Drawing fruit and vegetables in colour

Check & Log
Your composition should occupy most of the paper’s surface. How much negative space do you have left?
In all three drawings I was conscious of this and feel I have been quite successful, but less so with the drawing using coloured inks and markers. Probably because I arranged the lighting to cast long shadows on one side (intending to dramatically enhance the appearance of the negative spaces around them) with the light falling on the objects on the opposite side, producing dramatic contrasts of tone – light on one side, dark on the other. I couldn’t arrange things in a way which looked balanced and the cast shadow at the far right looks as though it is pulling off the corner of the page. Despite this I concentrated intently on the shapes formed by the negative spaces, trying to achieve a balanced composition by carefully arranging the objects and the lighting, together with the resulting shadows. I tried to fill up most of the paper’s surface with the objects and and cast shadows, even running some off the edge of the page in the coloured pencil drawing. In the pen and ink drawing I thought about cropping the paper on the left hand side but didn’t. Although I have done this in the image on my learning b/log. With the other two exercises I wouldn't say I had a problem arranging the objects to fill up most of the paper. The only problem with them was arranging them in a balanced way, but I got there eventually. Of course I could have zoomed into the views more, but then I think the negative spaces would have been less apparent.

Using hatching to create tone - watercolour pencil

What I have learned from drawing the details of fruit and vegetables:
Using hatching to create tone:
When using coloured pencils on their own in the past, I couldn’t take to them. The colours appeared weak compared to other mediums, but when I tried them out by firstly applying dry pencil shading, then a damp (not wet) wash over the top, it gave more intensity to the colours, helping to build up depth and definition where desired. Shading with a pencil point dipped first in water (on the grapes sketch) intensified the depth of tone even further – perhaps too much. Yet when I looked at them from a distance they looked more convincing than I expected.
On reflection, especially with the second and third sketches, I can see I got too carried away experimenting with different techniques rather than concentrating on just hatching alone. But if nothing else it was probably good practice for future drawings. I used loose hatching on the orange segment, rolling the pencil between my fingers. A technique I used for the first time was to use the pencil dry, blend with a slightly damp brush, once dry, hatch or shade with dry pencil. I used complementary colours for shadows, as well as cool muted colours. Blue being the complementary of orange was used in the areas of shadow. I also decided to use it in shadow areas generally, to help unify the composition, particularly as it seems to combine successfully with the dark sepia I used to tone down and help darken the shadows. Whereas I think sepia alone would have been too colourless and ineffective. I also think blue is effective for cooling down areas of deep shadow, helping to give them depth and recession.
Dip pens and markers – when doing my experiments, I discovered that using lighter colours first (under darks) is a good idea; if things are done in the reverse the lines and colours will be visible.
I also discovered that I really enjoyed using ink from a medicine or ink dropper – squeeze and instantly a blob of ink appears, which can simply be pulled outwards with the end of the dropper to form lines of varying thicknesses, reaching outwards in all directions - had to be careful though, otherwise the ink could easily run all over the paper. Dip pens (changing between 3 different nibs) worked surprisingly well when I tried them out on 90lb watercolour paper, considering its uneven surface,  yet were hopeless on a certain absorbent sketch paper. I’m guessing that maybe the watercolour paper was sized better, making it less absorbent.
Altogether I did three or four preliminary sketches of the fruit in different arrangements with the dip pens and markers, but they aren't illustrated here.

Using markers or dip pens - final drawing

Oil pastels
As I’d included a sliced section of red cabbage in the arrangement I thought it wise to practice possible techniques to use for the texture of the sliced section. Whether I filled the dark tonal areas first, then the lightest or the other way round, I noticed the colours merging into one another, darkening the light tones and lightening the darks. Eventually I tried a really light sketchy technique, simplifying the detail significantly, leaving areas of the paper showing through. This seemed to be more successful than all previous attempts. Although the paper was a buff shade it was noticeable and at last I think I began to realize the meaning and intention behind using the term ‘let the white of the paper break through’ in the instructions - the metaphorical ‘white’, designed to help discourage people such as me from using a too heavy handed technique which shows in the resulting merged and dulled down appearance. This may be fine for some effects but I don’t think it was the intention on this occasion.
By using a cotton rag dipped in odourless thinners in parts of the background and gently dabbing it onto areas of dry colour, this resulted in gently spreading the colour giving a subtle muted effect. I used this technique in the background, which I think helped it to merge more softly into the distance, helping to make the fruit and vegetable arrangement more apparent in comparison.
As the red cabbage looked very isolated from the rest of the group – being the only object not overlapping with any other, I tried to integrate it by adding touches of the colours from within it, throughout the rest of the composition, which seemed to help promote a more harmonious effect.


