Drawing Skills Learning Log : Part 5 Draw and Experiment

REFLECTIONS ON THE DRAWING SKILLS COURSE

 Before I took this course I wrote that “ my lack of drawing skills is a major limiting factor: I need to become better at observing and engaging and to develop the skills and confidence to represent things as I’d wish to.

 My hopes for the course were to

• learn how to
• observe and engage with the world around me
• develop the capability and confidence to draw
• develop my own drawing style
•  enjoy it (eventually…currently terrified)
• have my work assessed towards a Degree.

I hadn’t studied art in school because I couldn’t draw and saw drawing as a limiting factor that needed to be addressed in service of my textiles work, rather than a means of expressing myself.

 I now see it as a fundamental strand of my personal development.

Regarding my hopes, I have developed a basic capability and am gaining confidence in observing and engaging with the world around me.

However the greatest revelation has been the depth, richness and fulfilment that have come from beginning the dialogue.

I’m also more aware of the commitment required and know you only develop if you draw (and redraw ! – I’ll get it eventually), experiment and enquire.

While I have merely taken the first tentative steps, I am determined to continue to explore this wonderful world which has been revealed to me.

Finally, while the course materials provided a wonderful roadmap, the support and advice of my tutor have been like a guiding star.

 I’m most appreciative of the thorough and thoughtful consideration she gave my work and of her capability in guiding someone starting from zero base.

Her feedback has been invaluable : full of insight, advice and encouragement.

I’m starting a course of workshops next week, running a day a week till next May. The emphasis is on fundamental skills, drawing from life, using different media and research around these areas. I’m really looking forward to it, though my new tutor has a very hard act to follow.

I'll be finished my OCA Drawing Skills module by then, but I’m by no means finished with drawing.

PART 5 DRAW AND EXPERIMENT

Having reviewed my work to date, for my Personal Project I’m choosing  Option 3 : Drawing Outdoors. (notes from the review are after these notes)

Rationale for choice: I love the countryside, have a number of interesting places to explore nearby and would relish the experience of drawing outside.

I found Project 2 challenging and felt I learned a lot, but was disappointed with my assignment drawing and feel I can do much better,

 I’d now like to experiment and try to produce a more expressive work for my final assignment and I think drawing outdoors will be inspirational.

I also considered other options:

While I really enjoyed Part 4: Drawing Figures I don’t have access to a model, so that option is out.

Option 2: I like the idea of drawing a subject repeatedly and the exercises look really interesting, but overall I’m more excited at the prospect of tackling landscape again.

PREPARATORY WORK : In preparation I revisited some landscape works I admire to get some insight into what appeals to me.

Turners  landscapes are truly beautiful and inspirational.

Venice Moonrise

Norham Castle Sunrise

These paintings, in watercolour and oil respectively, are good examples of his expressive technique.

I like the ethereal effect of ghostly forms emerging from the mists of delicate washes. The paintings radiate with the beauty of the paint and are  filled with light           

John William North’s “The Old Pear Tree” has more definition but is also highly atmospheric.

I like the shape of the composition and his use of negative space. He uses a limited palette of warm tones to give a misty evocative feel. The arching tree is balanced by the glowing vee of the horizon. The foreground is nebulous emphasising the rich texture of the the trees in the middleground.

Winslow Homer’s “Road in Bermuda  uses dense washes of bold colour to convey  the vibrancy and heat of Bermuda.

The strong yellow white and blue contrast brilliantly with the dark dense foliage while the small dashes of orange bring intensity and balance.

I really like the strong contrasts of tone and texture created by the trees and shadows: the texture of the foliage is a great foil for the flat light shapes in the centre of the composition.

There is plenty of movement in the painting : while the eye is led down the bright road to the flash of white against theblue sea, the high horizon  draws us back into the painting again. The splash of orange leads us back to the right from where we start down the road again.   

