Assignment One - natural objects

I have completed my first assignment! I have undertaken pencil sketches exploring form and composition of both a natural and man made still life.

The first of these being a composition of natural objects - "Harvest Festival". I decided upon the use of vegetables including a pumpkin as they are abundant in Autumn and appropriate to season. As instructed I arranged my produce in a variety of compositions and lighting to try and capture the best image. And, despite my r experiences within earlier projects still made the composition too busy - but happily recognized this before starting to draw and simplified my composition by removing some items ... however the size of the pumpkin obliterates the lighting on others and this was a problem. I also decided that the apples in the first composition were 'lost' and actually weren't congruent to the other vegetables so decided to 'lose' them.

The problem of the pumpkin remained. Sensibly i perhaps should have removed the pumpking from the composition but I enjoy the shape if it's stem and hence wanted it to remain. So, rather than remove this point of interest I decided to try introducing a larger object that would in turn 'balance ' the pumpkin - enter the cauliflower! This change definitely balance the composition better, added congruence to the whole but presented the challenge of how to reasonablay represent a highly complex cauliflower?! I like the texture it introduces alongside the 'flat' texture of both pumpkin and carrot yet this questioned what medium to use to represent the composition?

On having undertaken 2 further very crude sketches, I decided that the composition worked best as a simple one, with few objects that illustrated texture as well as form - deciding to use drawing pencil and ink on cartridge paper (A2). I have discovered that I enjoy drawing with an ink pen very much - enjoying the immediacy and definition it provides. I felt this technique would offer the best textural representation of the 'small rounds ' of the florets of the vegetable - dripping ink in blobs and flattening them in places to create rounds.

I am disappointed by my representation of shadow within the still life and also the positioning on the paper - I should have identified the shadow better and the placed the items on the paper so that the shadow could all be seen. I am also now pleased with the representation of the carrots which I found really hard to draw and despite my best efforts on the cauliflower my daughter could still not recognize it - which cannot be good!!

I will explore my man made drawing tomorrow as I am full of cold and must crawl back to bed!!

more enlarging ...

Having been so taken by the effect of using a grid to enlarge sketches and pictures I decided to have another go! Using a close up photo this time of my long suffering husband Bill I set about a drawing of his eyes. I like eyes - they really interest me, is something we all recognise and yet don't take huge amounts of notice of (I think!).

I used my 2cm grid and drew a 4cm grid on cartridge paper and just using a HB pencil set about translating the squares across. I think I have captured a reasonable effect and for the first hour was intense and interested in my work - I then, if honest started to get a bit bored and wished I had used a drawing pencil for greater variety of mark making and shadow creation! I persevered for another hour and decided to stop - pleased with the accomplishment and the effect. I am reminded however of why I like to paint as I get an immediate effect as clearly I am a bit lazy!! I will definitely have a go at using a grid to help develop some painting work to emphasise accuracy of representation.

Tomorrow I shall start my assignment pieces!

Project : Enlarging an object

Have had a bit of a break due to a great holiday and approached this exercise with a healthy degree of trepidation. Quite frankly I was not convinced that enlarging an image using a square grid would either be very effective or a good learning tool ... how wrong I was!!

Broke the rules of instruction by doing a larger than recommended drawing and with more detail than recommended - this was a. because of my above comments and I am clearly a VERY bad student and b. I was enjoying a glass of wine and felt inspired to draw ... so, my drawing was about 16 cm tall, and like I say not simple as such as it contains reflection etc (good practice from previous projects whilst also thinking ahead to my assignment - may use a wine glass as a man made item).

Then I broke the rules and drew squares 4cm square on an A2 sheet of paper (could not see how 20cm boxes would fit on anything other than a huge sheet) and after creating a 2cm square grid on acetate I set off to draw my drawing! Genuinely surprised at the results! My enlarged image looks like my own smaller image yet I have been able to improve it as I was able to improve the symmetry and introduction of limited colour using inktense pencils has added an extra dimension. (shame I smudged the coloured pencil - lesson there!!).

So, check and log:

I feel that I have been successful in copying the lines and image from the smaller squares to the larger and in fact focusing on just one square at a time helped the creation of the bigger image to feel 'managable' and not overwhelming. Given the complex shading in the glass I would have been put off had I not approached it one square at a time. Plus I would never have considered undertaking such a large drawing of a glass. I really liked the way the grid helped 'strip back' the essentials and simplify the image and is an approach I will undertake many times and will apply to my painting also.

I am surprisingly satisfied with my enlarged image and found it useful to correct errors in the original drawing - not completely but definitely improved. I think next time I shall balance the focus on drawing in the squares against the whole image a little more - continually referring to the overall drawing rather than just the squares - using the squares to gauge the broad positioning then get a sense of how the overall looks (are shapes balanced, perspective right, broad areas of marked tone etc), adjust and then focus in on the squares.

Overall a great technique that I have never done before and in fact never even considered! It has never occurred to me that I could enlarge an image of my own without starting from scratch - it also shows me that could relatively easily make a 'small image' big without losing integrity.

Fabulous!!