What I found most challenging about this part of the course:
 During the process of drawing the cos lettuce with coloured pencil - using hatching to create tone, initially I wasn’t enjoying filling the veined leaves – getting impatient with the complex network and my enthusiasm was starting to wane. But I decided to persevere and eventually started to notice some semblance of recognition appearing. I could make out pattern and shape in them and some directional movement – however the central area is inaccurate (see sketchbook). The final drawing has only one lettuce leaf, and this was fairly straight and flat in reality, whereas I previously sketched the whole lettuce. I think the sketch version works better as a three dimensional object because of this. Although, adding plenty of tonal shading and cast shadow on and around the lettuce leaf helped its 3 dimensionality. On the part furthest away, using a little artistic licence - adding more curves would probably also have helped. When sketching the individual pieces I have the distinct impression I got too carried away by detail.
Building up what I thought was adequate colour and tone on each object, without going overboard, proved a little tricky, particularly with the pear in the first drawing, as it had a stubborn tendency to look flat and distorted. I noticed that even after applying what I thought was sufficient build up of varied yellows it still looked rather colourless - but I suspect by then I had already added a bit too much purple and sepia in the shaded areas, trying to obtain more three dimensionality. So I added more rich dark yellow in an effort to balance the effect. I was a little nervous of using purple for shading on the pear as it is such a strong dark colour, but I think it worked better once I warmed up the look of the whole pear with deep gold yellow near the end. The process was helped by repeatedly moving away to view the drawing from a distance.


For some reason I had more difficulty arranging the objects in the dip pens and markers exercise (above), trying to achieve a sense of balance, once the shadows were included. Because the bottom right hand side shadow runs of the edge of the paper it seems to pull the whole composition in that direction, causing it to look bottom heavy. The shadow being so long and dark doesn’t help matters either. The final drawing seemed tedious and I felt I had completely overdone some of the colours and layers, to the point of deadening the effect in places. The cast shadows became very dark, whereas beforehand I thought they were too bright, so I added the darker colour, which I think it needed, but it is probably too dark. I think the first sketch gives a better example of cast shadows, as they appear more vibrant to me in this one, without looking over the top.
I wanted to include the complementary hues of violet/yellow with red/green in the shadows, some red from the apple and yellow from the banana, but the risk of the colours merging and mixing into a dull mud was quite high, so I had to be careful with this aspect. Fortunately I don't think it turned out too bad and the underlying colours are visible, adding interest and depth, which I was  surprised about, considering how many layers of colours I applied in some areas. I did get lots of prior practice, scribbling around with and overlaying a multitude of  colours in my sketchbook, so maybe it paid off a little.

Using oil pastel

 I was getting increasingly frustrated at the length of time it was taking to arrange the objects for the oil pastel drawing – over and over again, still not arriving at an interesting composition and yet often when I turned away and happened to glance at some other fruit literally thrown into a couple of bowls nearby, I found their arrangements somehow interesting. However, I couldn’t use these as they were mostly just one or two types of fruit without sufficient contrasts of texture and shape i.e. oranges and bananas. I wondered if I was thinking about it too much and just becoming fussy to the extreme, but from what I’ve read on the subject it does seem to be a not too uncommon problem! On the whole I was quite pleased with this drawing. What I like about it are the variety of textures and the objects look quite 3 dimensional, picking up the directional light effectively. There is a sense of depth also created by the overlapping nature of the objects. However, the blinds in the background are too distracting. I realized my error and tried to blur them with a turpsy rag but it isn't sufficient, and - as my tutor pointed out - the line between the top of the sliced red cabbage and the blinds should be more broken up ie. it would look more interesting if its shape at the top was angled so that it doesn't run parallel to the slats.

Exhibition Elizabeth Magill

Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork, 23 November 2010 – the featured exhibition at the time didn’t hold my interest. So I called to the first floor permanent exhibition hoping to find a painting I had spotted on the previous visit in August, but discovered it had since been removed – not so permanent then.

The permanent exhibition is housed in a traditional style gallery containing a relatively small collection of paintings, displayed in two adjoining rooms. The section of the building accommodating this gallery was originally built in 1724 as the Cork Cutoms House.

Crawford Gallery (old photo)

http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/history.html

My disappointment was soon compensated for when instead, a recent arrival that I hadn’t seen before, caught my attention. It was a painting by Elizabeth Magill with the title of ‘Blue Constrictor’.



Blue Constrictor, oil on canvas  153x183cm

This is composed of tall dark treetops silhouetted against a vivid blue and mauve sky. The inner area of a few of the tree forms look transparent; their tops fading into the sky above. From the low perspective a distinct sensation is created, of looking upwards at the treetops from below, serving to heighten their striking presence. Wavy snakelike lines of  yellow, green and red interweave the trees like dancing ribbons. Flecks and streaks of vivid yellow bounce around in the air and further flecks and bands of electric blue running up and along the tree trunks and branches, create such an energetic sizzling atmosphere – I could almost feel the static emanating out of it! The often thick brushstrokes contained in these marks appear to counteract the precise detail of the trees. The whole painting seems charged with a sort of eerie energy, providing me with quite a sublime experience.

