2020

I am excited to share my progress in Drawing 1, culminating with this final project. If I am honest, I wouldn’t have thought I would be considering a subject matter that I am about to progress with but through steady and thoughtful use of inquiry, I feel confident and passionate that I have arrived at the ‘home straight’ as if it were. I feel that my preparatory work through my sketchbook and larger pieces has organically evolved over the last few months, leading me towards this final piece which has a landscape theme and joins my immediate environment and outdoors nicely together to ensure I produce a fresh and emotive piece of work. I have intensely studied artist’s work, past and present, and found a liking to subdued colour palettes, mark-making which is unconventional and abstract, atmosphere which is moody and emotive and compositions which promote the weather and the great elements of the outdoors to centre stage. I have fallen in love with artists such as Joan Eardley who use emotion and intuition to produce work in which displays how they feel about the place they portray, rather than a true aesthetic likeness.

Jan Van Goyen, A Windmill by the River, 1642. The use of light and ratio of sky to land has caught my attention here. I like the moody dark greys in the sky with patches of light filtering through to illuminate the landscape below. the colour palette compliments the portrayed weather and sets the atmosphere for this piece. I will aim to use these techniques in my final piece where appropriate.

Looking through the course notes, there are plenty of questions to help trigger analysis and self-discovery before attempting the final piece. A few of these questions I felt I had already answered, or come to a natural conclusion through my experimentation and investigation building up to this final piece. There have been a couple of moments where I have had a ‘wobble’ and thought that I was lacking in creativity or come to the end of a part of research with little idea on how to get back to the main path. But by reflecting on what I had done, discussing ideas with my tutor and asking myself where I creatively wanted to go (combined with getting out into the great outdoors with my sketchbook) I soon found my rhythm again.

I am surprised that my chosen subject matter is a maritime vessel, when initially I had started out looking at natural rock formations and castles exclusively. This then led to landscapes without human interaction, and then it appears I have moved on further and have decided to include something man-made with the boat and the harbour, whilst still exploring the natural world of the ocean and the sky in the composition.

I visited the scene I have painted more than once. From previous studies, I had learnt about daylight and how different times of the day would effect my observation and light sources. During my trips to the harbour, I took videos and photos of different weather, I collected sand, seaweed and shells in a jar and noted down which sensory stimulation I was experiencing which was important to me to try to convey in my final piece as my response was based on sensory stimulation and feelings rather than exact likeness. I also gave thought to negative space in my composition, if I were to include the full height of the boat, would my support be portrait or landscape? What would I describe around the boat? Although my experiments took me toward a slightly abstract route with the mark-making, through sketches and painting in my sketchbook and through practice with my palette knife on various surfaces, I realised that I was beginning to understand the properties of acrylic paint and how to manipulate it to my wants and needs. The quick application of acrylic to canvas meant I was able to satisfy my need to apply bold strokes of paint in a spontaneous way without too much resistance. I also discovered through my research that the thickness of paint I loaded onto my knife had a direct impact on the type of mark I made on the support.

Initial sketchbook study, looking for inspiration

Written Element

Title: ‘Investigating atmosphere described in landscapes, looking at artists who use subdued colour palettes and incorporate the natural elements and weather as part of their composition.’

In this final piece, I would like to explore the medium of acrylic paint further, by applying it to canvas with palette knives, to produce a piece of work that is relatively simple in its subject matter but which conveys an atmospheric and peaceful scene within a landscape theme. The subject within my work is predominantly a marine vessel which stands proudly propped up on the sand in the harbour at Hopeman, Scotland. The surroundings in which the boat is given context are dull and dark on a damp Autumnal day. I chose this particular scene to take forward because I felt the atmosphere was one that many local people embraced and resonated with this place but also because it would be a challenge for me to try to recreate this ambience through my chosen media of acrylic. I also felt that the man-made vessel and harbour walls offered a story in terms of human evolution and using tools to create which were a great contrast when mixed with the natural, raw elements of the weather at work stirring the sea and building dark heavy cumulonimbus clouds. After my preparatory work, it became clear that I was leaning toward a medium that would allow me to utilise my natural way of working: quick, bold gestural marks, picking up the reactive material and manipulating it quickly, covering large areas without much resistance from the support or the medium itself. The drawing will be executed through the medium of acrylic paint and palette knives and will be portrait in format. I will position the boat to the left of the frame, allowing a large area of negative space to the top right of the support, balancing this with the darkness of the clouds in the sky and an area of interest (the harbour walls) in the background. This should give me a composition with a slight contemporary twist with the large area of negative space and the view of the vessel head on to the viewer. The use of aerial perspective here will give depth to my piece of work and I will be aware to reduce the intensity of the colour palette to ensure depth is convincing to the viewer. I found using palette knives in my experimentation to be a really satisfying way of applying the paint. It gave me the ability to pick up more paint at one time, but also it gave less detail and a more abstract finish to my work. I liked the soft edges created by the less detailed application, much like the artists I had looked at who used soft pastels as their chosen medium for their landscape drawings/paintings. I will apply my knowledge and techniques of using light and tone to convincingly describe form in my work. I noted the direction of light when I visited the site in multiple occasions and decided which I liked best to portray this particular scene. I will use inspiration from Turner (bold expressive marks conveying movement and energy in the water) and Feininger (angular marks to create drama and interest in the sky and sea). I wouldn’t say that I am going to stick to a set of rules, but I will be experimenting with a slightly loose and expressive style whilst trying to remain mostly realistic so that the viewer has an understanding of the subject matter. The main element of the piece of work I wish to convey is the atmosphere created by the light and the weather. I wish the viewer to question why they feel a certain way when they look at the artwork. Like Joan Eardley, I wish to produce a piece of work that enables me to paint how I feel about the view, not so much what I see.

