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.