Thought for the day

I have been giving a lot of thought to the possibility that we all, ultimately,  draw and paint ourselves. Looking at other people work, seeing the ages of people, the recent experience of the Open Studios and remembering how I painted when I was young, it seems to me that I was more interested in reflecting myself than being objective. It was quite unconscious but all my figures looked how I saw myself. All landscapes reflected my inner state of angst. My drawing was spiky like my youthful awkwardness.

It over several years that I started being more objective and started actually looking at what I saw. This drawing course is making it clear that, to begin with, it is all about detailed observation. There are three levels of this degree course and by the time I am at level three, I might be combining the skill of drawing with a little more insight, knowledge and intellectual application of an artist.

I have trouble with the detail because I am used to painting more loosely.  Doing what I am told is always difficult as I want to go off at a tangent all the time.

How we draw is like our handwriting. We learn to shape the letters, learn a style and then, over the years how writing who's who we are.
Perhaps the exercises are like learning the letters. How we put it all together comes later. My dilemma is starting at a late age, having painted for many years and then going back to the beginning.

Sketches on IPad of Animals

 The first sketch of Kate's peacock. Sitting on the windowsill looking smug.
This was a very quick sketch as the peacock was moving away just as I got my IPad out. I really wanted to get the angle of his head.

















Very quick sketches of the peacock displaying its feathers from the front and then, more interestingly, from the back. He was turning round and as he turned he showed this amazing flurry of fluffy feathers and the humour of the contrast with the posing and then the ridiculous backside more more obvious.

A couple of hens...

I found this very difficult as they were moving so fast and I did not know how to do it! I need a lot of practise at this!


















Eric Bloodaxe asleep.. This was easier as Eric was still. I wanted it to show the angle of his head, tucked into his body with the sense of relaxation that comes from deep sleep.

This was done using the app, sketchbook, instead of brushes. I liked the ability to get the texture, colour and then lines on top. It was a more sophisticated app but took longer to learn how to use it.

On the whole, I really enjoyed drawing with the IPad but I have only touched the surface ( no pun intended! ) and I think it will take a lot of practise to master in order to have more choices.
Drawing animals, however, will take a lifetime and will be constant work in progress.

Animals

This is from a sketch I did on my IPad whilst visiting my friend Kate who has at least five peacocks. They were roaming around, flying onto the window sill and generally being noisy and lively.

I put a lot of water onto watercolour paper , with a long bristle brush, then started sketching with a watercolour pencil. I added marker pens to it, inks and more pencil.

What I wanted was the angle of the peacock looking into the window, balancing on his claws and staring at the reflection of himself. Apparently they are extremely stupid, all show and no brain. The obvious thing was to draw while he had his feathers up in full display but I wanted to get the extraordinary shape of the body and just give an impression of the show of colour.

I will work on this to get more detail but this is the start.

I was amused to see how incredible they are from the front when they are posing for their mate but from the behind, they look ridiculous. I wanted to capture the arrogance and posturing while trying to indicate how dim he was.

The chest thrust out was highlighted by the dark shadow agains the lighter part of the window as was the right side of his tail highlighted by using complimentary colours. Against the lemony green I used purplish watercolour pencil.

Forth Valley Open Studios

Welcome to the Forth Valley Open Studios 2012

This week I have been open to the public, showing all my paintings and prints. It has been really interesting to meet the general public and get their feedback as well as other artists.

What has been so helpful is the comments and reaction of a wide selection of people and so this is a reflective criticism of how I feel so far this week.

I am very aware of the difference of showing work to the public and the work done through the OCA. As a student I am pushing myself, trying different media and getting criticism from my peers and tutor. My mind is on expanding and thinking far more on what is required, meeting deadlines and trying to figure out out what the instructions are about.
Drawing and getting either detail or texture is not what is shown to the public and so I am feeling quite split in two.
There is definitely a difference in my old way of painting and what I am trying to understand through the OCA. It is still early days with the course and so I am not sure how to articulate what it is yet.

The people who have seen my work this week have been to many other artists across Scotland and so I am compared to them. Also, the other artists have been here, we are all trying to visit each other, and so I am trying to see where I fit.

Most people have commented on the energy, colour and movement in my paintings. The combination of musicians, seeing my harps and instruments has intrigued most people. They see the connection and like the fact that to paint musicians, it is almost necessary to play.
Like writing, it helps to do what you know most about. Everyone comments of how the musician paintings show the intense connection with the instruments.
Also, the still life paintings and seascapes are a reflection of the things I love most. People mention that they can see how much I am drawn to these things in the paintings.