Final Piece – Part 5

Moored at Hopeman
Acrylic on canvas, 50.8 x 61cm

Reflection

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.
Throughout the preparatory work, I have experimented with a range of media until I came to acrylic paint in which I felt comfortable and excited to use. Through a process of self-discovery and inquiry, I have learnt that I preferred a material that was predictable yet pliable, a medium that would be controllable yet thick and spontaneous. The palette knives were a result of experimentation whereby I tried brushes initially and then found the knives when browsing in a shop. I thought they could offer me an alternative way of working on the canvas which was less ‘tight’ and restrictive. The canvas gave me a responsive reaction to the pressure I applied with the knife and I needed this suspension almost to soak up some of my erratic and spontaneous marks. The board and glass used previously felt stiff and unyielding and made me feel that I couldn’t be as fluid as I liked, although I really enjoyed the translucency and fragility of the glass support. I felt my observational skills, not only physically but in my mind’s eye, have become more discerning and I have learnt how to be more decisive with what to add in or take out of my composition and I am learning that I can do this in my sketchbook and in my mind. My visualisation skills are getting stronger, as is my desire to experiment and see where my thought processes take me. I chose to sit down in front of the boat to capture this scene because I liked the viewpoint compared to others that I saw when walking around, standing up, climbing up, sitting/ lying down. Standing up showed too much detail of parts of the boat through the railings and also on top of the harbour walls, I liked the idea of just an essence of the tops of the lobster pots, although I could have made these more obvious in the final piece with a touch more paint and being bolder with the application. The balance of positive and negative spaces in my composition feels comfortable and the style has a slight contemporary twist with the boat pointing toward the viewer head on and the vessel itself placed off centre with a large area of negative space off to the right hand side. Perhaps I could have allowed more space above the top of the boat’s mast to enable a little more negative space to balance the composition further up top but I do like the way the mast draws the eyes right up to the top of the painting. Also, after stepping back, I realise there is a slight curvature to the rigging lines to the right of the mast which looks unnatural due to the leaning of the boat in the opposite direction. This could have been avoided if I had redrawn in the line after applying the the acrylic layers for the sky as these got lost under this layer. Visually, I am pleased that there are areas of interest which carry the eye around the composition and I quite like the horizon line being perpendicular to the mast and rigging of the boat. The techniques in which I applied the paint to the canvas were sometimes erratic, but mainly intuitive to how I felt, mainly broad strokes of colour which gave an overall feeling to the areas of tone rather than a hyper-realistic account. I enjoyed following my intuition as it felt like my heart and hand worked harmoniously, rather than having an internal dialogue in my head of where to go next; it felt a lot more natural. Using the sides, tip, back and front of the knife gave me varying marks which allowed me to add dynamic elements to this piece. I enjoyed scraping, pushing, pulling, wiping and smearing the paint across the support with verve and enthusiasm.

Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.
I felt really good about this final piece. Perhaps the level of research I had completed beforehand, combined with my experiments, gave me a thorough understanding of how other artists had achieved what they set out to achieve in their work. It also gave me a good grounding to understand where I was going and how I was naturally evolving along the process. I believe the content in this piece of work is strong and well considered. I took my time to get to this point and before setting down to design and complete the final piece, I visited the location four times at different times of day to analyse the environment and make use of the different positions of the main light source and the varying weather and elements. I understood and used techniques to help convey a piece of work with a sense of realism with slight abstraction for this final assignment. I tried to think of form, and how light from difference sources effects the shadows and reflected light. I thought about aerial perspective and how the colour changes with the distance. I also looked at positive/negative spaces, foreground, middle ground and background and how this would effect my composition. I see that I could have made better use of the tonal degradation so that the foreground stood out a little more against the dark, wet harbour walls. I feel that the colour palette I chose was right for the idea of the moody atmosphere of the piece. I wanted a subdued and autumnal feel which made the scene feel almost deserted and un-spoilt, just the elements thrashing about behind the boat nestled on the sand against the wall. I felt I achieved this with the types/style of marks I made through application onto the support. When looking at the landscape as a whole, I did see that I could have widened the landscape and made a more traditional viewpoint by including more of the harbour wall to the right of the boat and maybe some of the lobster pots and mooring points to the left, this would have left me with leaning towards a landscape format to balance the positive and negative spaces. I produced a series of mini sketches at the scene with different viewpoints to help me decided on format and shape or frame. I felt like a landscape or square format might have been taken away the emphasis from the sky and the water elements I wanted to focus on. I liked the simplicity of the negative space of the sky and the idea of the delicate gradation of grey clouds with the darkest tone balancing the right hand side of the frame.

Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice.
For this piece, I imagined a a simple subject matter, a boat moored at the harbour with weather portraying a typical ‘dreich’ day in Scotland. I wanted the main focus to be on the overall impression of the piece, for the viewer to look at it and remember how it felt to be there or even to understand how it feels to be there if they had never visited. It was important for me to convey a low level of light because of the heavy rain clouds hanging low in the sky which would ensure my colour palette described subdued but rich earthy tones and a contrast between the darkest tones of the harbour walls and the lightness of the sand where I imagined light filtering through overhead but also it being lighter towards the viewer with drier sand; the tide had left damp sand nearer to the hull of the vessel. As the painting progressed I realised that my ideas were slowly coming together but I didn’t know how I was going to describe the delicate tonal gradation of the sky which, at my visits to the harbour, I saw run from light grey to dark grey seamlessly. This made me think about how I wanted to portray this. Did I want to work the acrylic paint into a smooth gradation or did I want to stick to the spontaneous mark making leaving traces of texture in the wake of the palette knife. I wanted my painting to show a passionate and immediate response to what I saw, not a true likeness. My work feels like it needs to show how it has made me feel, rather than a smooth polished execution. I experimented with the palette knife during this work, using the sides, the tip, the flat face of the knife. Some of these techniques I should have experimented with before the big piece as I felt like I might not be relying so much on trial and error. However, I do feel this resulted in a very honest and young voice coming through the drawing. Young as in, inexperienced and fresh faced in terms of applying acrylic with a knife application.

