A Portrait of Self-Portrait combining line and tone

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I had great fun completing this final drawing for Assignment Four. Initially I felt quite overwhelmed as there was so many techniques and outcomes that I could follow to produce this drawing, so with that in mind, I started to investigate how other contemporary artists had created their self-portraits. When observing and analysing what other artists had tried and achieved, I found that I quite liked the outcome of a natural or white coloured support, with semi-loose line and a splash of colour here and there. I think it is really helpful to consider how other artists have pulled together their composition as a whole as it gives me ideas on what I could experiment with, in addition to my own ideas and artistic voice. I have noticed that after investigating various methods and techniques in Part Four, I was able to come to a conclusion of what my three figure drawings would begin to look like. I found that I was able to be more discerning and have a bit of confidence in making the decisions which would develop my ideas to take the drawings through conception to completion. A little self-analysis in my sketchbook brought up questions that helped and encouraged me to identify the starting point of this drawing. The work that I produce always seems to evoke emotion from me and I like being able to convey this through my work. Although I do see the emotion as something that is constantly evolving. The more research I do into artists past and present, the more I can relate to some of the stories and how they incorporated their lives and feelings into their work. The contemporary self-portraits that I saw, many used mixed media approaches, photography with the subject dressed in a particular way or even painted with the subject disfigured to represent psychological issues. There is such a huge variety of personal approaches in contemporary self-portrait that there doesn’t seem to be any hard and fast rules. I discovered this in one of my previous research points in part four; it seems that artists can now not be held to a long line of tradition and produce self-portraits in the ‘correct’ style. Artists in the modern day look like they can just be free and self indulgent in their expression to produce a portrait that conveys any message they should choose.

And so I felt inspired to just draw myself in my self-portrait as free and care-free as I felt. I wanted a burst of colour to represent my happiness and passion for playing music with my cello and I also knew that I would need to experiment with how I was to do this with a fair amount of individual research.

From previous studies I knew that I really enjoyed working in Indian ink but also with charcoal. My investigations started here with these two materials and I had great fun putting together some research into working with these materials for my self-portrait. Through this research I found that a smooth support would best support my free-flowing and fast, expressive lines. I decided that a line with a little tone to just give a hint of a three-dimensional form would really take my drawing to the expressive and dynamic piece I wanted it. A far cry away from the sympathetically and delicately rendered self-portrait by Rembrandt, I know, but if a self-portrait is purely an expression of the artist, whether it be a superficial message or one of deep emotional and psychological representation, then I feel that the concept of my self-portrait should take into consideration my natural voice and the way in which I choose to express it.

After completing my investigative work and the few hours spent drawing the construction lines of my facial features and the rest of the composition, I felt that I was ready to start applying the first few marks to my drawing in charcoal. I felt excited to explore where this drawing would take me as I ventured out with more expressive marks here and there, including the areas where I tightened up where I lacked confidence in my ability, and then learned to set myself freer again. Working on such a big scale (A2) made me realise how the techniques practised in my sketchbook begin to change when applied on a bigger scale. The muscle memory changes, as do the proportions. Part Four has taught me to really consider this factor when planning working up from my sketchbook to a larger support.

I have a slight sense of disappointment when I look at the final drawing in that, again, there are similarities in it when comparing it to myself, but ultimately there is little more than a resemblance. It seems that I tightened up a lot here and messed about with the charcoal on the mouth area to produce the correct tonal variation, that in the end, I could not longer work out the construction lines underneath or pick up the charcoal with the knead-able eraser. I then found myself in a bit of a muddle, having nearly finished the drawing, I was getting frustrated, smudging the charcoal and pastel elsewhere on the drawing. I decided to leave some of these smudged areas of charcoal in because when I look back at this drawing, I will understand and recall the effort I put in to produce, but hopefully, in a few years time, I can look back and see how far I have come to develop my practice and what I had learnt along the way. I also think leaving in a few areas of smudged material shows some of my working movements and I felt quite happy to see my little clues that I had left of the piecing together of the portrait. It gave me a sense of life and connectivity with the drawing and reminded me of how far humans have come in terms of evolution to be able to pick up a mark-making material and describe three-dimensional forms. Ultimately, I ended up completing the mouth with light charcoal and pencil of which I struggle to feel happy about. However, every mistake or difficult experience is a lesson learned and I will understand more about the construction of the human figure, my chosen materials and their properties after this assignment and its preparatory studies.

