Like my earlier post on drawing the
Senate gallery details, I came around to draw the Senate from a different angle.  I sat on the floor of the first entry arch looking up into one of the corners, in order to catch the overall arch and the large bronze Tiffany chandelier.  The corner of the room intrigued me; the architects cut the edges of the square room
in an odd detail, making more angles to
draw on top of the arches and gallery.

The chandelier reminds me of a candelabra, and that may be what Tiffany intended to inspire.  The state keeps the Senate incredibly dark.  I hear stories of ghost wandering the Senate and can believe it!  Perhaps when the Senate is in session the lights are not set low?

I blocked the basic design out in a Pentalic HB Woodless pencil (Grumbacher).
I was inking details and the design of the chandelier was making me a bit crazy.
Finally I went beyond the roped area, laid on my back and studied the design
from the bottom so I understood the light structure; this had helped me draw the
bronze chandelier in the entry off the South Porte Cochere.  The cacophony of loopy
lines leading to tiny bulbs made a bit more sense; the bottom (twelve lamps) and
top eight lamps) tiers aligned; the middle (ten lamps) were off-center.

Back to my seat on the entry floor to add detail to the graphite ghost blob I sketched in the corner.  I was sorry I left my camera behind; I wanted to take an interim picture of the pencil sketch before I started inking.

I’m not in love with this chandelier, andI discovered that I have to be in love with the object in order to give it your all.  Wonky lines no longer bothered me; I wanted to finish as Mitchell was wrapping up for the night.  I wanted to head out to Aya Sushi for dinner.  The best sushi in the Pacific NW!

Mitchell came by and took the picture above standing up; not quite the angle I saw from the floor but you can
see the darkness and the ornament.  He also took pictures of me, and those mysteriously disappeared.  Oops!

Having drawn the details from the luxury of the
Senate Gallery, I knew intimately what the egg-and-dart motifs looked like close up, but was getting sloppy.  Frankly, I was getting tired of inking details,
but loved the Heart of Darkness ink!  At one point spirals appeared to indicate the shape of the egg-and-darts!

Back in our studio two days later I
added color.  Unfortunately, at the first swipe of watery glaze, the ink began to move!  AAACK!  I cried.  I went online and commiserated with friends.
Then I figured I had nothing to lose,
the drawing was loosey-goosey and wonky, so went back to adding color.  The ink still bled in places and I had license to make messes.  I did!

My takeaway from this created the new rule:
ALWAYS TEST AN INK OUT ON EACH TYPE OF PAPER!

I’m not happy with the mauve color.  It’s so easy to make mauve —
early in my painting career I made jars of it trying to mix a soft brown acrylic color.
I am happy with the wash of creamy Holbein quinacridone gold I threw on
for candlelight ambiance.  Finally, I think my days of using silver are over!

Almost the same colors as the Senate gallery details.  Drawn in an Stillman & Birn
Delta journal with a Noodlers giveaway pen, Heart-of-Darkness ink (NOT waterproof), and Daniel Smith (silver, tiger-eye, quinacridone violet, Indian yellow),
Holbien (quinacridone gold) and Sennelier (quinacridone red, white) watercolors.

I agree to Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which you can learn more about by visiting the site, or,
visit my web page for a more user-friendly summary on my terms.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back to dkatiepowellart.