Monday, February 3, 2014

Shades of Gray

 
 Normally I prefer color -- the more the better.


But using the pencil sketch thingy on Picasa made me see these photos as both more mysterious and more detailed.



Perhaps it's because I've been spending so much time (in my head) back in the mid- 1800s when, as we know from photos, life was all black and white and shades of gray. . .



Shades of Gray would have been a nice title for my work in progress -- the varying degrees of right and wrong on both sides of the Civil War massacre that's at the core of the story.

But, alas, I'm afraid with that title, folks would be expecting lots of steamy bedroom scenes.

Which are not my idiom.



18 comments:

Folkways Note Book said...

I like your pencil sketches from Picassa. They have some nice tools to use with photos. A civil war story -- I imagine you have been knee deep in research. -- barbara

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Your pencil sketches tell a story. Love it.
Sam

Brian Miller said...

as long as it is not 50 shades of....hahaha...it does bring out some cool detail...

how is that book coming?

Barbara Rogers said...

Have I missed something? What's the connection between steamy bedroom scenes and Shades of Grey? Probably a movie, but perhaps a book, sometime that I missed?

Suz said...

I have used that picasa feature myself...helps me draw better
Yes it does make you look at different details
Your book sounds interesting
The title of the book ..for me...often determines if I pick it up...or not
the power of a book cover
You are right about the grays

Frances said...

Lovely pictures, Vicki! It's snowing again today in NYC, and I wish that I could stay home with my pencils and sketchbook and try to capture the snowy branches outside my front window. They look quite dramatic right now! More black and white than grey.

xo

Vicki Lane said...

Barb -- I refer to the book Fifty Shades of Gray which has been a huge bestseller and is, they say, quite steamy.

I am in the midst of writing AND research. When most of the characters are historical people, it seems important to get thins right. And new bits of information keep popping up -- the descendents of many of the people have been very helpful. More on this Wednesday. . .

Carol Murdock said...

My friend Jessica James wrote a wonderful book set in the Civil War titled " Shades of Gray ". Love the sketches!

NCmountainwoman said...

I read the book Carol refers to. They added "A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia." I suppose differentiate it from the other Shades of Gray."

Loved the sketches. I've seem lovely framed Picassa-edited sketches in homes. Wonderful way to capture a house or barn.

Jime said...

I love your black and white sketch photos. They bring out form, texture and shades of grey.

Ansel Adams had a system called the Zone System. Actually 8 shades of grey between absolute black and paper white (the white being the shade of paper you are printing on and the black meaning the absence of all light.

To accomplish this zone system and artistically produce a print getting those shades of grey took a huge amount of laboratory time and effort. We can only imagine what he could do with today's technology.

Brenda said...

I had a start when I opened blogger just now and saw your title and the bird! This morning I've been working on translating what's inside my head into a post, along the lines of "shades of gray." I was glad when I read your post that it wasn't the exact same line of thought. Not only would that have been really coincidentally weird, I probably wouldn't have published mine for fear of looking plagiaristic! I can spend hours playing around with photo editing, though I rarely do anything with it other than just amuse myself. :)

Vagabonde said...

I really like your grey drawings. I have not used Picassa or any other photo tool since my daughter placed that old program on my computer – the one I use for collages. About the book you mention, my daughter read it and told me it was not steamy but maybe thrilling for juveniles, was boring and badly written, bad grammar – some of my French books have much better erotica and are better written I think.
The use of black, white and grey is so strong sometime, better than colors.

L. D. said...

It really is a nice effect. It moves photos into an art gallery show.

Lise said...

Great creative photo work. I've always been a fan of pencil sketches, they do seem to bring out the details.

Maybe you can put a little spring into Elizabeth's step with a little grey shading, lol:) Though I must admit, I like her just the way she is!

Darla said...

These are cool…and your comment about 50 Shades of Gray caught me off guard and had me chuckling…much needed after popping in here following a study stint in Latin. ;-)

Juliet said...

What delightful drawings.

Merisi said...

What pity that title has been marred forever by that one book!

As far as I know, book titles are not subject to copyright. If you feel strongly about it describing or alluding to what you are writing about, why not use it? In fact, those words deserve at least another story!

Vicki Lane said...

True titles can't be copyrighted. But in addition to the notorious Fifty Shades of, there's (as Carol mentioned) another Civil War book with that title.