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.

Still Life Man Made Objects - Final Sketches

I continued to practise man-made objects as still did not feel satisfied I had worked on it enough. I chose to go back to black and white and used charcoal pencil for me initial sketches. I also wanted to focus on developing my observation and recreation of detail as this had been lacking so far in my sketches. That is the reason for my initial sketch of the bow necklace as I wanted to practise the detail and tone and form at the same time. I feel that sketch was a good improvement on my previous sketches.

I then went on to experiment with composition and consonance, composing an image of a jewellery box, necklace, earrings and lip gloss. I really enjoyed the sketch and liked how I had positioned the necklace sloping out of the jewellery box. Without it, the box would not have looked like a jewellery box and it may have been confusing to viewer. I did feel that the lip gloss distracted the eye from the rest of the sketch and so went on to remove it. I also wanted to change medium as the charcoal pencil used in the sketch prevented me from recreating clear detail.

The final sketch of this composition was using lead HB pencil. I felt the image was a lot calmer without the lip gloss in it and it made more sense. I did focus more on detail in this sketch, however I noticed that I then held back on the tone and form! Overall it is a good sketch though I feel.