I seem to be more attracted to expressive works and would like to experiment with a more expressive approach to my drawing in this assignment. I'd also like to experiment with different materials especially watercolour.

 Assignment 5  - Overview.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this assignment and am really pleased with the progress 

I’ve made since the beginning of the course.

My main objectives in approaching the assignment were to

•  build on what I’ve learned to date
•  work more expressively than I have so far and respond intuitively to the landscape
•  experiment and be bold
•  try to create something I find visually appealing
•  enjoy it

In Assessment Submission

I think I met the objectives in varying degrees in my final drawing – though my approach to the exercises may have been too limited in hindsight.

I was keen to learn to work in watercolour(* see note below) as I felt I might find it an expressive medium and put a lot of time into trying to get it to work for me.  I think it adds a lot to my final drawing, but perhaps my focus on this meant I didn’t play as much in the exercises as I might have otherwise.

I know my execution didn’t quite match my ambition and the foreground is overworked, but overall I’m really happy with my interpretation of the landscape. This is the first time I’ve consciously tried to express my intuitive responses and it was a wonderful experience.

*Note : Learning to use watercolour.

I used a number of books to learn, initially with dismal results: to begin with, I had trouble finding colours that worked well together then used too many and so ended up with a muddy mess. I also misunderstood the term “washes” and couldn’t understand why flat washes laid wet on dry didn’t give the effects I wanted . But with some experimenting and help from my books.  (*see list below), happily it all came together in the end.  

 * Helpful Texts

• Watercolour Workbook by Anne Elsworth – traditional approach to watercolour but the gem is in highlighting what she calls “the beauty of the paint”
• Watercolour Textures by Ann Blockley. This book is full of colour, energy and movement and I love it. Her approach to painting is to experiment and take risks. I couldn’t rise to most of her techniques bu it helped me clarify what way I wanted to approach my painting.
• The Encyclopedia of Watercolour Techniques. This has great instructions for and illustrations of techniques: sections on backruns and hard and soft edges were a lifesaver. There are also illustrations by a number of artists which helped me appreciate the many different ways watercolour can be approached – and helped me identify my own preferences.
• Watercolour Paintiing : practical techniques and projects for beginners by Wendy Jelbert and Ian Sideaway : used this mostly for the section on composition.

Where to work.

I‘m basing myself in my garden because it has plenty to interest me and is easily accessible (this is really important as the weather is appalling). I will work in the back garden as it presents a number of options.

Exercise: Finding the view.

Options: I can focus on areas within the garden, such as the weathered shed or the old stone wall or I can explore the vista across the fields to the trees and hills in the distance.  I’m very drawn to the last option as I’ve always loved the view from the back of the house.

Light is best for drawing the shed or the wall in the early morning whereas the view across the fields is best in the evening.

I’ll base myself behind the house probably looking across the fields because the play of light across an old stone shed and the trees is very interesting.

Possible drawing materials : coloured pencil, pastels and watercolour 

Exercise: Points of view.

My first drawing is of my preferred view – a broad vista across the fields with an old stone shed as the focal point. The three subsequent drawings each rotate 90 degrees and zone in on an area within the garden: old stone wall, oil tank corner and weathered garden shed.

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The day was dry but overcast and there wasn’t a major difference in the light between the first and second round.

Features within chosen view:

• Focal point – old stone shed with sloping roof
• Lie of land – backdrop of 2 hills which slope down to wooded area. Level middleground has line of trees which lead to shed with a bright cornfield to the left coming forward. In the foreground is a grass meadow which cuts in at an acute angle with a line of fenceposts receding toward focal point. (A stone wall forms the front boundary but detracts from the focal point ).
• Tonal contrast:  dark meadow vs gold cornfield, hills vs sky and play of light on sides of building and trees,

Exercise : Linear Perspective.

 I did a number of exercises and generally found it easier to use linear perspective for manmade structures such as fences and buildings but struggled when it came to the landscape.

