Exercise - Using Texture

I definitely hit a wall with this section, as you may have noticed from my previous entry. However, I have now finally completed the exercise for the ‘Using Textures’ section. It wasn’t a case that I lost confidence it was more that I was unable to open up my mind to see textures I could draw. I am actually quite pleased with the outcome of my ruffled fabric and wooden woven basket thumbnails.

I also wanted to experiment with texture in nature and used various mediums and tools to create drawings with a nature theme. I really enjoyed this mini project and really like the level of texture I was able to create using twigs, leaves and flowers. I feel this had the most visual impact rather than drawings I did using colour pencils and water colour pencils. These were achieved through printing; dipping the objects in acrylic paint and pressing them on to the paper. I now need to move on to the final drawing for the using texture section. I would like to use the wicker basket and ruffled fabric as I feel these were my strongest images.

Motivation Dip

I have had a motivation dip which has so far lasted one month! Which is really not good when I should have submitted my first assignment a month ago.....?

I am not sure what is causing it, I think it is because I have lost interest in the exercises and just want to do the assignment. I am also anxious about starting the next assignment, which is the human form. I know I am going to be rubbish at it! So now, my mind has already moved on and I am struggling to pull it back to concentrate on the current assignment. Also, I am currently doing the ‘using texture’ exercises and this is an area I am really weak in. I completely lack the attention to detail required to be able to recreate a good level of texture in a drawing. My brain is just not tuned in to be able to recreate what I see onto paper! I have begun to think my strengths would probably lie in abstract art!

I am definitely concerned that my drawings are not going to be strong enough for a good grade on my first assignment. This is one of the many issues that a distance learning student faces, we lack the benefit of support and inspiration from fellow students. I have been thinking of joining a local drawing and painting workshop for beginners, I think this will really help develop my skills and boost my confidence a little. I am definitely going to do life drawing classes for my next assignment. Ideally I would like to leave the drawing figures assignment to last!!

I plan to complete the textures drawing this evening and submit my first assignment in a weeks’ time.

Still Life - Natural Objects

For the composition of natural objects I chose a selection of fruit, vegetables and eggs. My first sketch included leeks, celery, eggs, lemons an orange and a potato. I tried to position the objects in a way which would be interesting, so I placed the celery on top of the leeks and then the round shaped objects on the end. I did like the composition of this image, however felt that the celery made it feel too busy and complicated. 

My second sketch I kept all the other items in the same place but practised more with empathising tone and form. I still felt like the image didn’t feel coherent and felt the round objects looked more separated from the leeks. I didn’t want to remove the leeks as I felt they helped achieve a good level of consonance. I decided to try another composition and also use colour and on a larger scale in landscape rather than portrait. 

I did a very quick and rough sketch of the new composition before doing a final drawing, just to make sure it would like ok on paper. I also did a few practise sketches and colour experimentation on a spare piece of paper, just to help me understand which would be the best colours to use. 

I am very pleased with the final drawing and feel I used colour correctly to represent tone and form. I have noticed however I didn’t manager to achieve the full shape of the eggs and potato, they seem a bit flat or squashed. I still managed to end up with the orange going off the page but I kind of like that because it helps to lead the eye across the page. I think the shadows could do with being darkened, I did try to recreate the shadow that feel from the lemon on to the leek and did achieve this, however it is a bit lost without a dark shadow underneath to give it substance. Overall I think it is a good composition with the colour adding consonance to the image.