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.

Part 1 Assignment 1 Natural Forms

Natural Forms

The initial arrangement looked crowded and quickly turned into a tonal sketch; otherwise I didn’t think it would have been possible to make any sense of it. When I started on the third sketch, I had changed round the arrangement three times. As I think there was too much empty space at the bottom I later reduced the size of the rectangle there. I liked the way the pepper was given more prominence in this third sketch and there appeared to be more directional flow than in the previous versions. 

   After starting the large third sketch in pencil, on an impulse I decided to try using charcoal. First I tried out a few ways of rendering the various surfaces in charcoal, which seemed to lend itself well to these objects, especially the textures of the broccoli and cauliflower. I like the expressiveness of this medium, yet I didn’t think it was too challenging to obtain an accurate depiction of most of the objects. While at the same time they weren’t overly realistic. It became a rather messy affair doing the colour sketch, for which I used soft pastels. The shape of the pepper in this one became a little elongated in relation to the actual pepper and I thought there were too many sliced vegetables, so I replace the sliced mushroom with a whole one to match up with the broccoli.

large sketch with more work

large sketch 1- willow charcoal

In the final drawing: Generally I liked the way the rendering emerged. I was attracted at an earlier stage to the way the vegetables overlapped, seeming to form a kind of zigzag pattern from top to bottom and vise versa. However the arrangement didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped. I decided to move the broccoli further back and upwards, away from the pepper, to create more space in between, but now it looks as though doing this and by moving the cauliflower further over to the right resulted in the cauliflower appearing too insignificant. Applying more shading to the left hand side of the composition makes it appear too heavy in comparison to the lighter area on the right, having the effect of knocking the drawing off balance. It may have helped to simplify the flowers on the cauliflower and to have given them a little more definition, similar to the third small sketch. The area around the base of the broccoli where it meets the top of the pepper doesn’t look quite right to me. I think there is too much going on around the mid section causing it to look confusing. Despite this, I tried to arrange things so that a series of lines in some shadows and objects would lead the eye around the drawing, but I'm not certain if this has been successful.
Changes:

  I set up most of the arrangement again a few months later to have a go at some tweaking. I thought all three drawings looked a bit disjointed. Again this was confirmed by my tutor’s comments. I noticed this time the mid-tone shadows in the set-up and adding these to the negative spaces in all three drawings, with some smudging and erasing, helps tie the objects together more successfully than previously. I included the effect of reflected light on the shadows, which really added to their variety. Applying more mid-tones and blending there, prevents them from otherwise looking over fussy. More tonal shading (particularly mid-tones) and extra marks were also applied to the objects. I concentrated on the soft pastel so called sketch, last of all. I had built up a mental aversion to soft pastels for some reason, but through this experience I now feel a bit more relaxed with them. I shut out thoughts of possible outcomes and pushed myself into focusing on enjoying the process instead, despite it being part of an assignment piece. An advantage was that I returned to a previously fixed drawing and now I realize that fixing underlying layers prevents white from mixing with them. This was something that didn’t occur to me previously, but should have done - duh! I had completely underestimated its effectiveness. But something to guard against is fixing then trying to erase as that didn’t work for me.

Same drawing after more work

It only seems to make sense now to make comparisons between the altered drawings, as  the initial versions no longer exist, except as photographs. What I will mention is the following:
I have tried to remedy their faults as mentioned above. There are obvious size and location differences between the same objects in each drawing, ie the cauliflower has reduced in size in the final charcoal  drawing (bottom right) and the pepper is shorter and fatter. The extent to which I reduced the size of the cauliflower in the last drawing seems to make it look a little out of balance with the broccoli. This possible fault was something I decided was too risky to try changing so was left alone. I think the additional rendering within and around it have helped to redress the balance though.

Colour drawing 1 - soft pastel

I'm happier that there is more of a difference between the outside and inside of the pepper in the final version in charcoal (below). It appears smooth and shiny in relation to the inside. To do this I used a combination of the side and end of the charcoal stick in a mostly horizontal direction.  The features of the inside of the pepper go in a vertical direction as opposed to the outside, which to me is an accidental but fortunate spin-off. I prefer the broccoli in the first charcoal sketch to the one in the final drawing as it looks more understated - it blends into the background more comfortably. Whereas the final version of broccoli is shaded heavily, causing it to compete too much with the pepper. This also probably adds to its over dominating effect on the cauliflower.(see paragraph above).In spite of this I think the background objects now recede more, thanks also to adding some shading in the negative spaces and blending of edges has softened their previous impact. What I am certain of is that there is an improvement in all three drawings now.