On researching the artist’s work it was interesting to note that trees and birds are regular key features. Perhaps there is a bird or two in this one but I can’t spot it. The glens and coastline of Northern Ireland, where she spent most of her childhood are big influences. They give me a disinct sense of loneliness and isolation, devoid of human presence.

Also, on reading a little about the techniques employed in Elizabeth Magill’s work, she has very often incorporated photographic material in the process and in the case of the trees in this painting it looks to me as though this was a possibility, although it is described as an oil painting.

Parlous Land (Roches and Rooks), lithograph, 84x59cm -  later in the summer I discovered this on display in the Hunt Museum, Limerick and it certainly lived up to my high expectations.

She is quoted as describing her work as follows:

"I'm not so much painting what is there but what I imagine might be there", ... "These works are not landscapes as such, but more like suggested backdrops to how I feel, think and interpret the world."

'Blue Constrictor' a rough sketch I made at the gallery

Research Point Louise Bourgeois

An artist who worked in a quite expressive style is Louise Bourgeois (b.25 December 1911 – d.31 May 2010). She was a renowned French American artist, better known for her sculptures (particularly the spider structures) than for her drawings.


Maman, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain Retrospective-2003


On spiders

"I came from a family of repairers. The spider is a repairer. If you bash into the web of a spider, she doesn't get mad. She weaves and repairs it."

The artist's fascination with the figure of the spider – endlessly fertile mother and sinister predator – made itself felt in numerous works. This is Maman above (1999), an enormous sculpture that took up residence on the banks of the Thames in 2007

Most of her work was autobiographical - suggestive of the human figure and based on themes of betrayal, anxiety, and loneliness, said to have been influenced by childhood trauma.

The texture in some of the early abstract drawings of the1950s (although pre-dating the Maman spider sculpture) is to me reminiscent of the sinewy forms of the limbs.

Their surreal appearance is not surprising, considering the times in which the artist was beginning to hit her stride at the same time as the surrealist movement, just before World War II, though she didn’t develop the same shock tactic style.

Her lengthy immersion in African art is believed to have been an influence on these drawings, resulting in a collection of images that both symbolized and transcended autobiographical suggestions.

In many of the drawings, I find the linear quality and arrangement of marks quite mesmerizing in their directness and decisiveness, reminding me of spontaneous doodles; something from out of the unconscious.

untitled crayon on paper 1950

Untitled-Drawing-1950 ink on paper 11 x7 inches. A Year of Positive Thinking

Louise Bourgeois was also an important force during the rise of the American Abstract Expressionists in the late  1940's and early 1950's, as well as during the 1960's and 1970's feminist movement.

This quote serves to very clearly communicate to me the importance of sketching on the move:

“Drawings have a featherlike quality. Sometimes you think of something and it is so light, so slight, that you don’t have time to make a note in your diary. Everything is fleeting, but your drawing will serve as a reminder; otherwise it is forgotten.”

Louise Bourgeois, Drawings & Observations  Louise Bourgeois: The Insomnia Drawings  Whitney Museum of American Art June 14-Sept. 21, 2003 220 individual, red, blue and white drawings made during an eight-month period (Nov. 1994-June 1995) of sleep deprivation.

 

Insomnia 1994-95



View from the Bottom of the Well
- drawing from the 1950's

 

 Most of her work was autobiographical - suggestive of the human figure and based on themes of betrayal, anxitety and lonliness, said to have been influenced by childhood trauma. 

The texture in some of the early abstract drawings of the1950s (although pre-dating the Maman spider sculpture) is to me, reminiscent of the sinewy forms of the limbs. Their surreal appearance is not surprising, considering the times in which the artist was beginning to hit her stride - at the same time as the surrealist movement, just before World War II, though she didn’t develop the same shock tactic style. Her lengthy immersion in African art is believed to have been an influence on these drawings, resulting in a collection of images that both symbolized and transcended autobiographical suggestions.

In many of the drawings, I find the linear quality and arrangement of marks quite mesmerizing in their directness and decisiveness, reminding me of spontaneous doodles; something from out of the unconscious.

Louise Bourgeois was also an important force during the rise of the American abstract expressionists in the late 1940's and early 1950's, as well as during the 1960's and 1970's feminist movement.



Untitled - ink on paper 1950



Untitled crayon on paper 1950



This quote sends a strong yet poignant reminder across to me, of why it is so important to sketch on the move:

“Drawings have a featherlike quality. Sometimes you think of something and it is so light, so slight, that you don’t have time to make a note in your diary. Everything is fleeting, but your drawing will serve as a reminder; otherwise it is forgotten.”

Louise Bourgeois, Drawings & Observations



Louise Bourgeois

http://ayearofpositivethinking.com/2010/05/31/a-great-artist/

Still Life Group Using Line and Still Life Group Using Tone

Still life group using line Medium used - black Pitt artist's pen and coloured felt tips.
Still life group in tone Medium used - conte crayon


Aspects of each drawing that have been successful, and what I had problems with:

Still life group using line I decided to again try using the upright easel but had difficulty with accuracy of the contour lines due to my arm hanging in mid air and having nowhere to rest. I became frustrated by this, and consequently  picked up the board and placed it on my knee so that I could turn it round to enable easier drawing of shapes of outlines of certain objects ie. the top of the leek and the shape of the parsnip. 