• Demonstration of technical and visual skills – I believe I am fairly accurate with the proportions and angles of the figure in this drawing. I also feel that parts of the body and of the face represent mine quite well in terms of likeness. There is still some technical and observation work to accurately describe what I see before me however. I think that the choice of using charcoal gave me the right balance of creating an abstract, thick and expressive line, whilst also allowing me to retain the fluidity and spontaneity that will charcoal can bring. I used a small thin piece of charcoal so I could apply pressure where needed without the fear of it snapping, and by sketching in the outlines in pencil first, I was able to retrace the construction lines in a quick and smooth action. Some areas I forgot myself and concentrated on details far too much for the outcome I wanted to achieve. Such as the face and hands. Areas like the cello and the clothes I found less intimidating. I chose to compose this drawing from my head to my pelvis as I knew that the cello have context to my environment and the flow of the drawing seemed to end prematurely if I cropped the composition higher towards my chest. As did many historic self-portrait, many captured the artist at their work, such as Van Gogh and Rembrandt painting. I wanted to show myself playing music and having fun doing so, therefore I needed a longer image to describe the drawing in a more creative and imaginative way. The pink hue behind me was an idea that came from the top that I was wearing in the self-portrait reference photo that I took. You can see in my preparatory studies that I try to fill in my cardigan in with the pink tone, but I felt like this seemed a little out of place and drew attention to my torso, which seemed a little out of place, considering the context of the piece was playing music. I decided to take inspiration yet again from Van Gogh, and apply the colour behind me to help with the overall feel of the drawing. The pink colour in mine is uplifting, vibrant and energetic. This described my personality but also the sound of the music that emits from the cello. This is a complete contrast to how Vincent used his sombre blues in his self-portrait background which really add to the darkness and depressive feel to his painting.
• Quality of outcome – I think the idea for this self-portrait is quite unique in that normally it is an artist who is painting or drawing themselves at a canvas rather than a different discipline. I wouldn’t say I appear to be hiding behind the cello in my drawing, rather displaying that I am a part of it. I did decide to keep negative space around myself because the dynamic angles and lines in the drawing are more than enough to keep the eyes busy. The splash of colour in the background helps for me to express my feelings through tone alone rather than taking anything away from the semi-loose use of line. I believe that viewers of my self-portrait will understand the happiness and emotion that is resonating from me and that I wanted to convey through this drawing. I think they would receive this through the expression on my face, the use of a bright, uplifting colour but also the playful and expressive line which looks weighted and dark in some areas but comes out in others with light and energetic marks here and there.
• Demonstration of creativity – the ideas for this drawing were quite strong after previous studies had developed ideas in my head. Without the preliminary research, I think my ideas might have been a bit more basic and lacked the understanding of the self-portrait, its tradition and the basic structure that pulls it all together. My imagination saw a drawing which was free-flowing, like music, and a figure that sat, looking out to something or someone that made her smile. This figure was obviously enjoying herself and that is the exact feeling I wanted to see and feel when I looked at my self-portrait. Unlike other artists who have captured darker moments and feelings of depression and torment, I saw a drawing which invited the viewer in to see a private moment with a musician and question what it was that was giving her such enjoyment. Could it be the cello that would be the obvious clue, or is it more to do with the situation that has capture this figure’s attention to the left of her? I didn’t really feel that the negative space needed to be filled with the presence of the chair in which the figure sits, nor the audience that may have been watching the performance. It felt right to leave the drawing a bit mysterious and employ some contemporary techniques to give energy and drama to the figure’s environment. I think my voice comes out well here in the use of expressive line. I think I felt more restricted with my use of tone, but I felt like I understood the line more, I could see where and how it would work its way on the paper. Although, the moment I got to a part that I lacked confidence in, say the facial features, I tightened up a little and lost some identity. I think this will get better with time and the more I experiment with these techniques with the human face using charcoal as my medium.
• Context reflection – As discussed previously, research, whether in written, audio, visual, video format etc., gives me a huge amount of food for thought. I digest what I have seen and always think, How could I make that work in my studies? Or what techniques are in this work that I could investigate and adopt to use in mine? For part four, I particularly liked looking into the history of figure drawing and how historic artists used these tools from their figure drawing classes in further pieces of work in which the figures needed prior knowledge of the construction and/or anatomy of the human figure to be deemed an accurate representation. I also wonder, if it hadn’t been for the acceptance of collective figure drawing classes, what would contemporary presentations of human figures look like now? Would they all be abstract, representational pieces rather than detailed, hyper-realistic drawings which some contemporary artists favour today? I have a lot more understanding of the human anatomy now, and it seems that when I look at a drawing of the figure now, I can ‘see’ the skeletal and muscular structure underneath, almost like layers building up the form. Although it will take time to develop the skill and technique in learning how to realistically and accurately describe the figures, I feel like investigative practical and theoretical research helps to give context to why study of the human figure is important. Not just in being able to recreate it in other drawings, but the transferable skills it offers me across the multi-disciplines and areas of study in art.

Bibliography

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+use+a+paper+stump+charcoal&oq=how+to+use+a+paper+stump+charcoal&aqs=chrome..69i57.7229j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/abex/v/moma-painting-technique-rothko

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-started-drawing-charcoal

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jlcondel/abstract-faces/

https://www.kerrybeall.com/journal

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/77124212346874153/

https://margacheru.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/3f42f-chilongared-and-black.jpg

Figure study using tone – Reclining model

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I really enjoyed this drawing for Part Two of Assignment Four. It felt immediately more natural to me than Part One’s drawing as I knew from the outset what I wanted to achieve for this piece and managed to bring it from conception to execution with much enjoyment and minimum of stress.

To start my research for this piece, I started to look at how ‘old masters’ had described a figure’s form. I was interested in seeing how they described tone and three-dimensional form; which techniques were used to successfully convey these attributes of a convincing form. Some used broad strokes of charcoal whereas other pieces I could see lines like cross-hatching and hatchurling with other colours than black or graphite/pencil. I liked how Michelangelo used a neutral colour support for his studies of a Sibyl. Using a coloured or non-white support is another area I would really like to indulge in for my experimentation. It is something that I never really have as a priority, the habitual routine of plumping for a white piece of paper in my sketchbook or paper pads is something that needs changing up. I feel like I miss out on a great source of investigation but not giving the support’s colour much consideration.