Final drawing 1- willow charcoal

Same drawing as on left, after more work

Enlarging an Image

There were a few items I think I went a little haywire with, such as the ellipse on the bottom of the cup which was too shallow. I altered it slightly when copying onto the second drawing. I didn’t find the acetate grids very useful, even though I made a mount for each of them. I think it didn’t help that the mounts I made for around the borders were too wide, so it was easier to measure by drawing a grid of squares onto the paper. Although  the small grid was useful as a viewfinder.
In the second exercise I had more confidence doing the initial drawings and the grids helped here in obtaining the general placement of the objects within the picture frame.
All of the objects were easier to place and copy, with the help of gridlines on the paper. It was then a fairly simple procedure to scale up to the larger image in both exercises. I drew the lines of the jug handle in the wrong place but I didn’t erase, instead I drew around it, which felt slightly liberating. Of course when using this method normally, it would be easier to erase the gridlines afterwards if they are drawn in lighter.

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3

4

Max Ernst

Max Ernst was a well known surrealist artist, who also (along with others) founded the Dada art movement. This was a protest against the horror of World War One and against conformist social attitudes of the time.

Max Ernst and Frottage
Frottage – was a technique he began to use extensively, and he is credited with being the first artist to use it, although I find it hard to believe this – I think he was probably the first well known artist to use frottage. Among other experimental techniques he used were decalcomania and collage. The term decalcomania - a method I hadn’t previously heard of, is one in which the artist transfers paint from one surface to another by pressing them together. Later on in his life his work became more abstract.
Many of the themes he used are disturbing, which makes his work oddly fascinating,  because they tend to have a profound effect on me.  Also,  now that I have some knowledge of the techniques he used to obtain his textural effects, the effect on me is to be able to appreciate his work that much more.

The Great Forest 1927

©The Bridgeman Art Library - London, New York, Paris. 

Here is a LINK to a quite illuminating video showing Max Ernst demonstrating his frottage technique

Using Texture

Texture Squares
When doing the texture squares I discovered a few new ways of using various drawing techniques to depict surface texture: Blending pencil dust with the fingers I found quite fun, and useful for dense grey or black smudgy areas, then erasing to depict lighter areas or reflections.
A blending stump was helpful to soften tonal transitions with control and has more precision than using fingers or a cloth. I used this to emulate dull metal.

For paper pulp I used ink, rubbing the paper with grass stick and quite dry ink,  producing scratchy rendering.

Ink in a dropper was dabbed and pulled to make tadpole like circles and smears for a certain type of rock.

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frottage

I find this to be an exciting experimental technique and ideal to use a point of departure for drawing, or to incorporate into other artistic applications, such as printmaking, collage and painting. I had real fun with this exercise. Apart from helping me to understand and appreciate the textural make up of surfaces of objects around me, it also helps to build up a library of textural marks. Even what I thought were the most unlikely of surfaces, such as the relatively smooth ones of brown paper, a candle and a chair cover gave surprisingly interesting results and would make  good contrasts to the more obvious textures. To use frottage directly in a drawing, I think texture rather than form would be the objective, although it would be interesting to see the results possible.

In the Drawing with Textures – after spending quite a long time experimenting with different materials I decided to try a combination of media for the natural objects, and begin with an open mind. I took a chance with some new effects with ink, including a cotton bud to dab in very dark shadow areas, dark holes in the bark,dragging it (with quite dry ink) for broken texture and for the rock fissures and textures in the bark. I knew I wouldn’t be able to render every object with ink, so I started by using an 8B pencil on the side of the point to apply smudgy tonal shading to the rock at the rear. Then I decided to try charcoal and was so impressed with the results, I continued rendering the bark with this. It seemed the the perfect medium for applying broken texture when I dragged it along lengthways on its side. Certainly it was so easy to smudge with the fingers or blending stick and manipulate on the side of the point for the fissures in the rock, particularly using the thin sticks. For the foliage overlying the large rock I made squiggly marks using a black Conte Pierre Noire pencil.