I was also having difficulty placing the objects accurately on the paper even though I was really concentrating on the negative spaces, their size and shape, in between. On occasions I have used a viewfinder (as in this case), but even with this I find  that if I move even only very slightly I have to continually line it up again with the objects. Despite this, it does usually help with correct placement of the first one or two objects, after which, the rest will hopefully follow on easily, but it doesn’t always happen. I can often lightly sketch in one object after another and so on (but my eye can deceive me) and when I look again I spot some inaccuracies in scale and positioning, compelling me to adjust them again. Its seems that only a slight movement of the head can make all the difference, so it’s just as well I didn’t draw them in straight away with ink and then discover the above discrepancies! Alas, further practice is needed – and a very still head!  

In the early stages my approach started to become quite uptight, which naturally is far from ideal! As I progressed (once the objects had been placed) I began to cool off, realizing I wasn’t helping myself with that kind of approach. So I made a conscious effort to loosen up, especially as I don’t want my work to look tight and contrived.

I wasn’t sure how to go about making reference to the colours so I decided to just hint at it in strategic places – as the drawing was primarily about line rather than colour.

By doing this I did find that it helped in deciding whether the colours were balanced and distributed evenly.

The inclusion of the chopping board, I would say, helped to emphasize a diagonal movement, preventing the drawing from becoming too static looking.

As I was conscious of correct perspective and foreshortening I think I have gone some way to achieving this, with the mushroom on the right hand side and the near end of the long leek. The sliced onion at the back would be larger if placed directly alongside it, but in this case it is only the same size as it was placed a little further away.

Using line - art pen and felt tip markers

 With the still life group in tone - below, after I had every object sketched in, I reduced the size of the celeriac as it seemed to dominate the rest of the arrangement and I didn’t think it was desirable, considering its position at the back (it would also make creating a sense of depth difficult). Even after this it still looks large but more in proportion. I also slightly increased the size of the earthenware pot – I included this because it was hand made and has an organic look, harmonizing with the shape of the other objects. I found that I needed to repeatedly blend the area on the left side of the celeriac (in shadow) to give a smooth transition with the cast shadow area, as it had a persistent tendency to look too obvious and cumbersome, as if about to topple over.

Although I tried to work quickly and was conscious of varying the marks, I think the drawing appears to lack some spontaneity, mainly because I also thought that the drawing needed to look finished. I wouldn’t say it is overworked, yet there seems to be such a fine line between this and finished I’m not always sure where it is. The paper I chose to use has a good tooth and is neutral in tone, and the chosen medium – conté crayons. I enjoyed using both because: the medium lends itself well to a tinted paper; the neutral tone causes the colours to appear more vibrant than on a white background and is perfect to use white on.  It is relatively easy to build up layers with this medium and it is vibrant and expressive, yet quite easy to obtain detail due to its sharp corners and edges. It is also very stable and controllable in comparison to the crumbliness of soft pastel.

How did I manage a sense of depth in my drawings? what elements of the drawings and still life groupings helped to created that sense?

The sense of depth I think is created by inclusion of: the overlapping of objects and the diagonal direction of the board in the case of the group in line - above, all help to create movement within the composition. I felt there needed to be at least a suggestion of light and shade to give a feeling of depth and I think I got too carried away with this. The onion at the back looks about the same size as the mushroom at the front on the right, but it is larger in actuality, which is what I wanted to achieve. At the suggestion of my tutor I deepened the ellipse on the pot (below). It's an improvement but I'm not sure if it's enough, as the upper part looks slightly more curved, yet is closer to eye level than the base, so should be more level. 

Before ellipse rounded off on base of pot

Still Life Group Using Tone after improving the ellipse at
base of pot - Conte crayon 

I think there is an apparent sense of depth also in the still life group in tone, despite the onion and garlic being relatively small objects in the foreground. This may have been due to the gradual building up of tonal layering and the obvious differences (contrasts) between the tonal ranges used and the use of complementary colours of orange and blue. The lines seem to respond by creating a sensation of pushing and pulling against one another. Using lines and marks following the contours of the objects blending some areas quite smoothly (such as the celeriac) also to help to define depth in the composition.

Difficulties created by being restricted to line or tone:

Still life group using line I thought it would be impossible to create a sense of depth without using tone, so I added cast shadows and shading to the objects and as I wasn’t really sure how far to go with shading in this drawing, I have a feeling I went too far with it…..and that they tend to detract from the other details in the objects.

By being restricted to three colours in the still life group in tone I had to be more aware of trying to depict a varied tonal range – more of a challenge to remind myself to vary the pressure and density  of the shading within each colour. I think this is much more obvious in the darkest shade. I decided to use two very close colours for each of the three tonal ranges i.e. dark  green combined with dark blue for the darkest areas. This was to help give some added variety within each tonal range.