Context Reflection – research, critical thinking.

Without a doubt, the research I have undertaken before this final piece has influenced my decision making and enabled me to investigate and experiment with different media, styles and concepts for pieces of work. I have changed my mind about where I wanted to go with this piece on many occassions but I have kept referring back to my research and thinking critically about what it was that I wanted to achieve. Taking time to analyse and appreciate my inner artistic voice and listening to and following intuition. I feel like I have grown and developed my studies, my practical and theoretical application and also my ability to think critically about how I combine the written/theoretical research with the practical work. I can see that I am making stronger links to researching other artists and analysing how I could apply their methods and techniques into my work, understanding how it influences my styles and tastes. I have learnt a great deal about the artists I have studied within Part 5 and it has been nice to find some new artists, historic and contemporary that I had not heard of before. I can see how the artist’s work that I have had a preference for in this module are similarly (geographically) located next to the sea or have travelled to locations where their subject matter is similar to mine. Or, maybe they have been exposed to the elements like me and had a strong response to their stimulus. I have enjoyed seeing how these external factors have influenced and developed their work. My sketchbook and learning log reflects my constantly evolving practise and my journey with self-led learning in Drawing 1. I am proud of the mistakes and ‘wrong-turns’ I have made along the way as they have helped me to understand how critically thinking can adapt and enhance not only my learning but the outcome of artwork I produce. It also demonstrates resilience and endurance when working towards a complex piece of work. Reflection is a huge part of my learning and without it, I do not think I could have progressed to produce this final piece for Part 5. I needed to analyse how other artists had moved from initial sketches to larger, more developed pieces of work where true understanding of what they were trying to create is demonstrated in the execution of their work. I also understand how important it was for me to visit the place I wanted to study on multiple occasions to get to know the area, see it in different circumstances (light, weather) to get the feeling and the elements under my skin, breathe it in and really research the place so I could take it home, reflect and express that through my work. Recording my findings in my sketchbook has been vital to me continuing my work at home, but also a record for me to reflect on and push forward with when continuing with my studies and practical work.

Bibliography

Gombrich, E.H, The Story of Art, 1984, Phaidon Press LTD.

Dr 1, Pt 3, Pr 3, Research Point 1 – 10/12/2019

Much like Cézanne’s fascination with various viewpoints of ‘his mountain’, contemporary artists also develop multi-perspective concepts within their work over a series of works. Looking at Tacita Dean’s chalkboard paintings have surprised me because, like her slate piece that I looked at previously, she has used an usual foundation for her work. Chalk drawings on a plane treated with chalkboard paint, Dean explores the seven-piece series in a unique and dynamic way. The pieces are then to displayed together to make up an overall impression of the story Dean provides for us. The drawings are detailed yet have a slight air of being left purposefully incomplete. Line drawing is used as well as tonal gradation to describe form and shape. I find it unusual that words and writing have also been included in these pieces; it makes me feel like they are excerpts from a diary or even pieces from a sketchbook, documenting the journey across the rough seas. As Dean used film in some of her work, I am of the feeling that this series played out in her mind’s eye almost as selection storyboards to be produced for film.

The Roaring Forties: Seven Boards in Seven Days 1997 Tacita Dean born 1965 Presented by the Patrons of New Art through the Tate Gallery Foundation 2000 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T07613

When shifting focus to earlier artists who concentrated on a range of viewpoints in their work, if I were to compare Dean’s chalkboard drawings, such as the one above, with the likes of Seurat’s ‘Landscape with Houses’, I’m sure I would find that the period of time between the lives of the two artists, not only saw multiple art movements which, over time, has enabled contemporary artists to explore various types of media and styles to work with, but the techniques in which the work is executed and the subjects in the work may heavily influence the overall feel of the piece, relevant to today’s audience. The similarities and differences between Dean and Seurat’s pieces mentioned in this research are worth noting however. The use of a monochromatic colour palette and hard and soft edges are similar, giving easy-to-view pieces which are interesting yet not overpowering to observe. Both pieces show a sense of realism to the shapes and forms within them, ensuring the subjects are instantly recognisable by the viewer. I also notice that the lightest, or darkest tones in Dean’s case, are used to help describe the forms within the drawing. The difference in this being Dean has used a black foundation where Seurat has not; Dean has to use lighter tones for the highlights and reflected light but Seurat makes use of the conté crayon and the darkest tones to describe shadow on and around his forms. There is also the difference that Seurat does not include words written on his piece of work and that there is a lighter, less dense and dramatic feel to his work. I feel this may be owed to the fact that the majority is tonal work here rather than line drawing but also the plane is of a lighter colour, so the feeling is the realistic scene is in daylight rather than at night. Lastly, I feel there is a vast amount of energy and motion in Dean’s work above, the vessel looks to be crashing about on the vigorous waves, whilst Seurat’s landscape seems to be peacefully absorbing the stillness of the day.