It is the first finished drawing in which I’ve used my opposite hand (right hand) for some otherwise awkward areas and it felt rather liberating - so not before time! Before very long, charcoal seemed to be dominating other mediums in the drawing – I just found it was ideal for achieving the right textures in so many areas, apart from the large leaf at the front. For this I used a 7B pencil to do the short diagonal veins. It would have had more impact on this occasion (from a textural point of view) if I’d used a grass or bamboo stick and ink,  as I’d originally intended, after trying it out during the experiments I did beforehand. If I’d used tonal hatching with ink and pen for the dark leaf at the top left it might have implied form better, but it probably wouldn't look balanced unless other parts of the drawing were rendered with ink also - the berries and leaves may also have been improved by the same treatment. I think the rock and bark aren’t too bad in this respect, as they seem to have more tonal variations, although I concentrated on bringing out the textures more than anything else. I also included the wooden texture of the supporting surface and the fabric background in this drawing.

A few earlier experiments

 

A Drawing with Textures - my final attempt.

Observing Negative Space and Perspective

Drawing 1

Drawing 2 - without removing pencil from the paper

Still Life - man made and natural objects

 1. To obtain an impression of three dimensions on either manmade or natural objects I would say there is a need to be mindful of following the direction of the curve when rendering an object with hatching. This is what I tried to do with many of them. Perspective comes into play more so I think, on made objects. Largely because I found on those I drew in previous exercises, errors I made became more obvious when the hatching wasn’t adequately curved around the sides of the object. This also tended to result in a flatter appearance. Ellipses and cubes on man made objects presented me with some difficulty, as I found that if these aren’t exact, the result isn't convincing – I’m not too happy with the ones here, so it’s something I definitely need lots of practice with. Conversely I found the natural forms were easier in this regard, as being freeforms, more leeway is allowed before mistakes show up. In the foreground of the apples, foreshortening and perspective became noticeable to me in the leaf, which I found to be a bit of a challenge. It did seem to add further to the sense of depth, but I had to make a couple of attempts at this before I felt it looked convincing.

2. Because the man made objects I chose for the sketches were all reflective and mostly transparent, particularly the glass bottles, I found these presented me with more difficulty when attempting to convey solidity than with the two apples in the next exercise. Reflected light and shadow was bouncing around in all directions between the glass objects adding to their more transparent appearance. The ceramic jug was less of a challenge, being opaque, though still reflective.  If they had matt surfaces and were more opaque (as with the apples I chose for the drawing of natural forms) I think obtaining a sense of solidity would have been a simpler task, as the tonal values would be less complex. Yet, the leaves didn’t look as solid as the other objects, maybe because they are not solid objects in reality, so the perception of solidity isn't there to begin with. For the same reason, I think if the man made objects were non-reflective they would appear more solid.

3. I moved the objects around in both arrangements, sketching out various combinations, until I was happy  that there was an adequate balance and depth in them. With the natural forms group I moved the apple with four leaves at least four times before I decided that I had the most balanced arrangement. Using methods such as including more than two objects helping to give a feeling of unity, and overlapping so that some objects were further away, helped I think to give the illusion of form and depth. Changing the viewpoint of the man made objects, gave them a much more three dimensional look when I viewed them from a high position, rather than when they were placed at, or almost at eye level. This high viewpoint transformed their shapes so that they became more elliptical and cylindrical, giving more form to their appearance. On the other hand I found them more difficult to sketch from this angle, as I had to deal with drawing ellipses and some foreshortening, presenting more of a challenge and a source of frustration at times when things began to look distorted, particularly around the jug tops. Although the cast shadows they produced helped to ground the objects, adding I think, to their sense of solidity.

Additional Note: When I took a closer look at the negative spaces in sketches 3 and 4 a few weeks later, I noted  a few points of interest:
I think the negative spaces in no.3 are more balanced and interesting than those in no.4, especially those caused by the cast shadows - this was something I ignored at the time. A pattern is produced by the cast shadows in no.3, whereas this is almost non existent in no.4, which I think would be improved it they were more broken up in the centre of the arrangement.

4. To obtain all of the above elements I decided the best position was to place myself well above the man made objects and slightly above the natural forms. The former (bottles and jug), which although it was an interesting angle to draw from, also proved to be quite uncomfortable before long, as I was looking down to a much greater extent.          

