In my five day experiment of rendering the same diamond leaf brooch using all of the media commonly used by artists doing jewelry rendering or designing, I’ve been amazed at how different the same brooch can look. Today’s version, Day 4, was done with charcoal pencil and white gouache highlights:
Interestingly, every time I’ve rendered the leaf be it with ink and gouache, watercolor, or charcoal pencil and gouache, I feel only a little closer to really getting the shading and highlights “right”. But I’m not discouraged; each rendering seems to have a life and character all its own, and that gives me great pleasure.
The final version of this brooch will be posted tomorrow. This one will be a yellow gold version using colored pencil and gouache on vellum. I’d love to hear back from my readers about which version you think is most successful and why.