I also enjoyed looking at Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam as it gave me a thorough understanding of looking at the figure in its reclined position and how the artist drew and painted it. I wanted the same anatomical correctness with my figure, but less distraction and a muted or monochromatic colour palette. Whilst looking at historic figure drawings, I noticed I was drawn to the delicate use of tone but I knew I was after a finish with a bit more strength and contrast, maybe something historic in material but a more contemporary thickness to the line. So initially, I experimented with charcoal in my sketchbook after being tempted by reading a charcoal portrait book discussed below. I applied a light tonal drawing of the figure and then to add an abstract feel to the tonal areas, I tried adding thick, dynamic marks of Indian ink with a chopstick to describe the darkest of tones. This technique with the ink and chopstick I successfully used in one of my previous exercises but after applying the ink, it became clear that, for me, it didn’t really add anything to the drawing, more adding areas of contrast that was edgy and didn’t really make sense and unify the figure for this piece. I wanted to see the figure reaching out and looking slightly desperate for help, the ink added drama and made it seem more of a dynamic pose for a dance or movement. It turned into a study that had gone too far away from my inner vision. I decided to stick to charcoal because I felt that the rough and atmospheric tones gave depth not only to the figure but also the environment and story the drawing emits. During my preparatory research, I also read Nathan Fowkes’ How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal, Design Studio Press, 2016, again (previously read for self-led learning) to see how he used charcoal as a medium to describe form with charcoal, using the support for the lightest or darkest tones, depending on the colour of the support of course.

• Demonstration of technical and visual skills – The materials I picked for this drawing, the charcoal, the rough paper, were essential for me to able to create this rough and pitted drawing. I was desperate for texture and a slightly aged look. the drawing felt a lot more alive, with depth and a story to tell, on rough paper. After an experiment on smooth paper, the tooth was too fine to really catch the charcoal and add a little texture to the figure. I tried to measure the reference model correctly and transfer the angles and proportions correctly. I feel the right hand that reaches out is slightly too small for the proportions of the figure. Perhaps the lower half of the outstretched leg is too long or the nose should have been angled sightly more so to give the correct angles of the facial features as a whole. Foreshortening was also a challenge here due to the left arm being placed behind the torso at an angle and the angle of the pose meant some body parts had turned away from the central axis. Although the composition is simple in its design, I didn’t want to loose this and I felt that the shadows placed behind and underneath the model were enough to suggest the model on the floor nearly against a curved backdrop. The figure and his expression was the main focus of this piece. It is odd how I arrived at this but I felt a natural pull towards drawing a piece that had a difficult message. The figure is in an unnatural pose, and is clearly experiencing some strong emotions. I liked producing a drawing which was so raw in its production; rough paper and charcoal, it almost complemented the emotional state of the subject.
• Quality of outcome – I didn’t want the drawing to entice any thoughts on this figure’s culture or era, I wanted pure emotion and intrigue to be evoked from the viewer and so I decided for this particular drawing, to opt for a strained and almost grotesque expression on the figure’s face; dark and heavy tones to give mood and atmosphere. The darkness of the eyes, a bit like Van Gogh’s 1887 and Rembrant’s last self-portrait, gives a natural air of mystery and intrigue for the viewer as they try to work out the emotion from other clues in the facial features and body. I feel that my ideas for this drawing have translated successfully and before me, I see a convincing three-dimensional form representing a figure who is seeking help with his outstretched pose and complex emotions displayed on his face.
• Demonstration of Creativity – The composition sees the figure looking helpless and desperate on the ground, meaning that a landscape support was best for me here as I didn’t want an unnatural amount of negative space above the figure if I opted for a portrait support. I imagined that this figure could be from a historic period or from now, but the emotions and situation the subject ‘finds’ himself in could be from both periods. There are struggles that humans experience throughout their lives, where they feel in need of support when they hot rock bottom. The choice not to dress the figure fully with clothing was a conscious decision to represent the figure as vulnerable, seeing a human in their underwear already intrigues people to observe the reason for it as usually, it is socially unacceptable in a public area. I feel that the figure, with his arm extended and his focus directed to the right, gives flow and dynamism to the piece but also intrigue; I wanted the viewer to try to read the story and want to understand why the male is emotional and reaching out his arm. Questions such as, why is he lying down, reaching out? What is he reaching out for? Who or what is he looking at? What emotions is he experiencing and who has caused his reaction? My personal voice is quite strong and raw, dare I say unrefined, in this drawing. I have allowed myself to be bold with the application of charcoal, but I feel I have been delicate with the application with it on the textured support. My aim was to be as anatomically correct but have a little looseness to the blending of tone to give more of an artistic impression of the human figure rather than a scientific anatomical study.
• Content reflection – I returned to my studies of the human anatomy and structure to look at the skeletal and muscle layers so my understanding of this pose would give me the knowledge of the muscle groups and how the line of balance and gravity would work for this figure. The preliminary studies of the human body were certainly useful to me in this drawing. I also looked at the basics of creating form with tonal values again to ensure I had a good understanding of how to describe form with a range of tonal values. Research into blending charcoal was undertaken, not only through online content but individual research in my sketchbook. It was nice to get a feel for the charcoal and its dust under my fingertips. I also found that allowing my hand to drag through the drawing I was working on, gave a smudged and moody effect. I would like to look at investigating with this technique again, maybe with a more permanent mark underneath so I can build up the layers to create drama and atmosphere to a drawing. Overall, I am really happy with this piece and I know with time, I will be able to draw more anatomically correct (angles and proportions) figures and develop my personal voice further so I can produce figure drawings with more confidence to try further more complex investigations with a thorough understand of the human body.