Finished drawing  of natural forms - pencil

Patrick Caulfield

Common characteristics of Caulfield’s paintings would be to use flat images of objects paired with angular geometric shapes. He would also use realistic images of, for example a still life or a landscape and combine them with plain areas of vivid colour in the negative space. Alternatively he also placed plain flat objects in combination with patterned loud patterned backgrounds. These all appear to depict to me, everyday objects in everyday settings but in an extraordinary way, like pictures within pictures and the longer I look at them the more complex many of them seem to appear.

The positive and negative spaces would be amplified, as in these two images:

Interior with a Picture 1985-6 Acrylic on canvas

Happy Hour

The unmodulated black line in much of his work, enhances the negative spaces incorporating elements of trompe l’oeil.

He was associated with British Pop Art but he rejected this label and his heroes were the cubists. I retrieved a couple of newspaper articles which I put away a few years ago, one of which is an obituary in The Gaurdian. These contain information I found quite illuminating such as: that he found much of his early inspiration in the poems of Jules Laforgue (some of the lines became titles of prints he made ie. I’ve only the friendship of hotel rooms) and other literary works, and later from locations such as the interiors of urban public houses, cafes, restaurants and hotel foyers. The connections between the two encapsulate to me, the biggest influences in his work.

Autumn Fashion -
 from The Gaurdian newspaper



My own interpretation of Caulfield's style
- oil pastel on pink paper



Reflected Light

1. During the exercises I squinted a lot to help simplify the area's tonal values. Despite this I still had trouble with the base of the mortar and pestle and the surrounding area, as it was very dark so I couldn’t really see much variation between where the reflected light from the supporting surface ended and where the cast shadow began. As a result it isn’t as rounded as I would have liked. Its surface is shiny, but much less so than on the stainless steel pan with the glass lid. Reflected light and shadow and cast shadows were easier to make out around the shinier objects – it produced a dappled effect upon the surface of the objects and to some extent, those they were resting on, although this made them quite complex. The light and shade was also bouncing from one surface onto another and back again, including I think, cast shadows. I was confused as to whether there was cast shadow on the surfaces of the objects - unless this was actually reflected shadow bouncing up off the cast shadow below. The effect was the same on both objects in the second exercise as they are also very shiny stainless steel, so more light and shade was bouncing around here.
All this resulted in a distinct (rather than gradual) separation between the darkest area of cast shadow nearer the objects, and the outer areas. I think this effect could have been at least partly due to some reflected light from the shiny objects onto the lighter areas of shadow.


2. The alternating values on the stainless steel objects in particular, produced an interesting pattern of light and shade on the surface.
For the mortar, pestle and stainless steel pan I lightly added the outlines with an F pencil and for the shading - 2B and 4B pencils. I tried to follow the round curving shape of the two objects using various weights of line, depending on the depth of tone. I don’t think that I curved the lines adequately towards some of the sides, for instance on the pan – they are a bit too horizontal looking, adversely affecting it’s form. It was difficult to do any obvious hatching on some areas like the handle on the right of the pan, but I  tried to follow the curves. I think that the many areas of reflected light and shade on the body of the objects have too hard a division between them. I’m not sure how I could correct this in future – we’ll see!
Note: I later rounded the ellipses more at the base of both objects in the two drawings - the first below and also the coffee pot and sugar bowl further down. The improvement is evident and they appear much more natural now, but I would say the ellipses should be deeper than  those at the top of the objects as the angle is sharper from those viewpoints. Then again, since I  made the changes the initial ellipses look extremely flat in comparison. 

Before

After curving the ellipses more on the base of both articles

The medium used for the coffee pot and sugar bowl was willow charcoal in various thicknesses. The areas of reflected light and shade seemed to follow a straight vertical pattern around the upper two thirds of the sides, as they also followed the length of the handles and coffee pot’s spout, so I tried to emulate this in the direction of my rendering of them. With the later addition of some random short horizontal  flicks of charcoal I tried to balance the contrasting effects on neighbouring areas. Some of them were again too horizontal where they should have curved more around the sides. On the lower third of the objects and the inside surface of the sugar bowl the surfaces were angled inwards and this suggested to me the use of a fairly horizontal treatment from the start, following the curvature of both objects. The same went for the lids, although it was more obvious on the underside of the sugar bowl’s open lid. I had difficulty using the charcoal in a way which seemed to demand a more controlled approach, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Before