I got some help from an extract from Carlsons Guide to Landscape Painting which explained that the difficulty with landscape is that there are a myriad of vanishing points that can occur anywhere but that the apparent speed of recession is influenced by incline and is faster on level and slower on sloping ground.

Bearing these principles in mind I did the larger study of the view I’m intending to draw and tried to accurately map the scale of receding trees and record converging lines .

I struggled with the hedge and stone wall in the foreground  and was happier with the trees and fields in the middle and background. .I think there is some sense of  receding space  but  the landscape doesn’t feel quite right. I think I might do better using aeriel perspective.

Exercise : Aeriel Perspective. - In Assessment Submission

 I first did some monochrome studies using charcoal and watercolour.

I then tried introducing more colour with varying degrees of success.

I was conscious of trying to diminish size, detail, colour levels and tonal contrast as I moved further back into the view.

Exercise : Composition.

PART 5 : DRAW AND EXPERIMENT

Research Point : The Golden Section

OCA manual p 153…”it is inside this section that the most important features of a drawing or painting should be placed.”

It is based on a mathematical formula devised by Euclid and developed by Plato which states that a line or area can be divided so that the “smaller part is to the larger part as the larger part is to the whole”. The ratio of both whole to larger and larger to smaller is 1.618 approx.

In simple terms , this means a division of approximate proportions 3:5 and can be applied  to the format of a work ..the proportion of land to sky or the placing of a focal point (Watercolour Workbook- Anne Elseworth,).

A simpler and less rigid grid is made by splitting the picture area into thirds, regardless of the format chosen. The area is divided into three, horizontally and vertically, giving a grid with 9 sections with lines crossing at 4 points. The theory  is that positioning focal points near these lines or intersections will result in a pleasing image  (Watercolour painting – Wendy Jelbert and Ian Sideaway).

A number of websites I looked at showed how you can continue to create golden sections within golden sections. 

This example is from a Tutorial: Creating art using the golden ratio on http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk

A number of artists such as Da Vinci , Constable and Seurat are said to have used this type of approach.

John Constable’s “The Cornfield”

This painting has major points of interest such as the child and the dog  placed along the lines demarking the golden section while the church has even greater prominence, being placed on the intersection of two of the lines.

In Seurats “ Bathing at Asnieres” the horizon falls exactly at the golden section of the height of the painting. The trees and people are placed at golden sections of smaller sections of the painting. (source website goldennumber.net)

Jacques Louis David’s “The Death of Socrates” is a good example of the rule of thirds

. Socrates is placed on one of the verticals with his upper body upright and finger pointing upwards. His importance is made evident by his being slightly elevated with his facial features at the intersection with the horizontal. His light skin and clothing stand out in the dark surrounds.

The bed is placed one third from the bottom ,the dark section to the left takes up one third of the painting and the leaning figure’s hands frame the intersection at the top third of the picture.

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 Paul Gauguin’s “Arearea” the horizontal divisions into thirds are marked by the top of the dog and the dark section extending to the left of the two girls respectively.

The girl in white who is the focal point is positioned along the right vertical. Her face  sits into the intersection with the upper horizontal while her hand Rests against the lower right intersection.

John Lidzey’s “Oil Lamp has the lamp of the title running along the far vertical while the shadowed area at top right runs a third of the way out. 

The small cask and narrow base of the lamp are in the lower third.

Stephen Scott Young’s “Castaway” seems to break the rules being divided almost in half by a strong vertical. 

However the man and the first upright are both a third of the way in to the painting while the  right hand half of the painting is further composed according to the rule of thirds – see below.

Good and Poor Composition

While balance is important in a painting, complete symmetry can be too static and lack interest and many of the most pleasing works are asymmetrical with compositional elements which lead the eye around the work.

Movement creates interest and comes from differences in size, shape, or value *.This refers to tonal value but edge value can have a part to play also.

