've been working on a few images of Frederick Douglass; the one I'm posting here is a very straight-forward rendering of Douglass in his later years, done in graphite with a light tint of colored pencil, on a 12"x 12" Gessobord. The photograph I'm showing here was really of very poor quality, and as a result I had to Photoshop the background somewhat to try to recreate what was actually there -- but it gives you at least an idea of what the original looks like.
Currently I'm working on a much larger -- 24" x 24" -- image of Douglass, using Prismacolor Artstix (a colored pencil product that looks similar to pastels but consists of large sticks of the same material that's in a colored pencil lead) and a bit of solvent. This piece is much more dramatic and shows Douglass at a younger age, and at a time in his life when the fight for the abolition of slavery was not yet won. I'll be posting the final version on DPP, probably sometime next week, but you can see the in-progress stages on my blog at http://amylindenberger.blogspot.com/.
To see more of my Civil War-themed work, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.
To see my other work or learn about workshops, please visit http://www.amylindenberger.com/.
9 comments:
Amy - fantastic post. We are so blessed to have you on the blog.
What exquisite work...thanks for posting!
These are wonderful pieces, Amy. I applaud your interest in history too!
Unbelievable work!! masterful.
Amy, I just can say the same thing like before - your pencil works are unbelievable. I wish someday I can take few lessons with you. Till the very latest time I had no idea what some people can do with colored pencil. Very impressive paintings.
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time and interest to comment. Mary Beth: I am feeling every bit as blessed, to have been asked to join the group! Tatiana: Maybe I can do a demo sometime someplace local, so you could get a "taste" of ways to use colored pencil.
These drawings are magnificent, Amy. I can see why the Marine Corps would want to use it for their magazine. You do such incredible work with those colored pencils!
Congratulations on the magazine cover, Amy - that's quite an honor. You deserve it - your interest in history and mastery of your art are a rare and wonderful combination.
congratulations Amy! Very nice work!
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