Bibliography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbLVbaGrzBY

http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelo-creation-of-adam/

https://www.christies.com/features/Old-Master-Drawings-Collecting-Guide-7455-1.aspx

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2018/old-master-drawings-n10006.html

Nathan Fowkes, How to Draw Portraits in Charcoal, Design Studio Press, 2016

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/figure-drawing.htm

https://nitramcharcoal.com/looking-at-the-history-of-life-drawing/

Figure study using line – Seated model in an upright chair

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Starting Part One of Assignment 4 off with a good amount of research, I decided to produce some ideas in my sketchbook of where I would like to start with this first instalment of my assignment. Using previous work and experiments as a starting point, I used reflection and further investigation to develop my ideas for producing a seated figure study using line. I needed a photo (as restrictions did not allow for a live model) that would inspire, a subject that would attract me and draw my attention. My natural instinct, when looking for theme, would be something a little quirky but not too obvious. When I stumbled across Gauguin’s The Cellist, it was a match made in heaven for me as it combined my love of music with art. The colour palette and the cropped composition immediately grabbed my interest and although the background was darker, a little like Rembrandt’s self portraits, there are some abstract shapes in the negative space above the cellist’s right shoulder which help balance the piece. I did notice that is a subtle use of line, an almost cartoon’y type execution with the paint applied with a flat looking slight block tone approach. I like the opaqueness of the oils compared to watercolour. I researched other historic types of paintings with a cellist as a subject and came across varied techniques and executions. Looking at other artist’s work and how they approached the piece, with a seated figure as the main theme, I was able to envisage my concept for my assignment piece coming together as I looked at their studies and discovered what I liked and what I didn’t.

Whilst looking for artists who describe a seated figure playing a cello, I came across Charlotte Moorman. I found her fascinating and intriguing; she brought together communities and divided opinion, even being arrested for expressing herself and performing her art of playing the cello wilst nude/semi-nude. She caused quite a stir in society and her story spoke to me because of what she was trying to achieve and how she went about it. I took inspiration from her and started to imagine my piece with a nude figure drawn in line, playing the cello, maybe a little risky and some may question this but I was thinking about how it feels to play a musical instrument and how it could possibly make you feel exposed or vulnerable when performing. I also felt that when I play music, I feel at one with the instrument, almost joined like it was another limb. This compelled me to give the idea of my nude figure playing the cello real consideration and so I began the preparatory work for the final drawing for Part One.

Different ideas for the position of the figure were drawn in pencil, before deciding on the side view as it would offer me a great view of the figure and ensure the drawing was more about the figure and less about the cello. After looking at some of the historic paintings with this theme, I decided to experiment with ‘aged’ looking techniques and colour palettes so I could see how the antique effect would look. I experimented with using tea leaves to stain the support and also use raw umber and burnt umber watercolours for some tonal variation with a monochrome colour palette on the cello, mixing the concept of a coloured cello and a black and white line drawing for the figure, again to make the figure the area of large contrast, so the eye is drawn to the figure first and then the cello.

After my investigations with the ‘aged’ appearance, I decided to go against the antique effect for a more contemporary image which would give a fresh approach to a study of the figure with a cello. I then experimented with a few things to see where I could go creatively so I tried tracing and empty music sheet onto a line drawing of a figure using tea to stain the paper and a bamboo skewer to apply it and slightly impress a line on the paper too. I wasn’t too keen on this outcome as it broke up the image and made it feel complicated, adding distraction to the image and taking away from the fluidity and softness of the line. I also looked at white conté on a black support and also a warm colour palette on an orange support. Although both were useful experiments, I did find that it felt too heavy and the overall feel of lightness and spontaneity had been lost with the thick line. I also kept tightening up because of nervousness of wanting to ‘do a good job’ at this first part of the assignment. The experiments and investigations helped to steer my way and guide me towards the final drawing. I found that the contemporary-style portraits, with loose line and splashes of colour, seemed to work better for me here.

I begun to look at the idea of drawing drapery to cover the lower half of the figure like the historic marble carved figures; I quite liked this effect but I felt like it took away the purity of the line and made the figure complicated and busy. I am not really sure why I was so keen on pushing the idea of using a nude model here, some may say it is distasteful and insulting to musicians. I felt like it was an opportunity to explore a delicate and private moment, one which would make the viewer internally ask questions about it, intrigued as to where the idea for the drawing came from and what its meaning is. I felt strongly about the link of millions of years of evolution in the human body and its complexities, then the contrast of the historic but still young invention and mastery of playing the cello. Its simplicity and beauty, the shape and the form almost complement the female form. The significance of playing music, is something so pure and unrestricted; free of judgement and social expectation, a place to go to loose yourself. I felt like the nude figure was also stripped psychologically of all clues of time, place, social status, and it was a message of freedom and being harmonious with the instrument.

I liked the use of colour behind Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait, 1887, and so after some experimentation, and a good night’s sleep, I felt that my figure would need a burst of colour to inject some drama and excitement. I needed the music that was resonating from the cello, to be seen and felt by the viewer. An experiment of using fountain pen ink with water to make the line bleed was a progressive step to finding the right media to work with for this piece. I also found that I didn’t need to fill the figure with colour and tone as it was more of an impression of a figure with the loose line.

I worked on foreshortening and how the body and instrument would look to the viewer from the side view as positioned in my drawing.