Check and log

28 Sep 2010

I have most certainly found and used new ways to use my drawing tools - having previously been very comfortable with charcoal I have discovered real limitations inflexibility to create textures and my own skills in using them. Charcoal is fabulous for creating shade and introducing softness to drawing yet is limited in depicting 'hard' definition, or certainly my skill in doing so is limited in textural depiction with charcoal. Pencil and different hardnesses are far more successful - the pencil allowing control of shape and from whilst shading, hatching and different mark making lend themselves to representing texture of different forms. Ink remains a surprising delight in being able to convey soft, fluid forms whilst also benefiting from firm, hard' representation using different application types. A fluid drop and dribble can create a completely contrasting texture to that deride from the pen driven application. Different application of textures also, in turn create a different mood or feel for a drawing or composition - albeit something determined, purposeful and manmade to that of a more organic depiction.

Meanwhile I have had wildly differing success in implying form with little or no tonal hatching (not that hatching is something I have mastered yet!). My representation of form in my experimentation of texture squares were very poor representation of form whilst frottaging lent little to form itself - they being simply a representation of the thing being 'frottaged'. My composition of cleaning items however do clearly depict (I believe) both tone and form without the use of hatching - the items have a depth, a clear depiction of what they are and are interesting to the eye. It confirms in my mind that there is room for many approaches to depicting an image.

Frottage is an interesting addition to the 'tools' of drawing and one that I would like to employ further - the representation of something 'real' into a representational composition introduces and interesting dimension to a piece. I can see the value of frottage to a number of different compositions - especially a personal representation of something. It clearly has limitations due to it's 2 dimensional, flat qualities but this could be exploited as a contrast within a piece of work or as 'statement' within a work. I also enjoy the immediacy of frottage and can envisage further, yet unknown exploitations.

Once again, fabulous learning with surprising results.

Exercise: A drawing with textures

Tuesday 28th September 2010

Having looked at my earlier experiments depicting texture I embarked upon this exercise initially with some trepidation as it is not easy to represent texture well or convincingly.

I determined that I would gather cleaning products and represent the textures within a composition - initially wanting to use a feather duster as the key object and a dead sunflower head. On gathering my items however they appeared 'un natural' or incongruous and were of strange sizes and dismissed the idea. I instead arranged smaller items and then decided to use frottage as a background!

Capturing my homes edwardian heavily painted and embossed wallpaper through the technique of frottage with a very soft olive drawing pencil I created the background on an A2 peice of drawing paper. I then rearranged my composition and determined that I would use ink and an ink pen to make my drawing - the ink and rigidity of the pen (a cross ink pen) being a good way to capture the bristles of the brush and also the texture of the cloth. I included a spray can (despite it having a smooth texture - deliberately to juxtapose the remaining textures in the drawing) although was unsure of how to represent its texture with pen and ink and concluded I would work it out as I went along. I also overcame the horror of not having any 'correction room' as ink was clearly permanent and decided if it was a disaster I could simply start again - happily that was not needed. I started with the brush bristles and moved on around the picture ...

The smooth texture of the spray can was overcome by the abandonment of the ink pen and the use of a calligraphy brush dipped in thinned ink, and I think makes a good 'relief' in amongst the rest of the texture.

I also made the deliberate decision not to put in all the shadow that the objects on the platform which they stand due to the use of the background frottage as I feel this would have detracted from the textures conveyed - the composition 'working' as it does. Am surprisingly pleased with this drawing in its interest and appeal to the eye - the composition of a 'cross' also working reasonably well.

Am now going to apply this learning into my painting of the 'peacock man' that I am attempting!

Project using texture

I have had a grand time playing with textures!

As instructed I drew several boxes in my sketch book and then experimented with textures and the use of different materials to help the depiction. I referred back to my previous exercises exploring line making before embarking so I had a good idea of which medium created the most helpful marks.

My real challenge to start with proved that of finding enough textures as of course everything has a texture but I struggled to find things of an interesting or explicit texture to capture.

I accidentally discovered the value of using a tissue to remove ink which worked well for orange peel which I had not envisaged - a heavy blob needed cleaning and hey presto! I also liked using a very soft pencil to represent the fur on a cushion whilst I rediscovered the joy of ink (previously happened upon in my exploration of mark making). I repeated the same texture using different techniques to experiment e.g. a piece of coal using charcoal (effective although indistinct), pencil (reasonable but lacking real definition because of my hatching) and ink (not successful in describing the form but great at depicting the hard texture).

The experimentation of frottage was a revelation and took me back to being a child! I roamed around the house and garden for over an hour experimenting with different surfaces and mediums. I am unsure of how I might use this technique but resolved to explore further.

This exploration also prompted me to sit and draw in my sketch book for the sheer pleasure of it and was more relaxed that I have been for some time and was pleased with my results. I am continually surprised and delighted by how much I am learning and noticeably improving in my work - thinking about my application and being more considered in my work.

Exercise: Observing negative space & perspective

Completed today the exercise observing negative space and perspective ...

Initially caused me some panic as I followed the instructions to the letter which was not an approach I have ever tackled before!!!

I was however fascinated as the image emerged and I relaxed into the process - exploring the negative space was really instructive in developing the images and the drawing very quickly developed with pretty good accuracy. The picture only needing some small tweaks to ensure that the objects were correctly proportioned.

Undertook the first drawing using charcoal and so decided to use a soft pencil for the second piece of the exercise - drawing the outlines without taking my pencil off the board.

I resisted the urge to take my pencil off the board to correct and, again, was surprised at the level of reasonable accuracy. I fully expected it to be a nightmarish mess and needing to do it several times to feel satisfied - however first attempt was successful.

Really good learning as I also realise I do look at negative space to draw and paint so am reassured that this is a good approach. I am more fearful of the next project looking at texture.