* from Dramatize Your Paintings with Tonal Values by Carole Katchen

In Scott Young’s painting  I like the use of negative shapes: predominantly geometric shapes frame the naturalistic figure of the man. His coloured shirt also stands out against the muted tones of the background.  I also like the interplay of light against dark and textured against flat shapes.

Review of Preparatory Drawings

 I’ve decided that I wanted to work further on the view across the fields with the shed as the focal point with further interest provided by the tonal contrast between the  cornfield and the trees and meadow.

These are in the Assessment Submission

• Format  and horizon.: I first did a square composition, using the rule of thirds to place the key elements and while it works it's a little boring.

• I played around with it a bit and having used a viewfinder I’ve decided  that a vertical format with a high horizon would have most impact  ( up to this I’ve been working in landscape format).
• Compositional lines I’ve again used the rule of thirds to map out the composition in a series of triangles with the stone shed  placed on the lower right intersection, the main tree along the first vertical and  tonal contrasts where the middle and upper third meet.
• Materials: I’m keen to try out watercolour as I’ve been trying to teach myself how to use them, possibly combined with watercolour pencils and ink.

Exercise: Detailed Studies.

 

I did a number of plant studies, which I thought I might use in the foreground.

I then moved on to small scale preliminary drawings trying out different materials and compositional elements.

From doing a number of small scale studies I’ve made some decisions that will shape my final piece

·        Mood : I want to evoke a mysterious ethereal place. We’ve had a lot of heavy rainfall and some evenings when the sun is breaking through, a mist  rises up across the valley shrouding the hills and trees.

·        Media: I’ve decided to go primarily with watercolour. I had for a while been struggling with muddy tones, but I’ve now found a limited palette that works to reveal “ the beauty of the paint” to quote Ann Elsworth.( I’m using cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, indigo, and sepia watercolours and raw sienna acrylic ink. I may do some of the finer detail in watercolour pencil.)  

In Assessment Submission

·        Compositional Elements: I’ve stuck with my original choice of composition but changed some of the elements to add more interest:

o       the building now looks northwards to the hills

o       I’m exaggerating the slope of the hills

o       I excluded detail of all but 3 trees.

In Assessment Submission

Having done a larger study I’m happy with the choice of palette but need to work on

·        the shape and proportions of the building

·        the foreground – I had been intending to use masking fluid to do some plants in the foreground but I’m too clumsy and they detract from the composition.


TUTOR REPORT

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CHOOSING A PERSONAL PROJECT : REVIEW OF WORK TO DATE.

Overall, I feel I’ve grown in capability and my pleasure in drawing has been awakened as I progressed through the course.

I did struggle at each stage: with each new section I seemed to have to start from scratch again, but hope eventually to overcome this when I have finally mastered the fundamentals.

In Part 1, Mark Making and Tone, while I enjoyed experimenting with different media and making dufferent types of marks, I did struggle with basic shapes and fundamental form and tone :I found it difficult to get proportions and positioning of shapes right both in themselves and relative to their surroundings. I also had considerable difficulty assessing and representing tonal values.

My tutor recommended redrawing, working slower and varying the quality of line I used. I still have difficulty with these areas. I have tried to work slower and incorporate more redrawing into my approach. I have also tried to improve my use of tonal value helped by “Dramatize your Paintings with Tonal Value” by Carole Kaplan. I’ve consciously tried to develop my ability to see values and hope this will be evident in my work.

I enjoyed the exercises using reflected light and in still life exercises was generally more comfortable working with natural objects.

In Part 2 , Observation in Nature  while I  enjoyed drawing plants and flowers and drawing animals I was challenged by using lots of different media – most of them for the first time.

I  again struggled with basic shapes and representing form – especially using hatching.

I really enjoyed the mixed media exercises, especially using markers and dip pens and  watercolour and other media for  flowers and  fish. My tutor was very positive about this aspect of my work.

