Lillian Jones

“Strange Shadows”

Strange Shadows was my assignment. I decided to make a little silver box with an enamel on the top.

I have not done an illustrative piece in a while, and found the process triggered a latent streak of perfectionism. I ended up making four enamels of the design before I was happy. I had a sketch that pleased me. I didn’t over think the connection with the challenge words.

For the first try, I tried to use new colors and failed. Even though I had done a batch of test pieces in those colors that looked ok, I just was not happy with these colors in this arrangement. The lesson on this piece was to do a lot of color testing beforehand.

For the next try, I remade the same design larger and used a color pallet that I felt comfortable with. However, the next attempt failed because the values were wrong. Lesson two was to do a value study first. Make sure your dark and light are in the right place.

The next pieces I make at the same time, using my favorite trusty color pallet, and a better grip on contrast. These were both acceptable.

So now I have four ladies: a blonde, a brunette and a redhead and one whose head had exploded. The redhead and the explosion had definitely been ruled out, but blonde was ahead in the race until I started the silver box. But once I started working with the silver, the brunette pulled ahead, and ultimately seemed like the best fit.

Box construction was a straightforward bit of business. No drama. It appears the Strange Shadows turned into Moonlit Solitude.