Georges Seurat, Landscape with Houses, 1881–82
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337676

I think it’s quite interesting when talking about viewpoints, that it could be taken literally or physically. If a literal view is adopted, then the artist, like Cézanne, may choose to produce a series of works of the same subjects but from different angles. If however, the stance is of a more metaphorical or creative response, then I understand that the viewpoint of a particular scene or subject could be subject to the artist’s creative response, or perception, emotions triggered by the subject or even the feelings that the artist was experiencing at the time of producing the work. As discovered right at the beginning of this course, if the artist or practitioner is experiencing strong emotions, it could possibly change the viewpoint and alter the outcome of the piece. This thought also leads me onto artists who use various literal viewpoints of a subject in their work. It reminds me of Picasso’s Violin and Grapes, 1912, whereby he focuses on the violin as his main subject, but in the abstract and broken way it is described, different perspectives of the violin are all viewed at the same time. For example, if the viewpoint of the audience was the front of the violin, you wouldn’t be able to see the side view of the scroll on the violin. This selective, multi-viewpoint concept is intentional by the artist and runs deeper into history than the 1900’s. During my research, I discovered ancient Egyptian artwork which portrayed a the human body from the Egyptian’s most preferred viewpoints. This is proof that they were selective in their desires and preferences, to describe the human form in multiple viewpoints, obtaining only the best or most preferable perspectives to describe the subject.

E. H, Gombrich, The Story of Art, 1984, Phaidon Press Limited

Bibliography and sources:
– https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/39-tacita-dean/
– https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dean-the-roaring-forties-seven-boards-in-seven-days-t07613
– https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337676
– https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78578
– E. H, Gombrich, The Story of Art, 1984, Phaidon Press Limited

Dr 1, Pt 3, Pr 2, Research Point 3 – 12/11/2019 & Research Point 1 (Project 5) 29/01/2020

This research point immediately reminded me of my interest with the artist Michael Karaken from a previous exercise. His landscape drawing series are similar in that they use the same materials, stylistic approach and monochromatic colour palette. I really like that the series flows seamlessly from one piece of work to another, almost like a stroll through the woods, turning your head this way and that, getting a different snapshot with each turn of the head. This theory links well with ‘Exercise 3 360 studies’ in that, the artist can merely change direction or viewpoint on the spot and have a similar but different scene.

More historic artists such as Cézanne are synonymous with creating a series of landscapes or pieces with one subject. Mont Sainte-Victoire was painted by Cézanne in a multitude of different ways, enusring his affection of the mountain was reflected in his series of works. An article at https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/czanne-mont-sainte-victoire, explains: “Cézanne would return to the motif of Mont Sainte-Victoire throughout the rest of his career, resulting in an incredibly varied series of works. They show the mountain from many different points of view and often in relationship to a constantly changing cast of other elements (foreground trees and bushes, buildings and bridges, fields and quarries).” I wonder if an artist can become enraptured by a particular subject and consciously choose to portray it in various ways to create the series?

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, ca. 1902–6
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435878

Watching Peter Dejoin (at https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/peter-doig) discuss his works that were about to be displayed in a gallery, he talks about the sources of inspiration used to create a starting point for each piece of work. Dejoin also comments that the journey is emotional for him, in that the places in where they were produced are prominent and offer sentimental value when reminisced.

When researching artists who have produced a series of landscapes, I did stop to reflect on how and why they were produced. Questions such as:
Why do artists produce a series of paintings instead of a single stand-alone piece?
Is the series always displayed together or can/will they be displayed separately?
Are there different ways in which a ‘series’ is presented? i.e. are the pieces hung next to, above and below each other, say as quarters or sixths that make up a whole, or are they hung one after the other in succession, like a story being told?
Why do some artists chose to make subtle differences in each piece in the series and others choose to produce a series where every piece is different in its subject and concept?
How do artists find a starting and finishing point? How do they know how many pieces they will produce for the series?
Does a series document a story, or an idea, that the artist felt a single, stand-alone piece couldn’t be enough to convey by itself? Or perhaps the first piece was finished and the artist decided there was more to explore in this topic and wanted to develop the work further?

Project 5 – Research Point 1 – 29/01/2020 – John Virtue

Below is an image of John Virtue’s works of a landscape which are four pieces placed together in a series which make a piece in its own right. I approached this idea earlier in my research of questioning how a series may be presented to the viewer. I find the process quite interesting in that the concept must have been designed to allow for the production of the four pieces to match up. Or perhaps Virtue created one large piece then separated it into four pieces to rejoin together as an interesting presentation of the landscape?

I find these thoughts provoking and would like to look at exploring the possibilities of presenting work in a series within my work. My sketchbook would be an ideal place to look at series work with some thumbnail sketches to begin with.

Landscape No 624 1999-2000 John Virtue born 1947 Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 2002 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T07915

Dr 1, Pt 2, Pr 4, Ex 2 Composition An Interior 30/07/2019 – Ex 3 Material Differences 31/07/2019

In the previous exercise, I produced a loose sketch in the kitchen of a bag of apples and a watermelon (pictured above), which I would have liked to have taken forward into this project. However, my family decided to eat my domestic interior still life scene, so I was left with the fruit bowl and a few less apples. Obviously not my first choice in composition, I have adapted to include these changes in my drawing with the positive feeling that I could still produce the drawing with the same aims that I would have, had the children not eaten the melon…

Below are photographs to demonstrate the different viewpoints that I have taken to see how my drawing would look; cropped, zoomed in/out, portrait/landscape, to one side, above, below etc.

Attention is drawn to foreshortening in the student course notes for this exercise. As ever with my curious mind, a definition search through google wasn’t enough to satiate my appetite for embracing this terminology and its meaning within the artistic environment. One of the books I invested in recently for my life drawing classes that I attend, has this topic discussed further with demonstrations on how to effectively manage foreshortening within the drawing context. The book, Life Drawing by Hester Berry, published by ILEX, 2019, was a welcome resource to my ever growing library, but I didn’t realise how quickly the concepts, such as foreshortening, would be approached and worked with on this course. It is extremley beneficial for me to put into context the terms that I am steadily coming across because it gives me a greater understanding how to apply this new knowledge to my work and my artistic skill set. The book goes on to highlight an artists named Andrea Mantegna, a painter and engraver within the northern Italian Renaissance (according to The Independent: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-the-dead-christ-by-andrea-mantegna-c1480-8160310.html)

The Dead Christ, c.1480, Andrea Mantegna
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/great-works/great-works-the-dead-christ-by-andrea-mantegna-c1480-8160310.html

Here the painting of Dead Christ, 1480, shows an attempt to portray the foreshortening effect, which I feel after studying the painting that it’s almost not quite right in that the feet look a little on the small side, compared to the head, which if foreshortening had occured, the feet would appear larger in scale as the perspective of the feet being nearer would suggest they are closer to the view point. This idea of things closer to the viewer in my drawing is something that need attention; the apples in the bag are closer to the foreground and therefor should appear larger to the viewer than the fruit bowl in the middle to background.