While I loved trying to draw my cat, I spent too much time focussed on the drawing and too little looking at the cat. I also preferrred pencil drawings – didn’t feel confident using pen or marker.

My assignment was disappointing : I didn’t do enough preparatory work in terms of  tonal studies and compositional drawings. The final drawing lacked cohesion and purpose as a result.

Part 3 , Drawing Outdoors.

While I really enjoyed the experience of drawing outdoors, I was initially thrown by the sense of being bombarded. In the sketchbook walk and 360 studies there was so much to see and I struggled to zone in and simplify.

I loved the exercise on using aeriel perspective and found I responded more intuitively using this approach.

At the start I found the exercises on linear perspective difficult – especially establishing eye level.

I enjoyed them as I got more used to it and liked both the interior and exterior work.

I was initially uncomfortable with the townscapes section, but settled into it eventually. My study of townscape using line needed more redrawing and had little value contrast : I was using one type of shading for each shape and  not varying the weight and density of lines enough.

The sketckbook of drawings was more successful . I especially liked the preliminary sketches which helped to (i)hone in on what it was that I wanted to convey about the buildings (ii) identify the main areas of light and shade.

In the limited palette study, I needed to use the colours across the whole drawing.

In drawing the statue, while I varied the tonal composition I again could have done more redrawing and varied the quality of my line.

I loved drawing trees, though went into too much detail about the shape in my outline drawings. I also need to avoid repetitive patterned marks and need to work on building up tonal values.

Assignment 3 : I was bit disappointed with how this went as I’d been happy with the earlier coloured pencil drawings I had done and and expected this to go better.

I did some compositional drawings which helped but got in a tangle with the proportions of the shed and perspective,

I also used pen and watercolour for the first time…perhaps not the wisest time to learn.

Part 4 , Drawing Figures.

This was my favourite to date, though again when I started the first exercise it was as if I was starting from scratch again.

Upside: My family were my models and I loved drawing them

Downside : The couldn’t always sustain the poses and I had to use photos to finish longer studies.

I enjoyed the proportion exercises though found it difficult to measure and get the drawing done in the shorter poses and to work from the middle out.. As with the tree outlines I tend to get into detail too early. I also had difficulty with the background and spent too long on it.

In the Form exercises I  found it difficult to get past the person and see the essential shapes. I started to use negative shapes and this was a big help. I found it easier to draw stylised tin can figures.

Essential elements worked mainly with tone and I found this more evocative.

I loved the Gesture project, modelled by my older son. My first drawings were too stilted but when I switched to an easel and used broader sweeping strokes they worked much better. I found the gesture exercises easier than stance and still struggle with centre of gravity.

The Structure project.

This  helped focus on the detail of how the body builds up how different parts relate to each other.

I really enjoyed the three exercises. My younger son modelled and his proportions are very different to those of his elder brother- so I got lots of practice measuring and checking.
I also tried to imagine how the structure might work in the different poses.

The Clothed Figure

Fabric with line and form  proved more difficult than expected. Again I got sucked in by the detail rather than making sense of the overall shape and design.

Form and movement in a clothed figure

Again I had to get past the detail and assess the figure as a whole. Found charcoal best for this.

The Moving Figure I really enjoyed this project.

Sitting and waiting. Enjoyed trying to convey movement or energy . Tried to use a few lines to capture the moment

Fleeting moments. Had difficulty with these. Thought I’d observed keenly but did terrible drawings later.

Self Portrait

Enjoyable but very difficult. Got very distracted in both exercises by trying to produce a likeness. Needed to focus more on tones and shapes and redraw more.

Assignment 4

Line and Shape  -  seemed to put a lot of time and energy into measuring and trying to get the proportions right. Materials used didn’t really add much  - found use of wash difficult….too flat .

Tone -  enjoyed this more and tried a range of interesting designs. Measurement wasn’t as problematic and I enjoyed dealing with the foreshortening. Worked the whole of the paper. Marks were too grainy…need to keep pencils sharpened.