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The final drawing turned out different to how I was expecting in that, in the studies in my sketchbook, the lines were closer together because of the size of the paper. This is something I hadn’t taken into account when sizing up for the assignment piece. Bigger paper meant more negative space between the lines because the thickness of the fountain pen remained consistent which the paper, unfortunately did not. I tried to measure well from the reference photo of a model seated and another photo of a cellist playing (photo above) to get an understanding of how a cellist looks from the side. I found that the angle of the legs and feet quite difficult to grasp, as were the facial features. there were a few errors made when drawing so loosely with the pen but overall I feel that the angles and proportions are reasonably convincing and accurate. Looking back at the drawing, I realised that I didn’t give much thought to the tones surrounding the figure in terms of shadows and grounding the figure to the floor; although I gave tonal variation the figure and the cello and lightly the stool on which the model sits on the edge of. I did think that the angle in which I have placed the figure, the stool might have needed to be drawn a little further underneath her as it looks a little like the stool could tip.

Although my choice of materials was a result of my experimentation, I don’t feel particularly connected with this final drawing and that is a little disappointing after spending so much time on preparatory investigation and on the drawing itself. I understand that I may not have listened to myself closely enough, and maybe I should have looked at experimenting with a looser, more expressive and thicker liner because of enlarging the support I worked on from the sketchbook studies. I really liked the drawings in my sketchbook and I think this is because the line is thicker and closer together but also I felt less pressure to get it right and so was more fluid and spontaneous. I felt these qualities were lost in the bigger picture and I tightened up rather than making good use of the negative space which covers a large area around the seated figure. Perhaps I should have looked at Gauguin for inspiration where he used abstract shapes to fill the negative space above the cellists shoulder to balance the composition. I do feel that the technical measurements and proportions are reasonably accurate therefore bringing the piece further toward the realistic scale than truly abstract. I felt like the smooth support was best for this piece because I didn’t want any white speckles or friction on the free-flowing line. Composition-wise, there is something missing from the background of this piece, possibly the lack of tone to suggest shadow and that the figure is rooted to her surroundings, maybe too much negative space. I am happy with the dynamic flow around the drawing as the cello scroll starts up in the top right corner and the eyes are drawn around the figure and cello before being escorted back up into the corner again.

I have taken a risk for this piece in terms of concept and creativity. I imagined this piece to be read and understood by fellow musicians but also viewers that would question the meaning behind the concept. I felt like I strayed a little way away from my natural voice here, but it was a great learning exercise in that I learnt about carrying an idea and concept through to execution, whilst retaining my artistic voice and conveying the message through the composition.

• Demonstration of technical and visual skills – Using ink, watercolour and pastel in a mixed media drawing gave me an usual and interesting outcome. I enjoyed loosely sketching the line of the figure and the cello and I felt that bleeding the line with a little water helped to give the figure a slight softness which helped compliment the pastel background. I felt the blue of the pastel also helped to tone down the rich brown of the cello so it was less of a focus. I tried to ensure the figure remained the main subject of this drawing. I spent a while trying to get the proportions from my reference photo as accurate as possible and I think I have produced a convincing study of a seated figure using line. I understand that the composition could have been improved by maybe utilising the negative space on the top left of the composition. It also looks a little empty with the lack of shadows indicating the presence and weight of the figure in the drawing. I am slightly annoyed at myself that I chose to leave this out, I gave little thought to how it would impact the overall outcome and next time, I would give this area more thought. Although this piece is an abstract one in that it is semi-realistic because of the proportions etc, I think that it does do well without the shadows because the study was on the use of line and this is the main feature of my figure. There is colour for interest and an impression of form, but I think that the fresh feel with the lack of business and negative space left bare with the white of the support, also gives a contemporary feel to it.

• Quality of outcome – I tried to use a loose line here, and as previously discussed, don’t think it came out as loose or expressive as I would have liked. This is probably because I would have needed to use a thicker line to ensure less negative space in the body parts which were enclosed by the line. I also got a bit nervous drawing this first piece and the pressure to do it right was quite hard to ignore. I tried to communicate a sense of unity between the figure and her instrument, free of any restriction and judgement. Producing music is exposing, just like being without clothes, I wanted to convey this in my work. I chose to keep this piece quite bare and fresh to make use of the expressive line as the main focus of the piece but I also decided to bleed the line a little to add energy and movement. I didn’t want the figure to remain in sharp focus, I wanted some areas to blend into the background to add an interesting feel to the drawing. The blue pastel is supposed to represent music emanating from the cello and the figure playing it. If I were to try this piece again, I think I would have to try using a thicker non-waterproof line so I could bleed it a little more and the areas of the body between the lines would have less negative space, rather than having so much white space to fill with tone. Whether or not I would try to find a way to fill some negative space in the top right corner, I am not sure. I quite like the straight ahead gaze from the figure, but also I like the interesting diagonal direction of the cello. It gives good movement and dynamism to the drawing. I struggled getting the proportions for the face and head accurate and because of the tightness that my line seemed to take on, I lost the ability to give the impression of the figure, which was my aim as in my sketchbook, I tried to bleed the line out to re-do this but it made it heavy and an area of contrast which attracts attention.

• Demonstration of creativity – My imagination took me on quite a journey here and although I am not particularly keen on the outcome of this piece, I have learnt a lot about myself and my materials along the way to produce this drawing. I am proud that I took risks to produce a drawing in a style and a composition that I wouldn’t normally have confidence to achieve. I’m also pleased that my thoughts and messages were conveyed in this piece. The research on Charlotte Moorman and her artistic expression really pushed me to be brave and try something new. The reaction from people when they view this drawing does interest me. I think I came away from my personal voice in the conception and unity of composition, use of line and overall feel. I really needed more of expressive, spontaneous and fluidity in my line to feel more connected to this drawing; I think this is my personal artistic voice guiding me with these opinions.