Sketches below are shown to demonstrate how I experimented with viewpoints to see how the drawing would look and feel as a portrait or landscape set up. I used a black Conté stick to describe the main darkest and lightest tonal values, by doing this I was able to see where the positive and negative spaces fell and how balanced and dynamic the overall feel of the piece would be once produced on a larger scale.

Dr 1, Pt 2, Pr 3, Ex 3 Material Differences 31/07/2019

Approaching the exercise was fun and I felt light-hearted that I could produce a really nice result. I was a little concerned that I had no idea which media to use to produce this piece however. After a little work in the sketchbook, I found that with my loose expressive line that colouring pencils, conté sticks and watercolour were my favourites. I I found that the conté sticks gave me a lovely texture with the tooth of the paper plane that I just couldn’t resist and so I selected this medium as I felt it worked well in my sketchbook. However, once the conté was used over the expressive contour line, the black ink was dampened and felt a little lost, which I didn’t pay particular attention to and possibly underestimated this effect on the large A2 scale I would be working. When reflecting on this, I felt that I could have omitted the line altogether and possibly played with the conté sticks to describe the form without the line. Using the loose line gave m confidence to progress forward and I now realise that actually, it doesn’t really add to my drawing, rather takes away and makes some of the drawing appear flat and a little scruffy. Lesson learnt here; try to find alternative ways to use the selected media and understand it’s properties and effects when used in conjunction with other media. However, looking back, the watercolour and the colouring pencils worked quite nicely with the loose ink lines so perhaps, if I were adamant to keep the lines, then these two mediums would have been a better choice.

Experimenting in the sketchbook with different media

The finished piece is quite striking and I am pleased with how the overall feel is presented to the viewer. I feel that the drawing is balanced and makes good use of space (positive and negative) whilst paying attention to the direction of light and how it plays on the textures of the objects and those around them. I felt that the landscape layout was a better choice for this piece as my viewpoint was quite wide and it appears inviting, the open bag of apples drawing the viewer in, then drawing the eyes around the background with the rounded forms within the fruit bowl. I love the effect of the tooth of the paper digging in to the conté sticks to give that orange peel effect, this possibly could have been developed further by adding a shadow grain to emphasise the pitted texture, capturing light and dark pinpricks of tone. As said previously, the loose line I think could take away from this drawing (especially by giving the appearance of a flat sense of depth, drawing the fruit from the middle/background forward) rather than positively add to it, but standing back and viewing this piece, the blending of the tones to describe the forms are quite effective and I find that I am certainly drawn to appetising subjects. I certainly feel the difference of materials within this drawing due to the waxy but smooth appearance of the apple skins compared to the pitted and bumpy orange and grapefruit peel. Thr brown paper bag also offers a little difference with its creases and light reflecting properties from the sheen of the inside of the bag. I could have gone even darker with the shadow within the bag, espeically in and around the apples because it looks like this may have helped bring these items forward and in more focus with an impact and also give a sense of depth and feeling of cavities between the round forms of the apples stacked together.

Finished drawing – Exercise 2 – A composition – An interior

Dr 1, Pt 2, Pr 4, Ex 1 Quick Sketches Around The House 29/07/2019

A spontaneous and free-flowing exercise, this one really appealed to me. I’ve learnt through this course so far that the looser style line is something that speaks to me over the accurately detailed realistic drawings which Im starting to feel, although has it’s own time and place, comes across more clinical. I appreciate the beauty and synergy of the lines that create an image which the viewer perceives and builds the drawing together with their own views and ideas with their life experiences, memories and emotions.

Artist Research

Before embarking on this exercise and putting pen to paper I wanted to take some time out to study some of the artists that were mentioned in the student study course notes.
My initial point of research was with Bridgeman Education where I looked closer at Paula Rego’s work. The photo of her work, The Mother In Law, 1987, quite disturbed me as I’d not been exposed to artwork that represents violence very much before. I really didn’t like the aggressive manner but understood there may be some comedic link with the drawing’s title because of the stereotypical relationships one might have with their mother-in-law.
I also found this photo of another piece of Rego’s work, O Vinho, 2007 (colour litho) initially at:
https://www.bridgemaneducation.com/en/asset/2914431/summary?context=%7B%22route%22%3A%22assets_search%22%2C%22routeParameters%22%3A%7B%22_format%22%3A%22html%22%2C%22_locale%22%3A%22en%22%2C%22filter_text%22%3A%22paula+rego%22%2C%22page%22%3A%222%22%7D%7D

*O Vinho, 2007 (colour litho)*
https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/paula-rego/o-vinho-series-53/14264

I found a similar sense of aggression and weird feeling associated with this piece as with The Mother In Law, 1987. It is hard for me to get past the subject and context of the drawing to appreciate the comedy link with the title of the piece. I do however appreciate the set up of the interior study; there is little background information or tone apart from the red wine that lies on the floor, leaking its contents away because of the drunk who is incapacitated on the floor with the lady straddling him in a rude and invasive way. I notice the grounding of the figures to the plane, representing the floor in which she stands and he lies, yellow ochre and umber colours give clues to the foundations in which the scene is set upon. And in truth, because of the comedy value of the drunk and the simplicity of the humour, it makes perfect sense to keep the drawing simple without drama of the background so without the additional information of the background and a vast portion of blank negative space, the viewer focuses on the story and its humour within the drawing rather than the interior study.