Research Point J.D. Hilberry

J. D. Hilberry
Using a technique he developed of blending graphite and charcoal, J. D Hilberry successfully obtains an amazing realism to his drawings. His objective is to focus on drama created by light, shadow and texture by producing all his drawings in black and white, and to evoke a certain emotion or follow a narrative.
The drawings are so realistic that they easily fool the eye of the viewer into thinking they are real objects on
display; he has been successful with trompe l'oeil – traditionally the realm of oils.
He takes a large amount of time to ensure the arrangements are perfect; right down to the tiniest detail, such as arranging the crumples in a paper bag (as in this drawing of Onions and Garlic). The composition is set up so as to lead the eye through and around his meticulous arrangement, he says, using techniques of 17th century Flemish classical realism. The result I think looks totally unpretentious yet appears to serve the purpose.

Onions & Garlic

Exhibition Jennifer McAuliffe

Exhibition Courtyard Gallery, Midleton, Cork - 3 November, 2010.

This is a bright yet cosy little gallery with a permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend browsing round at the time, so I narrowed down quickly what inspired me enough to want to find out more.

 Church on Princes Street

I discovered I was soon absorbed in a number of paintings and prints giving off a feeling of atmospheric otherworldliness. These were by an artist named Jennifer McAuliffe whose work was amongst the permanent collection. They were oil paintings of buildings and scenes around Cork City.

The soft, misty, muted colours and sepia tints of all her work on display appear to be bathed in gentle light; reflections seeming to bounce around and to give off a very expressive hazy shimmering quality. These features combined, somehow also give off an aged and comfortable, yet fresh and buoyant look, glowing with light and character.

City Reflected

Research points Kate Atkin and Peter Paul Rubens

Two artists whose work exemplifies mastery of detailed drawing:

Kate Atkin is a contemporary artist who concentrates on form and medium in her drawings and  investigates the separation of certain features from their surroundings. She begins her drawings by taking photographs of objects from different and unusual angles, then combining and transforming  them (ie. a plant or a tree) and re-arranges the subject matter in order to abstract and  expose its curious  side.

She says of her work that the main concern is to remove any lingering associations by concentrating only on form and texture. The process results in large drawings which are mostly black and white and incredibly detailed. As her drawings are so large and detailed,   by repeatedly checking the drawings from as far away as possible as they progress, she is able to make out a sort of geography in them. But the difficulty is knowing when to stop – I could understand why! And it helps to stop a day early – how does she know this?

Kate Atkin

Kate Atkin











Rubens

The Flemish baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens,  (1577–1640),  was the most prominent northern European artist of his day and is also now widely considered to be on of the foremost painters in Western art history.
By combining the realistic tradition of Flemish painting with the imaginative freedom and classical themes of Italian Renaissance painting, he was responsible for the revival of northern European painting.
Rubens was a great admirer of the Italian Rennaissance artists, drawing in the same tradition during his stay in Italy between 1600 – 1608.
He was dedicated to careful anatomical study and  went a step further by filling his works with energy and dynamism as illustrated in this drawing.  Rubens used cross-hatching in pen to define the muscles and sinews of the flayed body parts that he studied from casts, a technique Leonardo also used for his own anatomy drawings.

He has superbly demonstrated in this drawing, an energetic composition consisting of contorted arms in unusual positions, by invented details, and by placing the models in a very complex spatial association

He succeeded in  combining the traditional realism of Flemish painting with the freer and imaginative classical Italian Renaissance painting, thereby  injecting  northern European painting with a new lease of life. In Venice he was also greatly influenced by Titian and spent much time in Rome where he produced altarpieces for the churches of Santa Croce di Gerusalemme (1602); now in Hopital du Petit-Paris, Grasse, France) and the Chiesa Nuova (1607); his first widely acknowledged masterpieces.

Exhibition John Philip Murray

This was a solo exhibition I visited during October, of roughly 25 drawings and paintings by the artist John Philip Murray. They were on display in a purpose built and well lit room at the Cork County Library, which is a very modern glass fronted building. 
Some works on display form part of an earlier series called ‘Sacred Paths’ based on the perceived human need for travel/pilgrimage. The ones on show in this exhibition are taken from actual roads in locations around County Cork. The theme also explores the idea that we humans are constantly searching for something and ancient roads/paths become a metaphor for this ‘quest’.

Route to the Bogboat - watercolour

Forming another part of the exhibition, ‘Measure’ - a large triptych and some small watercolour studies, explores the theme of the annunciation paintings by Fra Angelico. The large triptych ‘Measure’, part of which focuses on the angel’s enduring gaze, also treads on the ‘Sacred Paths’ theme and other themes the artist has used in the past.


