Research point Assgt 2 - Albrecht Durer

Albrecht Durer
At the start of the 16thC. the study of the natural world was only beginning to become a major area of interest and it was not considered a serious form of art until the 18th C. along with the success of George Stubbs. It is obvious from the number of drawings and watercolours that he made that Durer was one of the few artists who shared this interest. He never actually saw the rhinoceros depicted in the famous Rhinoceros drawing, but based it on another artists draft, who saw the animal, and imagination, which is why it is so anatomically incorrect.

A Young Hare - watercolour and gouache on paper (1502)

His depiction of a hare shows great skill and delicately detailed realism (unlike The Rhinoceros). The painting has since become a very popular image.

It is said Durer’s death came about because of his great interest in the animal world, after he contracted Malaria on a trip to the Netherlands to see a beached whale.

Lobster - pen on paper (1495)

Little Owl (1506)

Research Point Assgt 2 - Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo had a deep love and respect for animals, to the extent that he became a vegetarian. His most frequent animal sketches were of horses but he also made numerous bird sketches and his renditions were infused with nobility. His passionate interest in animals is widely believed to be unique for his time and this showed in the grace and realism in which he portrayed them in his sketches and paintings.

While he was living in Milan his plans to build a massive broze statue of a horse were ruined as the metal was needed to make canons to defend an attack on Milan by the French in 1499.Based on the notes and sketches he made for the horse, two full scalle statues were finally built over 500 years later. These are situated in Milan and Michigan.

Study of a horse and rider

Study of a lion

Study of cat movements

Drawing Animals

The main challenges:

As we have a resident feline, it was my natural choice to use him as a model. Prior to doing this project I didn’t have much experience of sketching cats, but it wasn’t totally new to me either as I had made the odd quick sketch of cats before.

one of the first of many cat sketches
-  lots  more on view in my sketches blog

 In the early stages I tried sketching him when awake and sometimes found it almost impossible to complete a sketch – I was lucky to even get the shape of the head down on paper. It seemed to make sense at this point to wait until he was asleep before attempting to do any serious sketching. When I did this things became much easier. Although even when he stretched and changed position just slightly (which happened frequently) it was a challenge that made me anxious to get the basic form in as fast as possible yet with some degree of accuracy. The process wasn’t helped by the fact that I wasn’t very speedy and only very seldom did the cat return to the same position – particularly the head and forelegs.

The next day I found a few tips on the internet on quick basic sketching of cats, so I tried out a few of them and found that when I attempted to capture his pose when eating, where had failed previously, the new technique made it much easier. The idea is to get the basic structure down on paper by first putting in the line of the spine, roughing in the oval shapes of the head, shoulders, belly and rump.  I found this to be a good basic guide for filling in the broad forms with simple fast strokes.

I continued with method when I did a few more sketches in soft pastel and oil pastel later on and it really simplified things for me. Beforehand I had found it frustrating to sketch any animal moving frequently and it had always deterred me from doing them to a great extent, so I will try to persevere with it.

oil pastel

pencil

pencil

Charcoal

Reggie, large scale drawing, conte pencil and conte crayon

Charcoal 

For both drawings of fishes on a plate I used watercolour pencils and/or crayons. The shimmering colours on the surface of the mackerel seemed to be constantly changing and served only to confuse me. Mostly because of this it seemed to take me hours to build up the layers of colour in the first drawing. Also my technique was quite labour intensive, first shading an area with dry pencil, blending the shading with a clean damp brush, followed by dry hatching and dots, then intensifying some areas with a wetted pencil tip for the dark patterns around the line of the spine and the eyes and head. The plate and background were quicker to do because I softened the detail in these areas.

Meg  asleep - my sister' dog - pencil

For the second fish drawing I propped up the plate at an angle so that it was more face on than the first fish drawing. It didn’t take as long, as I included only one fish and feeling more certain about the colours, I didn’t incorporate as many. However, the fish looked rather lost on the plate due to the plate looking more circular than the first, being almost face on and only one fish occupying the plate. As a result there was more empty space above and below. There is slightly more space below the fish and this was quite empty looking, so I added further tonal shading which I think helped to solve the problem. By this stage I was beginning to feel more at home with the medium and techniques.