Van Gogh

The National Gallery returned a result for ‘Van Gogh’s Chair’, 1888: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-van-goghs-chair.
This painting presents a simple scene of a sturdy and handmade-looking chair with what appears to be a pipe and handkerchief resting on the seat. The interior scene uses a muted colour palette with contrasting blue walls and red floor tiles and distinctive contour-like lines that surround the perimeter of each form making up the structure of the chair. The background and floor are a little less obvious, perhaps this was the intent of Van Gogh, to create a still life interior scene but put emphasis on the single item itself by using darker lines to outline and the bring the item to the forefront of view and focus. I also notice with this painting that the source of the light is confusing; there doesn’t seem to be an ovbious point where the main source of light is coming from. The back slats of the chair indicate the light is coming from the right hand side of the drawing, but the front right leg of the chair is not rendered with tones that would agree with this. Another example would be that the bottom rung of the chair indicates light coming from above, but yet if the light was coming from this direction, the seat of the chair would also be illuminated but may possibly cause a cast shadow to appear on this rung as it is directly below the seat of the chair which could obstruct the light falling onto it. I questioned why there is no obvious light source in this drawing and how it effects the drawing; are the lighter tones representing light sources or reflected light or maybe they are placed for added interest to the drawing?

I also feel it important to observe that the perspective in this drawing seems slighty off. The box at the back left hand side that is shown to be placed on the floor seems a little higher than it should be if taking into consideration the viewpoint when looking at the tiles and chair positioning and perspectives. I’m not sure if this is intentional but it certainly adds character to the perspective and overall feel of the piece. With the style of rendering to the drawing with paints and the colours used, it does remind me of a more post-impressionist piece rather than realistic. It is interesting when researching into Van Gogh’s life how at the time this painting was completed, Van Gogh was living in Paris and his painting style had changed from using predominantly darker colours in his paintings such as The Potato Eaters, 1885, to lighter more uplifting colours. I assume from piecing together this information and storyline, that the colours of Van Gogh’s Chair, 1888, are within this transistion period of experimentation, which would explain why the colours are almost half way from dark and dull to bright and luminescent. It’s also evident to me after looking at the photos of his work, that the style in which he applies his media to his drawing had changed from soft and blended marks to short dabs, giving a different effect which I believe is the starting of his post-impressionist style. A snippet taken from https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/post-impressionism explains “Van Gogh painted from nature but developed highly personal use of colour and brushwork directly expressing emotional response to subject and his inner world.” and helps to clarify that it was more than experimentation of producing a simple still life, Van Gogh used his artistic voice and the people and environments he surrounded himself with at that time, to develop his work, producing pieces that embodied his emotions, preference for colour and style to describe his subjects. Further research suggests that Van Gogh took inspiration not just from artists in Paris but Japan too. https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/vincent-van-gogh-life-and-work/van-goghs-life-1853-1890/from-dark-to-light states “The influence of the bold outlines, cropping and colour contrasts in these prints showed through immediately in his own work.” This sentence is highly conducive to my thought process and analysis of Van Gogh’s Chair, 1888 discussed above.

Sketched over a couple of days, these quick observational drawings above capture scenes within my home. I felt right to stick to spontaneous and free lines, which in some drawings actually come across scruffy and brash, whilst others seem dynamic and intriguing with various interests created by a looser style line. I have noticed that other than the charcoal drawings, most of my sketches involve lines rather than tonal analysis. I think that when one of these drawings is taken further in the coming exercises, I would like to investigate the tonal variations in the still-life or scene before committing to a purely line-based drawing.

I have noticed that the drawings that felt more hard work than the others are somewhat less-inspiring to me. Because I didn’t feel as engaged, perhaps my creative and imaginative side of the brain wasn’t sparked, so my attitude towards these drawings is evident in the outcome of the drawing itself. I can relate this to playing music in that when playing my violin, thoughts and feelings, mood and energy comes across and can be heard within the delivery of the music, all transferred from me through the bow. We looked at this in the initial exercises where expressions and feelings can determine the style of art that is produced. Perhaps, it is also the case that some shapes and compositions (I had not moved anything into place – only ‘found’ the scenes to draw) appealed to me more and were more pleasing to my mind’s eye, thereby subconsciously creating and embodying a mood and feeling within myself before the drawing was even started with a mark.

I also see that the perspective and scale of the items of furniture suffer a bit here in these quick observational drawings. I made the decision not to use an eraser in these drawings as I felt it would take away from the spontaneity of the line and rather than the drawings being of quick observational noting, they would appear structured and thought about in depth.

You may notice that I have used a pink highlighter to draw attention to my favourite and least favourite drawing within each of the rooms. I did this to highlight the drawings that I thought would be the most and least inspiring for me to take forward and develop. There are some drawings in my sketchbook that I would like to take forward but maybe even use less line and create a piece utilising more of the negative space to ensure the lines do not become too heavy and busy, but still able to describe the shape and form of the objects.

Enjoying the looseness of line here on these two pages. I really liked the experiment of how much less line can be used for a drawing to still give definition and an idea of the subject matter (right side). I also am keen on the bottom left drawing that uses line but tonal variation to describe the form.
R Kaupelis, *Experimental Drawing*, 1980, Watson-Guptill (Crown Publishing Group)

*Front Cover: R Kaupelis, Experimental Drawing, 1980, Watson-Guptill (Crown Publishing Group)*

I have enjoyed researching into this style of drawing in my Experimental Drawing book by Robert Kaupelis. There are a few drawings here in this loose line style of drawing that I am quite drawn to. I have thought about I could use this technique in my drawings. I feel like there is a time and a place for me to deploy these particular methods in my drawings. I had a quick practise in my sketchbook after taking inspiration from these two pages above, especially the class experiment to start with five lines to represent the whole object and then gradually reducing the number of lines finally using only one line to represent the whole form.