It has taken quite a few weeks to get everything together and now I can't wait to get back to drawing fruit and vegetables. The peace and quiet of my studio is going to be welcome relief as it the next exercise is constructed.

All this has made me see more the value of the OCA course and also to remind me not to lose what works for me. I want to change through the OCA work and hope to combine all elements.

Thought for the day

So far I have done the exercises, followed the instructions and done what I was told. However, I am aware that I am not doing anything original or inventive. Perhaps it is enough to just get through the studies but think more about the assignments. I need to improve my drawing and also learn about the different media. This is not going to happen overnight and there is a lot of practice to be done. Thinking of something original to say whilst battling with coloured pencils is perhaps not necessary!

I have seen many students have fantastic ideas but let themselves down on the drawing and this course is about drawing skills not concept skills. Perhaps the ideas will come when I start thinking about naturals forms and how to decide on what to do after I have mastered flowers and animals. Perhaps not! Knowing that it is on my mind I will be more aware and keep it in mind while constantly reviewing composition of everything I do.

 So far my compositions have been very similar and consist of objects herded together, taking up most of the space on the paper. It might be time to review that and include more of the surroundings and place objects in a different way.

Hatching with pastels

This exercise was fun as I really like pastels. However, trying to the tone, form and general composition was a challenge.
The problem with vegetables is that they are far too bright and loud!

I have realised that my compositions are all much the same. Lots of things together, taking up most of the page and on A3.

Things will change but for now I thought it best to just concentrate on getting used to the different mediums. I also tend to draw the vegetables the size they are rather than enlarge them. To enlarge the picture while looking at it means doing the adjustments in my head. The exercise on enlarging an image using the grid system might be more appropriate for doing larger pictures later on. The thought of larger than life fruit and vegetables seemed a little nightmarish.

The start of wild marks.

Stage two

This was the start of the still life. I attacked it like a painting. On the easel, pastel held at arms length.


The next step was to put some tone in and lay out more shapes.

Finished

The finished drawing was more or less what I intended. A bit of cross hatching, indication of cauliflower leaves, tone and shadows with items nestling together for warmth!

Because I did not want to include the top of the cauliflower, I deliberately made it lighter and looser in order not to dominate the overall composition. I wanted the eye to move from the mushrooms to the apple, to the pak choy and let the cauliflower become part of the background.

But now for the next pastel attempt!

First I put an ink wash over watercolour paper size 16ins x 20ins. I roughed in some pastel then used a brush full of water to splatter over it. 

When that was dry I used dipping pen, more pastel and tried to draw some shape into it to pull it together. I put blue and brown pastel to deepen the shadows and pale yellow to highlight the brightness of the fruit.

The next thing was to refine the pink towel and "fluff it up" a bit with breaking up the line and using stipples and dots.

The patterns on the cup and saucer over colours that reflected the colours of the jar holding the brushes had to balance in order for the apples to really jump out. The cafetiere drawn so as to not overpower the composition. The light kept changing and so the highlights move around a bit. 

I feel that my first watery attempt has the most life about it and the third drawing is in danger of being overworked. However, on the whole I think it is more interesting than the previous drawing.

I have noticed that this is very similar to the man made still life that I submitted for assignment 1.

The composition is similar and the object are similar. However the process is slightly different and the addition of apples with strong light and shade combined with the looser application of pastel I think show progress. I think it is less static and has more colour and more subtlety. The texture of the towel behind the jar adds to the contrast, the depth of the shadows is what my tutor recommended for future still life studies. 

Coloured Pencils versus My Sanity!

This exercise caused me the most problems of all so far. I tentatively started it by using water colour pencils. This rapidly became an excuse to mess about with water and lose all sense of detail. I don't think it is too bad a a quick sketch but it is not a coloured pencil study indicating form or tone.

















The next few attempts were with the coloured pencils and were a complete disaster. I could not get any colour, any tone and lost the will to live after a few hours of nick picking with a sharp point which was getting blunter by the minute. I could not get the colours to mix. How to get the creamy light on an onion with such hard colours? Where is Naples Yellow when you did it?..
This is the best of the bunch and an utter failure. An onion it is not! Disaster!!!

Time to ask for help. After an email to my tutor who very nobly rang me up, talk some sense into me and pointed me toward David Hockney, I decided to try again on coloured pastel paper. At least I could use the white pencil with more success and I took her advice in being more creative with the colours. The result is better but I don't like it.
It is on A4, life size and to me looks slick, unfinished, stuck and lifeless.

I feel that I am not going to be a fan of coloured pencils but they will probably come in useful for life drawing, or quick sketching. As I love using colour, they were very disappointing to try to mix, impossible to get any life into them. I will persevere but they are not my favourite medium.

The final result