Check and log: Project detailed observation

This project has been a revelation for me as I would normally say I am 'not a detail person' - in either personal or artistic life.

In truth I found the title somewhat daunting in itself - recognising that I would indeed need to focus on detail. I have however found the focus on the 'small' highly satisfactory and revelatory in how the big picture literally grows itself from focusing on the smaller stuff - and getting those right.

I have enjoyed the use, and developed my use of the fibre tipped pen - broader nib rather than a drawing pen - and find it to be excellent in both line drawing and creating tone. The flexibility of pressure on the nib can create different emphasis of lines whilst also delicate stipple and curious shapes may also be attained. I also enjoy the unavoidable purposefulness and commitment of the fibre tip pen - one mark on the paper and you're committed! This was an 'accidental' find as it literally happened to be lying around the house in time for my use within the project - and a medium that I shall repeatedly practise with from now on.

I notice (particularly on the shell drawing) the value of the lines and marks being made echoing the nature of the item itself - there being a congruity of attitude almost. For example on the shell my initial inclination was to use lots of circles, spots and swirls (and did use many) however closer attention told me that the apparent stripe around the fan was made up of hard lines, which of course the shell itself is a hard item; subsequent use of hard lines not only gave the impression of the a 'stripe' but also, in my mind reinforces the solidity of the object, the congruence of attitude.

I felt particularly comfortable with the line drawings and recognise that I naturally 'see lines' whilst capturing the tone continues to be far more difficult for me. Indeed the project work on line drawings inspired me to try my hand at making stencils with which I may spray paint - so googled how to, bought a craft knife and acetate and did exactly that (example illustrated)! This is an aspect I may further develop and recognise this to be a further piece of learning directly attributable to this course work.

My skills of hatching have improved however and I can see the real value in this approach. I believe my pine cone reflects some improvement in this area. I am aware that I become utterly absorbed within a drawing when I 'commit' to it and am fearful of stopping in case I can't 'find my way back'. Logically I know this to be ridiculous (!) and hence need on occasion to stop and revisit sometimes and will do so in the next project.

Exercise : Stipples and Dots

In my excitement at moving forward I nearly overlooked this exercise and am pleased I didn't.

I determined to draw a shell I had brought back from Brittany and was surprised at how very difficult it was to get the basic shape right - so much so I abandoned the instruction to use a pen and did several sketches of the shell in pencil first, simply to get a sense of where the curves 'sat' and how the lines formed. I also toyed with abandoning the shell and finding a new subject but determined to stick to it as I am keen to combine the shells and the cones for a future piece. I am also (somewhat reluctantly!) learning that the harder I find things the more I am learning - generally!

I put away my earlier sketches and pencil (as per the exercise instructions) and determined a new approach. Concentrating on the pattern, line and shape of the shell I used a drawing pen and a black felt pen to create the image of the shell - approaching the picture not as a 'whole' piece but as a small section at a time to build up the shape and rhythm as naturally and interestingly as possible. Small stipples added the necessary 'pointy' bits raised from the shell surface whilst swirls and small circles emphasised divots.

I'm sincerely sorry that I added the strange criss cross shadow - big mistake. I am however pleased with the overall effect and will use stipples and other shapes in future work.

Getting tone and depth into detail

Golly - seriously thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew with this one.

I selected a large pine cone to draw depicting tone and depth - using simple pencils and quickly discovered an early mistake of shading too deeply too quickly and hastily rectified this. I primarily used 7b, 2b, H and 3F and became startlingly pleased with the effect of hatching. I've previously really struggled with hatching but am coming to appreciate the control possible instead of clumsily 'colouring in'!

I am not a natural 'detail' person and yet am pleased with the result of sticking with it - I found it easier to work on sections rather than the whole thing and am looking forward to the next project.

Project : Detailed observation

Line drawing detail

I'm back and thrilled to have picked up a pen again! I have spent the last 3 hours simply undertaking line drawing detail of peppers and fir cones and thrilled in it! I was initially apprehensive about drawing with a felt pen and also working with the challenge of trying not to remove my pen from the paper but quickly relaxed into it - and became absorbed into trying to replicate what I was seeing. Couple of pictures illustrated here.

I am particularly struck that I realise that I rarely draw from life - relying generally on photographs, and enjoyed this immensely. I also find it much easier drawing line rather than tone so this has been a lovely re-introduction into my learning. Focusing on the actual detail rather than that which one might think should be there is also absorbing and an aspect that I shall practice further. I find I also enjoy drawing with felt pen - I like the way different pressure changes line emphasis - again another avenue I shall pursue further.

Great stuff!

Restarting!

Despite my awareness that time was more pressured with additional work and life demands I have failed to maintain my learning commitments. The result being that I have not submitted any course work in either my drawing or painting courses. Following helpful dialogue with the OCA however I am back on track and more resolved than ever to complete my work as I am learning so much.

I have not stopped either drawing or painting (or indeed learning) however and continued to do both - examples of which I am posting. Sadly I haven't done as much drawing as I would like but all that I have done has been very significantly informed by my learning so far - suddenly hatching and shading is no longer a terror for me! I've also really valued the introduction of squaring up to help my positioning on the paper - which in turn has helped my painting to be more accurate.

I have also had the marvellous opportunity of visiting New York and viewing paintings within the Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art. Thrilling and awesome.

I have also just returned from Brittany where I collected some really interesting fir cones and shells in preparation for my next stages...

Assignment One - man made objects

I settled upon using wine glasses and a wine bottle as the subject matter for my man made still life - enjoying the reflections and shapes that these objects create... in undertaking a series of sketches my "Evening Pleasure" turned into "Night in". My final drawing ("Night in...") being an uncomplicated composition suggesting the intimacy of a shared bottle of wine, including a woman wearing lip stick.

I worked hard on creating the right composition including the correct shade and reflection but then really struggled with the correct medium. I was sorely tempted to use ink and line to simply draw the shapes and lines of reflection BUT (and this may be a mistake in hind sight) I decided against that as I had used ink in my natural object still life. I decided instead to use charcoal so as to convey the reflective form and smooth texture of the objects. I balanced the light to shine from behind so as to ensure strong shadow and 'light burst' through the glass.

I am not as pleased as I would like to be with the finished drawing - the glasses and bottle are not symmetrical but I was fearful of over working the picture as I do like the 'rawness' (even though it took ages to do it looks quite fresh) and I keep reminding myself that it is just not possible for my drawings to be perfect - I am learning.

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!!