Journey Started - graphite on paper




Afar - graphite on paper 2009 50x35cm



 I was suitably fascinated by a certain drawing - ‘Afar’ (part of the ‘Sacred Paths’ series) to focus my attention on this one in particular. It was actually one of the very few drawings on show and a fairly small scale work in relation to the huge triptych, but it did have quite a big impact on me. It portrays a landscape with a path or track extending away into the distance. Incidentally, when browsing around the artist’s website later I discovered that this drawing in fact has a partner which precedes it. The first drawing ‘Journey Started’ shows two figures walking away into a darkened landscape. The second landscape ‘Afar’ is an altogether brighter composition.

I can’t help thinking that the whole effect could have been enhanced if both drawings were on display alongside one another; however that, of course is only my interpretation.

To return to the drawing displayed, what most interested me about it was:  

I have a fascination with images which are suggestive of a path/track or passageway leading inwards or into the distance; it always leaves me wondering what could be around the corner or over the hill. They have the effect of drawing me in, and the way these two drawings are done are particularly interesting as they extend away through an undulating wilderness with numerous endless looking horizons. The contrasting areas of light and dark, (the paths are very light and flat in relation to the roughly textured and darkly rendered areas) to me are suggestive of foliage and vegetation. I think the dark areas could also represent possible obstacles along the way; this is most hinted at where one forms an almost unbroken dark thick horizontal band across the paper, giving a look of foreboding, just before the background. These textured areas, made up of multiple squiggly marks, add further to the distinct contrast with the paths. They begin in the foreground with the largest squiggles, alternating as the path recedes with the lighter, plainer areas, gradually reducing in size and adding to the sense of vastness and distance.

'Afar' - sketch made at the exhibition

Sketch of 'Route to the Bogboat'

Detailed Observation

Detailed Observation

1. Which drawing media did you find most effective to use, for which effects?

For the drawing of a piece of driftwood (getting tone and depth in detail) I found the versatility of soft pencils from 2b to 6b were very suitable for both building up soft areas of shadow, yet with some noticeable hatching and for underneath quite detailed areas. Also a sharpened pencil on the point was just the thing for producing very thin wavy and broken lines.

Detailed observation - driftwood

 I enjoyed the wispiness and energy of the line produced by the ballpoint pen - used for the shell drawing (stipples and dots). It lends itself well to a tentative delicate line or mark and the building up of tonal depth in areas of shadow, with a sketchy mesh like structure – marks interweaving and crossing over on another. In these areas the marks were quite short quick frenzied flecks and scribbles formed by a flick of the wrist. Depending on the pressure applied and how the pen was held, I found it was relatively easy to create various weights of line, from faint and delicate to quite dark and bold.

 2. Did you enjoy capturing details or are you more at home creating big broad brush sketches?

I generally prefer the freedom of doing larger less detailed sketches, although I have to battle with an enduring nervousness about using broad brush effects if it’s work to be critiqued or put on display. In the past (and often still do) I had a tendency to become bogged down when trying to include a lot of detail, resulting in a sense of frustration and irritation. Unsurprisingly perhaps, in recent years this has resulted in my increasing attraction to more free and expressive work by other artists. Surprisingly though, I did enjoy doing these exercises. I think this was because the object was to concentrate on detail and create interesting texture in only one object rather than the whole composition.

Above are some notes and sample marks which might work well to create tone, pattern and texture and ways I could improve the composition of each drawing.

Stipples and Dots - shell in ballpoint pen

5. Did doing a line drawing get you look at space more effectively?

Because the spaces in the drawing (sliced cabbage) were devoid of detail I think they became much more apparent and larger than a drawing containing tonal shading, greatly emphasizing the contrast between open plain areas and patterned areas. Because of this the effect is more 2 dimensional and less solid. As there are no directional shadows within or around the object, it could almost be a flat cut out shape floating in space, apart from the fact that, it is safe to assume I think, it is in front of the white background of the paper surface.

Line drawing - cabbage section

Part 2 Observation in Nature

Coloured Media

Most expressive media:

Wax crayon and Oil Pastel
Pros and Cons: Quickly covers large areas, expressive and bold, can be used as resist under ink and watercolour washes. Oil pastel can be used in a wash technique when diluted with thinners, easily blendable.
Cons: not conducive to fine detail


oil pastel



Watercolour crayon

Pros and Cons: Can use as wash under or over pencil, pastel, wax crayon or pen, versatile – can use dry or wet – diluted with water, easily blendable, covers large areas quite quickly, expressive and bold, not a good choice for fine detail.

Conte Crayon
Pros and Cons: Detail possible with corners and edges, quite sturdy, slightly less messy, more controllable and less dusty and doesn’t wear down as fast as soft pastel, quite good for detail although not as good as pen or pencil.

Soft Pastel
Pros: the texture is more velvety and colours are vibrant, and more powerful than their equivalent in Conte, but the brand may have and influence on this. Lighter shades are more vibrant if combined with darker shades than when used alone. Also vibrant on tinted paper. Easy to blend.
Cons: Both Conte and soft pastel are messy – powdery and dusty and need to be fixed. A large range is needed to achieve the optimum no of colour variations.
All above crayons and pastels are more convenient than paints for sketching on location.