• Context reflection – Research is always a major part of my preparatory work for a drawing because I find it so insightful. Looking at others work, how and why they achieve it is insightful and an opportunity to experiment with my own ideas, possibly incorporating these ideas and techniques into my investigation. My sketchbook is like a living, breathing object, that shows me progress or even detours on my creative and artistic journey. I used and presently still use it to try ideas, see how materials work together or separately from each other. For this assignment, I also used it to find out a little more about myself and ask questions such as why portraiture or self-portraiture was important and what do I want my self-portrait or other drawings to represent. I think that art crosses over with science and psychology quite strongly. Asking questions whether externally or internally ultimately asks the brain to see and analyse and evoke emotions and judgement. I quite like this element and I am conscious that this is something I can use to my advantage in my work.

Bibliography

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_gauguin_the_cellist_wikipedia.JPG

https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/gauguin/05/2ponta03.html

https://www.artsheaven.com/painting/artists/g/paul-gauguin/the-cellist-portrait-of-fritz-scheklud/

http://www.actingoutpolitics.com/amedeo-modiglianis-the-cellist-1909-the-master-of-visual-art-celebrates-the-soul-of-singing/

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/john-madame-suggia-n04093

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fartsy-media-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2FwGcQy78-idPMDpnOJgR4SA%252Fmoormann.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.artsy.net%2Farticle%2Fartsy-editorial-the-topless-cellist-charlotte-moorman-finally-finds-her-place-in-art-history&tbnid=yPGW2evu3eZpIM&vet=10CAwQMyhtahcKEwjo1KHhzqLqAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg..i&docid=PJFbftGJyqZ9wM&w=1921&h=1131&q=cellist&safe=strict&ved=0CAwQMyhtahcKEwjo1KHhzqLqAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-the-topless-cellist-charlotte-moorman-finally-finds-her-place-in-art-history

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-The-Cellist/1222451/6526897/view

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-The-Cellist/914732/4319043/view

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9lnbIGHzUM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aeH9FdtAqY

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/taylor-the-rehearsal-n02137

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gulich-a-violin-concerto-n01725

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gainsborough-the-rev-john-chafy-playing-the-violoncello-in-a-landscape-t03895

https://atelierwilfried.weebly.com/artblog/category/paris

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mercier-a-music-party-t00922

https://www.celloonline.com/images/violinbasics_howtoholdtheviolin/vlcside.jpg

Approaching Assignment 2 with energy and enthusiasm, I was optimistic that I could produce a drawing which could competently demonstrate my learning so far in the course. The competencies to be aware of that needed to be met:
– The use of colour
– Appropriate medium for subject
– Composition and context
– Mark-making and contrasts of line and tone
– Accurate and expressive description of form
– Experimentation with idea, material and method

To begin with, I had a clear idea of which piece of work I would like to revisit from previous work on Part Two of the course, whilst still acknowledging and utilising techniques and learning experiences from Part One also.

Looking back at the pieces of work, I was drawn to using and manipulating the outcome from Project 3, Exercise 4, Monochrome. I feel that this is a natural choice for me as I felt this piece wasn’t ‘finished’; there was room to play with this piece and I really enjoyed the composition and the cropped view of the drawing perspective that I wanted to do this composition justice and take it forward to develop it further. I hadn’t yet experienced this overwhelming sense of feeling that a piece isn’t finished and that it can be taken further; from the final outcome of this assignment, I am pleased I have listened to my instincts.

Pushing on with preparing to take this assignment drawing from concept to resolution, I made good use of my sketchbook here, making notes, recording thought patterns and trialling out the use of media that I thought I would like to work with. In Project 4, Exercise 3 – Material Differences, I set out a set of experiments to see which materials I would like to use for that drawing, here I found the effects that I would use in this assignment. I also discovered upon reflection of Exercise 3, that I wanted to disregard the loose line that contoured the forms, I wanted to push forward and develop my skill set by describing form with more tonal variation than relying on the line which could make the shapes appear flat. This was a big lesson learn for me in this exercise, and so I have experimented with using line with the colouring pencils and decided it was best without. Another previous lesson I learnt was to be conscious of the colour and texture of the plane that the composition is to be applied to. I found that because of not experimenting with this previously, that I hadn’t taken into consideration how the media’s application and aesthetics would look when applied to different surfaces, i.e. how the colour of the media would change on a plane with a colour other than white, or how the tooth or texture of the paper would affect the application of the media to the plane itself.

Photographic evidence of my preparatory journey for Assignment 2:

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Having studied Cézanne’s still life work previously, I returned back to his Still Life, 1878, because I appreciated the composition being cropped so some of the image was out of the frame. I also liked the effect of the paintwork, that Cézanne’s Still Life wasn’t crystal clear and that the drawing seemed intriguing by the mottled appearance by the brash application of the oils. Although I liked this effect, I wished for something a bit smoother around the edges and more refined in the application in media, but still a rustic feel to the tonal variations in the colours. I knew from previous research that Seurat is linked to Cézanne so I took my research into this artist a bit further to see if his style was more of what I was looking for. Other artists who I found I was quite drawn to the style and techniques were found in the OCA study course handbook; Michael Coombes’s still life was a great find and I really like the soft approach with the obvious marks of the media being left apparent with the tooth of the plane displaying the foundation colour through the markings. I also appreciated Leyla Bilsborough’s still life of the peppers, the vibrancy of the colours and the variation in tones caught my eye. I also considered her use of tonal shading such as the cross-hatching which I thought would look great in my drawing, especially to describe the papery leaves of the husk around the cob.