Drawing 1, Pt 2, Pr 3, Ex 2 Still Life In Tone Using Colour 01/07/19

This is probably the most difficult exercise I have undertaken so far on the course and I have really struggled with the concept of disregarding the use of line in this composition that focuses on tone. I have to add that the Exercise instructions were a little ambiguous; was I only supposed to use three colours or more? As the following photographs show, my journey with this exercise has been experimental, and I have learnt an awful lot about tone in it’s stand alone use without line.

1st Attempt on A3
2nd Attempt on A3

I understood with the previous exercise that line can be used as a boundary and to describe form by using various techniques. The problem I had here, was there was no line to contain my tonal shading to begin with. Indeed I sketched in the initial dark tones, but I noticed that the perspective of my drawing had become distorted, when this is something I was trying to improve from my previous work and reflection on the blog. On the 1st and 2nd attempt on A3 paper, I seem to have lost some of the spontaneity that the initial sketchbook drawing (very top) held, with the quick sketching of tonal areas for dark, medium and light tones. I also persevered with three colours in this sketchbook drawing, as the course notes suggest, but then changed this when drawing on the A3 paper. I thought this addition of extra colours would bring a better description of tone, which I think has worked in the shells and stones to some extent but not with the large rock and fir cone. They have become flat and scribbly, which was not the look I was after.

2nd attempt with colouring pencils on A3

Using line was easier for me to describe the outline of the shape and if truth be told, using the cross-hatching and the hatchuring, I found it easier to describe form than with blocks of colour for tone in this exercise. Perhaps because my observation of where the light fell in the composition wasn’t as specific as the line drawing composition? Perhaps I haven’t worked solely with tone before, so was not competent as using tone to describe form without line? I think I successfully describe tone with colour in my final piece, and I am quite pleased I went back to restricting myself to a few colours as then my focus turned from making the still-life drawing realistic, to drawing with a pure focus on seeking those tonal areas and describing them, intentionally obvious, to create the drawing that I have below.

Final drawing for Exercise 3 – Still life in tone using colour

I chose the three colours; dark grey (darkest tone), blue (x 2 shades – mid tones) and sand (lightest tone) to give the range of tonal variations in this drawing. Potentially, this drawing could be enhanced further to a more realistic drawing and one way could have been to utilise a wider range of pastel colours and spend time experimenting with how to build up tone, as I have practised with this exercise. I think with my lack of experience in using colouring pencils and pastels to build up tone without line, it would be good for me to spend time investigating how to do this so I am more comfortable in executing this technique further into my artistic journey. To some extent, I feel the focus of this exercise quickly turned into trying to select the right colour rather than competently describing the tones accurately and reflecting on my words above, I can see how easy it was for me to become focused on the colour application rather than the tonal variation and paying particular attention to the shadows and reflected light which could have developed this drawing even further. Possibly without the line, I struggled to place the tonal variation within the composition, maybe I placed too much significance on relying on the line rather than feeling free with observing the tones. I also did get quite frustrated and upset at the state of the pieces I produced in the build up to the final one. I did have to come away and have another go after a good night’s sleep. I’m not sure why I let the spontaneity of the form and lack of order effect me so much, I didn’t enjoy not having a line to work from, however, I now appreciate the learning opportunity from this exercise and feel more confident of the techniques I can adopt and the experiences I learn from not relying heavily on contour lines for a drawing.

Something that I think was a positive change for the last attempt from the previous attempts was my choice to change my chosen type of media to work with, I started with colouring pencils, and then chose to move to pastel pencils. I found that the pastel pencils gave me a softer more even surface area when using the side for broad strokes such as the large stone at the back of the composition. This felt like a nicer texture to work with and I could render larger areas of mid tone that blended nicely into the darker and lighter tones. The depth of the tone was created by varying the pressure of the pencil marks made, which some where made by using the side of the pencil or the point for thinner more precise areas of tone. Looking at the drawing again, I feel I could have applied even more pressure to the dark-mid tone areas on the fir cone especially as the bottom right could be darker to show the shadows that were acting on it and the table on which it rests. I noticed that I had a tendency to get carried away by drawing lines rather than areas of tone, but trying to refrain from the use of line compared to focusing on the tone, I understand that the drawing does not look as detailed as a line-dependent drawing would. The depth was also described by curving the dark tones up the side of the objects and creating shadows using different tones to show where the light was falling. Following Simon’s feedback from Assignment 1, I decided to the leave the paper plane white on this occasion to help the objects in my composition stand out. I can see how (as simon explained) the objects seem rooted down by their shadows, so description of further tone may be unnecessary. I can see how this may not work for every drawing but it certainly is an element of the drawing that I will consider in more depth from now on, due to the way in which it can effect the entire drawing.

Overall, I see how using colour can complicate but ensure character and spontaneity within a still life drawing when observing tone without line. I believe through trial and error, I have successfully drawing a still life composition describing tone with a limited colour palette. There are a few areas I would change when reflecting on my still life piece, which may be, choosing a different or more varied colour palette to work with, observing the areas of varying tones more carefully or spending a longer time on the drawing to get a more accurate drawing (if that is the effect intended) and finally possibly used a paper plane with a smoother surface so the difference in tone on the surface of the objects could be made more obvious without the flecks of colour coming through and disturbing the outline.