Best for both expressive and more detailed work:
Coloured ink on stick, feather quill and dip pen.
Fine detail is possible but can be unpredictable and more difficult to control the flow of ink than commercial pens, but when things go right the results can be more rewarding when expressive and delicate lines and marks start to emerge. Areas of tone must be built up with lines, dashes or dots of some kind, which can often be very time consuming depending on the amount of detail used. A brush can be useful to wash on smooth areas of colour and/or tone, under or over dry mediums such as soft pastel, pen etc. Ink used on a sponge or rag is effective for suggestions of rough textured surfaces such as rocks and tree bark. Being eraser proof can be a help as well as a hindrance, in that most other dry mediums when used over ink, can be erased without interfering with the ink layer. This could be desirable or not.



ink

2. Media more suitable for detailed work.
Coloured pencils
Pros: non smudge and comparatively easy to control, clean and convenient when outdoor sketching or on the move. Fine detail is easier than with crayon or pastel, but comparatively slow to cover open areas.



coloured pencil



fibre tip

Felt tips
Definitive, incisive marks and lines, pure uniform colour, good for adding definition and detail. Not possible to soften or graduate areas by smudging or erasing, very uniform thickness of line, slow coverage, lighter colours tend be gaudy, unless expensive pens are used.

Gel pens
Very precise line – good for detail, scratchiness of line can look expressive depending on how it is held. Very time consuming to build up areas of tone/texture especially with dots or dashes, lines can be hit and miss and can be blotchy.

3. Most enjoyable
Watercolour pencils and crayon - shading with tip moistened in water giving a deep rich impasto effect and vigourous lines by rubbing side of tip.
Wash on hatched areas producing smudgy texture where lines remain visible.
Applying washes using watercolour crayons or oil pastel hardens the outlines and intensifies colours,
Dry shading applied on dried wash – good for intensifying narrow delicate lines as on a cabbage.
Oil pastel and watercolour crayon and pencil blending - harmonious colours, then applying twisted dots or flecks of much lighter or darker shades or colours over top builds up a very textured look
Pushing side lengthways in opposite directions in random fashion – many possible uses including foliage, rocks, bark, flowers, seed heads, shells and cones - (all on oil pastel on A2).
Producing muted colour combinations by blending certain bright colours such as lime green and yellow orange.
Scraffito
Wax resist
Soft pastel and conte crayon - building up webs of colour by hatching in random broad strokes - optical blending (as Degas). Blending (shading), then loose hatching over top (also coloured pencils). Long wavy lines using harmonious colours.
Soft pastel – very vibrant colours especially when very light and very dark hues (not blended) are combined.
Flat end of stick rotated producing broken lines.

A useful tip I discovered: If I apply a wash over fibre tip pen, colour cannot be trusted not to bleed (although this can be attractive at times), but if dry pencil or watercolour crayon, in same hue as wash, is rubbed on line first, the line doesn’t appear to smudge.

Part 1, Assignment 1, Man Made Objects

Made Objects 
To some extent I was influenced as to what I wanted to use for this part of the assignment, by previous experiments with textures and frottage. There were certain  textural techniques I felt inspired to use again more than others. Among them were: bristles of a decorating brush, dull metal finish and plaster board tape. I considered objects that I could connect to various themes but when I looked around my surroundings, DIY related objects were literally crying out to be drawn! I considered pencil to be the most suitable medium for the same reason (it was used in the texture experiments)  and I have to admit, because it's such a familiar medium to me, I felt relatively safe with it. So with the inclusion of some uncertain type of slim decorating/dusting brush with long rough bristles, a piece of zinc plate (a boiler part), a roll of plasterboard tape and a wood plane (amongst others), I began with a short lived attempt at sketching my first choice of objects. I say short lived, because I began to sketch the wood plane and after just a few lines I gave up in frustration and removed it from the line up altogether - slightly  too overwhelming a prospect  for me to continue with at that stage, particularly along with several other objects.  I continued with the rest of the objects (above) in combination with a long narrow wood file, then a chisel, sandpaper and measuring tape until by the third small sketch I had settled on the objects I was reasonably happy to use for the remainder of the assignment. By then I had also cut down the number of objects in the arrangement, as it was rapidly becoming too crowded.

 At this stage I was ready to move onto a larger scale sketch in pencil, followed by a colour sketch in coloured pencil. I did consider using neopastel crayons, but decided I might have problems gaining sufficient detail with these and as it turned out, I was glad I opted for coloured pencils instead. The resulting relative scarcity of colour reflected what was there in reality.

I’m glad I cut down on the number of objects and in places replaced one or two with something elso, as I think I finally ended up on the whole with a composition I was happy with. The relationships between the various parts are helped I think, by directional shapes leading the eye around from one object to another and there are interesting textural contrasts, which I tend to notice more than the actual identity of the objects themselves. There is a tendency also for my eye to be led outside the picture, by the drill bit and the sandpaper being cut off at the side edges, which for some reason,  I also quite like. (see also end paragraph).