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Here I look at Seurat and study his drawing alongside Pissarro; I am intrigued by the method Pissarro adopts to create his drawing, all marks are dots and dashes that together, make up the image that the brain recognises as patterns and pieces together. Although I thought this is a clever and unusual mark-making technique to adopt, I feel this wasn’t quite right for my style of drawing in this composition. I did try this out on my preparatory work and the technique just doesn’t sit right for the medium I will be using. Seurat’s technique was to use a black crayon on rough paper. The History of Art explains that his varying pressure of the soft crayon enables Seurat to vary the tonal gradations precisely. I like how the edges of the form of the boy are mottled because of the tooth of the paper. Something I would like to adopt in my drawing and try in my sketchbook.

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Looking through Billy Showell’s Botanical Painting In Watercolour, Search Press Limited, 2016, I found some striking methods to describe the texture of leaves and the shiny surface of edible products. Although the polished and precise detailing in these drawings are highly impressive, I feel this method is too refined for my rustic approach to my still life assignment.

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Whilst researching how other students through OCA have approached Assignment 2, I found a really lovely still life, pictured below left. Tina has experimented with different media and found a mixed media approach worked best for her in this drawing. I like the vibrancy of the colours and the tooth picking up the media in the background. I feel that some of the rawness of the plane is lost and not showing through the drawing because of the layers of media involved, this is something I think I would like to try to retain in my drawing to some extent. I know that I am quite keen to have quite a rustic approach to echo the rusticity of the content and subject of my drawing. The corn on the cob’s papery husk will present a rustic and rough texture contrasting with the smooth and polished look of the corn kernels and tiles, cooker hob and metal surfaces. It is evident in Tina’s drawing that mistakes have been rectified and the position of the board has been moved. Through my previous research I have found this evoked memories of the Feininger layering technique to describe depth and dynamism, but also the Rauschenburg drawing where marks are left on the paper from something that was there and is still slightly evident even after being removed. It’s good to see how my previous research sessions and studying is now creating cognitive links and I can relate my studies in art work to the context of the history of art too to create a broader range of knowledge and techniques within my skill set.

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Proceeding with my findings within my sketchbook, I discovered that I felt confident beginning to sketch out the light outline of the composition and place the objects in the desired way for this piece. I looked at the light source again, with scrutiny, to ensure that the tonal variations that I would include in this piece would be obvious and strong, but also I noted at what time of day I was looking at the shadows and the available light. After previously learning this lesson of how a sitting relying on natural sunlight will alter the aspects of the shadows and reflected light etc., I was adament that I would be more conscious of the lighting and its effects from then onwards. Because this Assignment piece took 8 hours to complete, I completed this in three sittings to be able to see where the light fell (from the downlighter above within the extractor hood light) and from the side from the kitchen window (natural daylight which the sun moved around the side of the house past 14:00). Being aware of the difference in positioning and type of light available at different times of the day from the previous studies in my sketchbook experimenting with this situation, I think I was able to judge effectively how much time I would have to sit and draw to focus on the light, shadows and reflective light and how it effected my interior still life composition without the light changing too much of the tonal variation I have captured in this drawing with the use of colour.

Below are photos of my work as it was progressing from the initial sketch to applying colour and tonal variation. I found that once I had started applying the media, I began to apply layers to build up the colour and tone across the drawing slowly but surely in one area at a time. Once the overall drawing was complete with the colour applied, I then was able to make sure that the tonal variation was accurate and of contrast enough to accurately describe form to ensure a realistic, albeit slightly rustic, drawing.

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Finally finishing the piece gave me such a sense of achievment. I started the drawing with a good level of confidence, certainly not arrogance, because I felt that Part Two had prepared me in a way to understand the challenges that I faced with this Assignment and which techniques to adopt in this circumstance. I genuinely felt that this drawing was not one to be rushed, and I took my time to look back through Part Two to see how I could best demonstrate my cumulative learning and how it has had an impact on me as a learner and an artist. Because of the previous exercises I have studied recently (and of course from Part One), in this drawing, I have given much more thought to:
– Positive / Negative spaces
– Drawing with or without line
– The use of colour / monochrome
– The use of using single medium vs. multiple/mixed media
– The use of light, reflected light and shadows
These topics may not have been given extensive thought to previously, but I am certainly more aware of their strong impact on drawing and art in general. How they and may more subjects can alter the feel, look and overall outcome of a piece of work and what I can do to manipulate them to ensure I produce the desired outcome of my artwork.