No. 1

Media I enjoyed using most and reasons why:

Cat sketches and drawing Chalk and conte crayon were very conducive to heavy, light,  thick or thin and soft textured lines and lines (mostly used for the texture of the fur) combined with shading in places, although I used the medium in a more linear fashion to describe the texture of the fur. It was quite easy to control and not smudging as easily as soft pastels. I liked the conte crayon enough to choose it for a larger drawing combined with Pierre Noire conte pencil, which was easier for finer detail such as eyes, nose etc. The white crayon was ideal to describe the white areas of fur on the tinted paper and I left areas of paper unshaded for the light grey/brown areas. It was quite pleasant to use this medium on ingres or fabriano paper, (I bought them in large separate sheets and I’m not sure which it was) as having a smooth yet uneven surface. I also used chalks and conte crayon on sugar paper for a few sketches but in comparison it produces quite an unpleasant scratchy sensation.

Fish drawing no.2

Amongst various media I experimented with when doing the sketches were: 6B graphite pencil - fine for both fine line and shading under or over.

Gel pen – the effect has an appealing linear and spontaneous look.

 Both the graphite and gel pen are smooth and pleasant to handle.

Other interesting media and techniques I thought about trying since then, might be pen or pencil underneath pastel or conte crayon.

Fish drawing no 2 cropped and turned

Fish  Some techniques I used with the watercolour pencils and crayons were fascinating. This medium has really grown on me, it is so versatile. A wetted pencil tip smudged slightly when applied to the paper and intensified the colour. I found the very strong mark made, ideal for dark accents around the eye and tail area and patterning along the length of the body.  It made an interesting textured wash which I used mostly on the plate and underlying background – applying loose open dry pencil shading then a damp wash over it retained many of its marks depending on how much pressure I applied in the dry shading and the wash. Applying the wetted pencil tip to a damp wash softened and spread the marks giving an undefined smudgy look. This seemed to work well for playing down the decoration around the edges of the plate, causing an out of focus effect, helping it to blend into the background, as opposed to more definition which I think would have resulted in a battle for attention with the detail of the fish, which I didn’t want. In the second drawing the yellow background was too dominant so I turned the angle of the fish, cropping it at the same time. I think the yellow still needs to be toned down even though only visible at two corners.

Where to go to draw more animals - places that will give me opportunities:

Local wildlife park - Doneraile – swans, herons and wildfowl, deer, cattle. Local fields and riverbanks – horses, cattle, sheep, birds.  Fota Wildlife Park – exotic species, African wild animals. Open farms – other farm animals. Donkey sanctuary.

Have I tried drawing a moving animal yet?

I tried sketching some horses in a field and swans on the river – from the car as the weather was cold, my sister’s dog and some cattle in the fields from the window of my dad’s house. This of course proved quite difficult with my limited experience, but I enjoyed the challenge and I feel eager to go out and do more, especially as spring is at last approaching.
Many months later I did some speedy sketches of a large group of horses in the field next to my dad's - just having time to get in a few lines, but I was quite pleased all the same. I have yet to upload them here.......

LINK TO SKETCHES BLOG

Drawing plants and flowers

plants and flowers in coloured pencil

How will experiments with negative space help my observational drawing in the future?

No 2 felt pen & oil pastel 

Because I'd already had the experience in the previous exercise (markers and dip pens) with what I see as an imbalance of light and dark, drawing more attention to the negative spaces around the dark areas, I'll be more aware of and try to avoid it in future - hopefully. So, this exercise served to help reinforce in me the idea that negative space is just as important as positive space in promoting a balanced composition, by looking carefully at where the objects aren’t.  It is well worth constantly checking the effect of both positive and negative space from the very early stages, before deciding whether to go straight ahead or to change things around. The negative shapes can often form interesting patterns in themselves and doing the negative space drawing should really help me to see what kind of pattern is forming and whether a good balance is resulting from this.