Drawing skills 1, Project 2, Exercise 4 – 25/05/2019

First I’d like to exclaim how pleased with how this piece turned out; I was quite hesitant about producing a drawing with charcoal depicting reflective surfaces. It’s something that I’ve never really tried, I assume because subconsciously I knew that I would find it difficult. I produced this piece in two sittings of just over an hour each at different times of the day; looking back at the piece, I can see that this is obvious to the trained eye. I will explain why.
Looking at the position of the majority of shadows on and under the coffee maker, they fall directly below the item, very small and not elongated, alluding that the main light source came from above. The espresso cup on the other hand has a shadow that falls the left with a slightly longer shadow and more obvious gradation of tone in the shadow, which suggests the light was coming from the right hand side, around north-east position. There is also another shadow falling on the table in between the two items and the espresso saucer; (which is made by the coffee maker and the espresso cup handle) I believe this is the reason it is obvious that the shadows were added in different stages because of the way the light sources were playing on them at different times of the day. During the morning, the sunlight from the window acted on the items and cast a short shadow as it is summer, and the evening light, provided by a side lamp to the right, ensured that the length and position of the shadows were changed. I have learnt an awful lot from this situation because this has illustrated the importance of thinking about and looking at shadows, and to ensure that the shadows will fall in the same place if sitting for the piece at different times or with different light sources etc. I’ve also learnt that I can be quite extravagant with the darkest and lightest tones, ensuring that the mid-tones pull the drawing together and blend one to another. I started quite light and left a lot of the white of the paper showing. As I progressed with the drawing, I understood that the mid-tones were needed to meet the darkest and the lightest to ensure that the items were given depth and form; without the gradation of tone, achieve by cross-hatching, lines and dots, blending from one to another, I feel the items would not look as realistic and it would have a flatter appearance, not demonstrating the object’s forms.

However, looking back at this drawing and reflecting on it, I can see what I may have needed a little more observation on the handle of the coffee jug. It appears a little flat, possibly the dark, mid and light tones aren’t successfully worked together here so the eye doesn’t see a three dimensional form. If I revisited this drawing I would work on this item in closer observation and take the time to see how the tones work together.

Although, what also worked for me was taking the time to really observe the shadows but also the reflected light. The metallic, shiny property of the coffee maker looked like quite an advanced surface to depict, but really looking and observing which shadows and light sources were reflecting on it (this was also true of the espresso cup and saucer) I was able to start showing these reflected items in the surface with using the putty rubber to lift out the lighter tones and cross-hatch in the darker tones. I quite like the fact that I now saw more tones in the surface and I was able to produce this by variation of tone.

Pre-Course Study Diary

11/05/19 20:22
Just finished watching three videos examples of ‘mark making’ videos with Jane Lazenby at https://www.oca-student.com/course-area/drawing?taxonomy_vocabulary_9_tid=&page=2. I feel very excited to begin manipulating materials and investigating the properties of different mediums in a way that I haven’t thought about or given a great deal of thought to in previous mark making sessions. I especially enjoyed watching the water-soluble inks bleed when water was added ; I wondered what might happen if I tried to make the my indian ink bleed with other types of liquids, such as: soap, melting ice, washing-up liquid, shaving foam etc.; an experiment to be booked in the diary.

Printed out “Draw, Draw, Draw” from oca-student.com to stick in my sketch book to prompt creativity
https://www.oca-student.com/keeping-sketchbooks/draw-draw-draw

12/05/19 09:00
Spending some time looking through “Introducing Learning Logs” via oca-student.com The OCA encourages me to record my experiences, thoughts, feelings, reflect on my learning activities such as courses I attended, exhibitions visited, books read, discussions had, internet sites browsed, TV programmed watched etc. Although this list has been provided for guidance by the OCA, I feel it is by no means exhaustive. It is also strongly recommended to add personal and reflective comments about the experiences and how they may help with my studies. I truly feel this is accurate. For example, if a scientist didn’t have a hypothesis, how would she know what she was aiming to achieve during her experiment? And if by not experimenting, how would she see what other outcomes were possible? And if no reviewing of the experiment happened, how would the scientist know what was(n’t) successful and how/why it happened? Although science and art can be related, I believe in my ‘experiments’, I will have the opportunity to be a little more carefree and expressive to just ‘see what happens!’.
Reflection is important to me, not just at the end of the project, but as an ongoing piece throughout the development of my work. When looking back at the Learning Log, I will be able to see what problems I encountered and how I overcame them with adapting my techniques. It’s also important to me to keep track of where my studies took me; which websites/artists/practitioners/photographs/prints/documents gave me the inspiration for my next stage of development, not only for reference but also an evidential pathway of my understanding developing as the work progresses.

10:22
Watched “Using a Learning Log for Reflection” with Eileen Adams at https://vimeo.com/25136607. Eileen states “some people never learn from experience” and I couldn’t agree more. However, I also feel it depends on the circumstances as to how I react to a ‘learning opportunity’. I think this is something that will personally challenge me and I will have to be aware of not feeling deflated or upset when an experiment or piece of work didn’t turn out the way it ‘should have’. As my tutor Simon has stated in his email “be open-minded… don’t be afraid of making mistakes and also correcting them” It also implies that a period of learning is taking place, not only when the work is developing, but also within the reflection period immediately afterwards. From previous experience, I have learnt that for me, the most successful reflection analysis happens when the experience is still fresh in my memory, although most of the factual reflection happens a little while after when my writing is not so emotive if the project didn’t go well. So for me, successful reflection happens twice; immediately and a period of at least 24 hours after.

13/05/19 06:00
An Introduction Into Studying in HE
I’ve set up a page dedicated to my studies in this course; please see the page titled as above.

I explored the websites bridgemaneducation.com and artuk.org and found them to be a complete treasure trove; I have bookmarked these websites for future research studies as this wealth of information is overwhelming for me right now.