Assessment Criteria Review

1 Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills (35%)

Using my sketchbook to decide how and where to proceed with this drawing has helped enormously. I’ve found that by using trial and error to experiment with the style of the drawing (line, tonal variation, shading techniques, media etc.) I then felt prepared to start my drawing on a larger scale for my final drawing for Assignment 2. As in Assignment 1, I observed the various areas of light, mid and dark tones to ensure that my drawing remained realistic in its presentation. As a result of experimentation in my sketchbook, I found that a rough plane and Derwent colouring pencils were the right medium for me to use in this drawing. The tooth of the paper left a slight rawness to the drawing which I felt complemented to lack of strong lines and so the colours, although not solid in appearance, gave a lovely rustic statement to the drawing which matched the context of the rusticity of the papery husk of the corn on the cob. I felt this was in great contrast to the polished tiles, hob metals and cast iron po. I intentionally chose to crop the corn cob compoisition view so the cob entered the frame from the right with a hint of the cooker hob on the left. I chose a landscape composition due to the width of the drawing but also because I felt a portrait frame would have given no more value to the drawing as further height to the tiles in the background would have made this drawing contain a large amount of negative space which would have been unnecessary and could have spoilt the drawing by unbalancing it. I do wish that I had taken more care to observe the tonal variation in the paper leave surrounding the corn on the cob. I feel that looking back at the drawing that there could have been more definition and description of form here as the contrast could be made more dramatic, for example, the light source coming from above was quite strong which would have meant that the shadows underneath may have been darker in colour than what I have described in the drawing. I felt that the techniques I have used to apply the colouring pencil to the paper are sympathetic to the style and feel of the drawing. Applying broad side strokes of the pencil to give description of large flat areas of tone, but also using the points the describe detailing, folds and creases, within the paper leaves of the corn on the cob, the hair at the top of the cob and darker tones between the corn kernels themselves. Overall, I think the viewpoint I have chosen is fitting for the close and intimate view of the corn on the cob (espcially the corn kernels which I wanted to emphasise), which was successful because of the previous exploration of viewpoints in my studies previously. I like how the design of the composition introduce rawness, roughness and flowing shapes, lines and forms of nature, contrasting here with the solid, smooth, and angular lines of the manmade materials.

2 Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas (20%)

I believe that this drawing submission for Assignment Two is a confident submission and one that I am proud of. The quality of the application of my knowledge that I have learnt so far is evident in this drawing; I have considered carefully the use of my application of line and tone, colour, shading techniques, positive and negative spaces and been discerning in which sill life composition concept would have been best to proceed forward for this assignment and also which viewpoint and style was appropriate for the context and content of my chosen subjects for this drawing. I feel that I have communicated my ideas through this drawing effectively in that the main focus was on the corn on the cob itself, with particular emphasis on the corn kernels, with rusticity and rawness to the overall feel to the piece, which I think I conceptualised by using a rough plane to ensure the tooth of the paper took a dappling effect of the colour pencil when applying it to the paper. The eyes get taken around the drawing with the dynamic angles of the paper skin leaves of the corn husk taking the eyes up and across the drawing, whilst the lines of the hob equipment and tiles in the background give width and height to the drawing and effectively make good use and interest of the negative space. I am encouraged by my development of discernment; I found it easier since Assignment 1, to be intelligently selective when deciding on the set up of my composition and understanding what my drawing would represent with the viewpoint, style and tonal variations within the drawing. This is where experimentation in my sketchbook was invaluable.

3 Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice (25%)

The idea to create this drawing and present it as my final piece for submission came through re-engaging with a orevious piece of work after feeling that the ideas could be developed further with imagination. Potential was evident and I feel that the previous ideas within this composition didn’t quite do the drawing justice and were almost wasted. The way the cropped view of the set u of the items feels intimate and dynamic makes me feel excited to explore the drawing, details are up close and in full view. Perhaps this is why I feel a little dissapointed with the outcome of the leaves around the corn on the cob; at such close proximity, they lack a little lustre in comparison to the corn kernels. I feel that I have pushed my boundaries with creating a composition with angles and lines which constrast with nature, ensuring that the objects entering from the side of the frame add interest and provoke imagination for the viewer to build up the story of what else is going on around the scene. This still life aims to give enough clues to the viewer so they can use their imagination to decided what situation is occuring in this still life interior scene. My imagination sees that there is no water in the pan but yet the corn is still enveloped in its papery husk, my mind is drawn to want to ‘fix’ this problem and produce a story that would complete the process of what is occuring within this drawing.

4 Context reflection – research, critical thinking (learning logs and [at second and third level] critical reviews and essays) (20%)

Research and experimentation across Part One and Two has cumulatively helped me arrive with the production of Assignment 2. I have gained an extensive amount of knowledge from reading about artists and their journeys when producing work and exploring methods and techniques that have ultimately helped shape artistic movements to where we are today. I enjoyed making conscious links between knowledge and research on specific artists learned earlier on this course to the present, this has helped me form an understanding of a small part of art history and its movements, which was one of my preferred outcomes of the course. I believe that without my previous research and experiments with materials and media that I have or will be using in my art work, I would not have gained the understanding of what effects and feelings the art work would have produced when finished, or even an understanding of how artists in history would have felt when they too, mainuplated this materials to produce their work. It is interesting to me to try to get into the mind of the artist, understanding the context of the time and environment that they lived in, when producing their work. Spending time researching the context and era they were practicing, ensures that I understand the wider context of how and why they worked and made their decisions but also allows me the scope to practise these techniques within my own sketchbook to see how they could be adapted within my work. Using research of other artists styles and methods ensures that I remain open with a growth mindset towards learning and embracing new experiences. The exposure to a variety of practises and practitioners ultimately makes me question and self-reflect on my journey and work, which can only develop and positively benefit me and my artistic voice further still. The most challenging topic for me is to use discernment when selecting on style, method of application, feel/atmosphere to bring a piece together as a whole. This challenge of engaging and reflecting on research and self-led learning, selecting and utlising the information that will be useful and positively benefit my work as it progress is an exciting opportunity. It can become overwhelming, but my skill to research and select the vital information which will get the best out of me and my work is becoming clearer and more refined.