After

Nick Millar drawings

TRUCKSCAPES: Drawings from a mobile studio love these ink drawings from the back of a truck

Exhibition - Close to Hand @ Crawford Gallery Cork

link to NICK MILLER site

Lissadell Bay, 2010. Casein on Arches paper on Aluminum composite.
24 x 146 cm. (5 panels)

annidraw: Nick Millar

This group exhibition explores relationships between building inhabitants and their surroundings, both indoors and outdoors. The artists use a variety of media to explore the theme such as photographs, video and audio installations, sculpture and paintings. Of the very few paintings on display at this exhibition, what attracted my attention most of all were the paintings by Nick Millar. These prompted me to look further at his work and I found a beautiful selection in his catalogue over to one side, of drawings he had completed in Chinese ink. These are part of a series of drawings and paintings called ‘Truckscapes’, all produced from inside the back of a van. They are my personal favourites as I think the way the marks produced in them are just so alive with texture and movement with a strong emphasis on the application of sinewy yet squiggly twisting lines. The way he has used the brush to apply the ink appears to gives real atmosphere and depth - heightened by the monochromatic scheme. It seems to me that a similar technique has been employed in the paintings. The medium used for these is casein, which is apparently a protein found in milk. Some interesting information about casein paint can be located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casein_paint

Odilon Redon's Pastels and Noirs

Link  http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v14/bp14-08.html

Odilon Redon



The Apparition (Charcoal)
©The Bridgeman Art Library - London, New York, Paris.



The French artist Odilon Redon was very private person and led a retiring life in the early part of his career when his work was made up almost totally of black & white charcoal and lithographs. He was interested in exploring his inner psyche and I don’t find it surprising to discover that he was inspired by the works of the writer Edgar Alan Poe; judging by his frequent use of macabre themes featuring quite disturbing bizarre imaginary creatures (reminiscent of human, animal and plant life) in barren landscapes.

Some of his works appear ambiguous, giving me an intriguing sensation that nothing is at it seems.
He was a relatively unknown artist for a large part of his life, until the publication in 1884 of a cult novel by Joris-Karl Huysmans, in which his drawings are collected by the book’s main character - a disenchanted aristocrat.
From the 1890’s onwards his work became more in colourful and upbeat, which before long caused his career to improve greatly, although he was still a very private person. He was associated with the art movement known as the Symbolist group of painters and the Surrealists regarded him as one of their main precursors. Towards the end of his life he was much admired by many other artists.



Tree & Stars(charcoal) O Redon1895

©The Bridgeman Art Library - London, New York, Paris.

 I noticed strange tiny orb like creatures floating around in this image. Even the foliage on the tree seems to be full of mysterious ghost like faces; the more I look the more faces I see. Redon appears to have made use of the eraser to great effect, obtaining strong tonal contrasts around the base and left side of the tree.

Tone and Form

Observing Shadow and Light Formations on a Surface
In the first exercise the primary light source was a lamp on the right hand side.
As much as I squinted my eyes to blank out unnecessary detail I was a little confused about the light source in some areas.
As far as I could make out there was a lighter area on the top left of both objects but I wasn’t sure whether it came from the primary source or from another lamp which was illuminating my drawing surface.
I couldn’t distinguish much reflected light bouncing up from the surface even though it was almost white, apart from the lower right hand side – the opposite side to the shadows.
The cast shadow on the left of the objects appeared (confusingly) to be lighter quite close to the objects and darker further away. I was guessing this may have been due some light from the second lamp. I’m not sure also if the transition ought to have been more gradual between the lightest and adjacent areas.

For the second exercise I found things a little easier, I think partly because there was only one object for each study, so the light and shadow wasn’t as interrupted as in the first exercise, also I was generally more aware of what to look out for. It was trickier to separate the tonal ranges in objects without a uniform colour range, such as the plain plastic cube I used for the tonal drawing with a dip pen. I guess I could have said the same about the natural objects in the previous exercise.

These exercises have forced me to re-evaluate my approach to value/tonal drawing – whereas previously it was more simplified i.e. I looked at only light/middle and dark tones, with maybe a couple of tones in between. The difference now is that I'm more sensitive to subtle nuances in light and shade and where they should usually be placed on and around the object/s such as: cast shadow and their make up and reflected light from other surfaces and how much more three dimensional they become once tone is added. Hopefully my future work will begin bear out this assertion. 

Final drawing