Techniques I used to ensure I drew plants in proportion:

I used a homemade viewfinder with roughly the same proportions as my paper, and marks dividing the sides in to four equal divisions all around.  By placing a feint mark on my paper in the corresponding places and in the centre I then divided my page. If there was any object close to the middle I would begin by plotting in its basic shape around here. From this I was able to estimate how many times a certain shape would fit into the left side of the picture, from the centre to the left edge for instance, and so on. This was especially important when doing the flower drawings, in helping to prevent me from running out of space. In the case of the drawing of Negative Space in a Plant, I also roughly plotted out the strategic locations, (i.e. top, middle and bottom) where I estimated a few main leaves were located and drew them in as very rough squares or rectangles. It was a bit like doing a puzzle where the aim was to locate and draw as many negative spaces as possible. This method wasn’t always foolproof as it is impossible to keep the hand holding the viewfinder perfectly still, so I do make a few mistakes and end up having to re-draw some of the lines. Although I found it was only really necessary to put in the first one or two basic shapes with the viewfinder and do the remainder by rough estimation as above.

No 3 - col pencil  and chalk pastel

How did I achieve an effect of 3D space in my drawing?

There is only the slightest indication of 3D in the negative space drawing I think, where I added in a few feint lines for stalks and borders around some of the leaves, especially in ‘busy’ areas which looked confusing. This also helped to separate and push back some of the leaves behind. Infact,  in a couple of places I put in positive shapes where there should have been negative shapes, and had to correct them – so I’m glad I chose to use pencil for this, rather than pen.

In the flower drawings I think the composition holds together even though all objects are well spaced apart. The objects are all placed on different levels (one behind the other) affecting the cast shadows in the same way, producing some recession and overlapping. This appears to give an illusion of 3D space around the objects. The tonal shading on the objects, the shading in the background behind the flowers and one of the leaves overlapping the jug also helps the 3D effect. The negative shapes look more obvious where there is more contrast between object and background, as in for example, around the vase.

Negative space in a plant (monsterra) -  pencil

This is what my tutor had to say about the three tulip drawings:

For me due to how you have treated the larger size some of the intensity of the studies and feeling for what you are drawing has been lost. These drawings are somewhat generalized and considering what you are capable of they are disappointing. They are adequate but considering what quality is in this assignment, adequate should not be good enough for you!

A general point which weakens all 3 drawings is the over reliance on directional mark making which lessens the believability of the objects within the whole. The most effective part of all 3 is the tulips themselves in the pastel version.

Amongst areas which could have been given more thought: the flowers - tulips (above). I realise now that I got rather carried away on one directional hatching and could have varied this much more.On reflection I don't particularly like any of the tulips drawings. They have a top heavy look and are too stiff, controlled and conventional and yes - generalised is a good way to describe them. I spent a lot of time doing these drawings yet I remember feeling uncomfortable with the way they had turned out and couldn't quite put my finger on it. Now I can see the faults more clearly (after some help) I hope flowers will be more successful in the future. It might be a while though because they are not one of my favourite subjects.  

Research points - Ben Nicholson

Ben Nicholson - why does he simplify still life forms and negative space and superimpose them on the Cornish landscape?
It seems that Ben Nicholson was heavily influenced by cubism, which he understood, and practiced his own original version during the 1920’s. He produced a series of still life paintings in which he scraped the canvas down, setting the objects in a sculptural space reminiscent of landscape (as in Still Life – Greek Landscape 1931-36) when he spent some time traveling. He also began his white carved reliefs around this time.
It was much later on (around 1940) when his art took on a new direction, following this, and after moving to St. Ives. The area around St Ives is well known for the brightness and clarity of light and this most likely influenced his method of using light almost transparent colour, giving an illusion of landscape and filtering the still life objects, retaining their geometric shapes he still recalled from the 1920’s cubism. This gives an impression of space all around the objects, including behind and in front of them, helping to accentuate the negative space.
Mousehole is to me an ideal example of his work, encapsulating very well many subjects, styles and methods he preferred to use into one painting. These include still life, white reliefs, landscape, cubism, with rich textural and transparent effects, at the same time as both mixing and superimposing still life with landscape.

Ben Nicholson - Mousehole british council

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.