On reflection, after completing the two parts of the assignment I was quite surprised and pleased with this one in comparison the other part.
Natural objects would always have been my first choice of subject material in the past, yet on the whole, I consider that I did better with made objects on this occasion. Perhaps the practice from previous exercises has paid off.

However, it was a struggle for me at times with certain objects, such as the brush and the plasterboard tape and when trying to obtain accurate proportions between these and the tape measure, so I took great care with this in the final drawing. Up until this stage I hadn’t had any success with the correct shape for the brush so I measured the width of the handle and roughly doubled it for the ferrule and brush part, making sure the lines along the length were parallel. However, before later adjustment (as my tutor confirmed) the perspective was still out. I was uncertain of the best way to render the mesh tape as it is actually white, so I drew it in the negative (with darker mesh) as I couldn’t think of any other way to obtain a convincing interpretation. I did consider using pen and ink for this drawing, yet once again, confidence was lacking - so this is another thing I need to persevere with...

Both Drawings: For the two parts of the assignment, by the time I had done three small sketches with notes, a large sketch, and a large colour sketch, being certain enough of the general layout, I was ready to go onto the final drawing;  the only alterations necessary were to move the odd object around slightly. It was a case of going along with what I had built up by then, or at the other extreme, starting again from scratch and I certainly wasn’t going to do that! Then again, I can see how important it was to try out several different arrangements, utilizing various elements and their positions from certain earlier stages and incorporating them into the final drawing.

The size of the paper for both drawings is A2 and all parts seemed to fit on this quite well. Although the layout of the natural forms may have benefited from an A1 size, as this probably would have helped to give more impact to the whole drawing and it may have looked less crowded.

Large sketch A2

Colour Drawing A3

Final Drawing A2 before adjustments

Final drawing (adjusted) - man made forms

Additional Note:

After reading my tutor’s comments in relation to the drawing (before adjustments) and on re-examination, I  spotted some inaccuracies, particularly in the perspective of the paint brush handle. Suddenly  it became glaringly obvious and I wonder how failed to spot it!

Perspective Distortions

-         These are something I’ve seen used occasionally  in certain pieces of art, but I never looked into the process used to obtain them. I found some information in the book Drawing, Seeing and Observation by Ian Simpson, and this helped to clear up the mystery for me:

-         First of all to obtain accuracy in perspective he suggests, as in most information available on perspective, to put in the vanishing point/s at eye level as a straight horizontal line across across the drawing, so that angles going into the distance can be related to this. Otherwise it is easy to end up with inconsistencies in perspective, ending up with more than one eye level. The vanishing points (with connecting angles and shapes) must be constantly checked so that they relate to the subject. Although this only works if the viewer has a fixed viewpoint and is looking straight ahead.

-         But when making a drawing, what you see infront of you is much more than the 60° of vision which perspective allows – the angle of vision. This is when objects at the edges become distorted and what materializes is a series of separate viewpoints. It becomes evident when comparing photographs and drawings of the same place. Several photographs would need to be joined together to encompass the amount of information taken in by the drawing. Faults should become obvious in a perspective drawing if there is more than one viewpoint. So, drawing what you see in front of you is really a series of different viewpoints and this translates into something quite different.

-         It became clearer to me when it was pointed out that when you look at a drawing your eyes do not travel over it in the way they do over a subject. I guess it is like looking at a photograph in that sense, unless the drawing is so large that it cannot all be absorbed at once. I would imagine that this happens with landscape more than other subjects, as there is usually such a vast expanse on view,  it would be more difficult to reduce the size of the space - the head would need to move so as to take in the view. Using a viewfinder would reduce this vast expanse but it is still very hard to keep it in a fixed position and things can again become distorted. Therefore the wider the angle taken in, the flatter things towards the edges become, like a plan view. My tutor remarked about the faulty perspective in the brush handle in my drawing prior to alteration and I think this is the mistake I made - it looks to me as though the handle could be at the upper edge of vision, giving it a flatter appearance. Certainly there  appears to be a delicate balance between the laws of perspective and relying on observation alone. One may want a drawing to look convincing, while not sticking rigidly to geometric formula.
      I later made some adjustments to the same drawing  - see above. The perspective at the top of the brush handle has been altered and now appears much more convincing. The cast shadows have been softened around the edges and darkened in certain places under or beside the shaded side of an object, such as between the brush handle and rear tape and to the left of the tape. This has been darkened in the foreground seeming to create the illusion of shadows underneath. I softened the curve of the ellipse slightly on the roll of tape and added extra variety of marks such as on the measuring tape to the right.  I think (hope) these changes combined have the effect of improved cohesiveness and interest to the arrangement as a whole. Faulty perspective is now also very evident in my attempt at the boxes and books exercise.