Life drawing

End of my Introduction to Life Drawing course at City Lit this week, 13 classes on a Monday night. Following drawings done during the course..

1. Most sessions started with several short "warm-up" exercise drawing and rubbing down, in most cases using charcoal, until we had something we were happy with,  and could work this into a final picture. In most cases we worked on an A1 size sheet of paper.

2. We looked at various ways of measuring the figure, and how to approach this through the concept of a space frame. If the measurements indicated something was wrong with your drawing you would rub-down the problem area and re-draw...don't try and get away with leaving something in the drawing that you know to be not quite right... e.g. under emphasising the foreshortening. 

3. Squinting to better understand the tonal qualities of what we where seeing was encouraged..however  black and white pastel was only introduced at the end stage... Last twenty minutes of a 3 hour session.

4. Rubber used as a positive drawing tool to carve out highlights from the  support that was often completely covered with charcoal due the numerous warm up sketches and re workings. 

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5. Had to consider placement of the figure on the paper and be conscious not only of the figure but also of the composition.

6. The drawings should not the hide the process from which they have been created, evidence of re-worked areas in final piece may work in the pictures favour.

7.  Later half of the course we  worked with layers of ink washes over both initial pencil and or charcoal drawings of the figure.

8.  Life drawing but the figure works better when the setting /background are included/defined . Give the work a feel of being complete (as opposed to a figure floating in space),  again helps with the composition. 

9. Paint used to pick out the highlights of the mattress and in some cases highlights and dark tones where mapped rather than completed blocked-in...another visual language which helped pull out areas that may have become flattened as the drawing evolved

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10.  Also worked on two drawings at the same time, switching between the two. Can time spend on one drawing help to inform how you continue with the other,  and or stop you obsessing over one  detail in one picture.    

11. Also encouraged to look at other students work and comment on what works, initially the good points, followed by what would the drawing benefit from. (e.g. less or more detail in the background). 

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Exercise - Plotting space through composition and struture

In this exercise  I have done a number of studies were I am trying to get to grips with aerial perspective, trying to build into the drawing a sense of space by using tone and in some cases details to give the suggestion of a number plains or depth i.e., foreground, mid ground and background.


1) Hedge and gate and tree on the  left make up the foreground, the mid ground is the field on the other side of the gate  and the background is described by the hedge row and distant trees on the opposing side of the field.

2) Colour study (water soluble colour pencils) of the same scene:

3) Colour sketch of a photograph taken in the lake district, far bank of the lake defined by the lighter tone:

4) Re-worked the boat house sketch, clearly defined foliage on the nearside of the lake, darker tones to the stems to help give the appearance of the object being closer to the viewer. Boats on the far side of the bank drawn in a slightly lighter tone to emphasis the sense of distance/ space between the two sides /banks of the lake. Dark area of trees around the boat house to help define this building (note., not as dark as the stem of the weeds/ foliage), mid ground and the tree line beneath the sky is the background. Overcast day so not reflections on the lake.

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Exercise - Drawing statues

Initial, first three,  sketches done from some photographs taken by my son on a school trip, earlier this year, to Italy. Sorry not much detail on the statues.. so far managed to get out of my son that some of the photographs were taken in Pompei.. the interrogation continues.


Sketch one, charcoal, pencil and pen:

Sketch two, charcoal and biro:

Sketch three, biro:

Sketch four, charcoal and water soluble pencil:

Exercise - Drawing cloud formations

Here I have taken a photograph of some rain clouds and worked produced several sketches in different medium I have add the  minimal detail of a house to put the clouds in to context.. I am  not sure they would be immediately  recognisable as clouds otherwise... without the use of coloured medium.



Cloud study 1, Charcoal:

Cloud study 2, Biro:

Cloud study 3, Oil Pastel:

Different set of clouds, from a picture taken across a local car park (October late afternoon). Again like the fact that this fantastic cloud formation was above, from my perspective, something as ordinary as a car park so have included this in the drawing, playing it down by colouring the penned objects in the car park with charcoal against the clouds drawn with coloured soft pastels.

Assignment 2 - Response

As per suggestion of my tutor in here Assignent 2 report  I have been looking at some of the drawings that I can find on line by the artist Oskar Kokoschka. Particularly like his series of sketches of the Thames, will bare these in mind as work through the next section of the course.

His work is very bold and expressive and the mark making is very visible in all his work even when he uses coloured pencils, perhaps due to old habits I see / treat the coloured pencils as a medium for neatly colouring in a drawing but this is not the case with  Oskar Kokoschka's work. 

In the following sketch done from a photograph my son took in Italy on a recent school trip, I was looking for pictures of statues but this picture appealed... Opportunity to think about composition and draw animals using coloured pencil in a more expressive way.

Angry dog:

Have been looking for another plant so that I could revisit the negative space exercise, trying to fill the paper and improve on composition. Found a pepper plant at the local farmers market for one pound, bargin, and felt this would suit my needs two different size peppers and plenty of space between the leaves.

Colour pencil sketch of the same plant:

Exercise - 360 studies

Following sketches done from a photographs taken whilst walking the dog along the river Medway. Particular spot chosen was just along from the Leigh flood barrier, where I could see an arched railway  bridge across the Medway and close by and a boating lake. All the sketches below done with in the 25 minute time frame suggested in the exercise brief.

Given the time I have kept the sketches loose focusing on one object in each of the sketches but making sure  I varied the tone throughout the sketch to help add interest and help the composition.


1. View across the Medway to a tree on the opposite bank. Not entirely happy with the reflection of the tree in the river  though this and the marks I have made help the viewer to read the bottom half of the drawing as water.

2.  View down river from, focusing here on the arches of the railway bridge.

3. View upstream, focus here silver birch on the edge of the river bank. Main shapes initially rendered in charcoal and then redrawn in pencil.

4. View across the boating lake, focus here are the boats and their masts surrounding the club house. More detail in this drawing but I think in lacks the tonal impact of the other sketches.

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Research point - Landscapes of Durer, Lorrain & Lowry

It was not until the 15th century that landscape painting became a genre it its own right, in the western world,  prior to the this landscapes were just garnish in medieval painting of biblical scenes. Durer is considered one of the first western artist of the this period to produce both paintings and drawings of landscapes.

Most of his landscapes appear to have been done in water-colour, and in my opinion, the colour is a lot more intense than the I would have expected for the period.

 My sketch of Durer's View of Katchreuth near Nuremberg 1511

Particularly like the "sketchbook" quality of this landscape some of the other landscape that I could find have overly composed feel about them (e.g. Landscape with woodland pool 1496).  Certainly get a better feel for Durer's abilities as a draughtsman through is animal drawings than I do in his landscapes

Much prefer Lorrain's Landscapes to Durer's (not suggesting that Lorrain is better artist). But again, given the fashion/ tastes of his time,  I find the compositions a little too polished, beautiful building offset by a tree set off centre in the foreground ( e.g., Landscape with the Nymph Egeria)

Two drawings of his pen and ink drawings that I particularly like,  again both have the appearance of sketch, are  A group of trees in sunlight and Landscape.  Would not be surprised if Van Gogh had be influenced by such drawings.


My sketch  of  Lorrain's A group of trees in sunlight:

Lowry landscapes unlike the early artists are less, if at all  romanticised and tell us the viewer about life in a northern industrial city, figures are very evident in his work conveying the hustle and bustle of the life in such a setting as oppose to the solitude of country landscapes with odd figure. His work is very much about the interaction of the setting with the people in it.

My sketch of Lowry's The canal bridge 1949

Exercise - A sketchbook walk

Sketches done in the back garden, overcast October Saturday, not cold but looked as if it could rain at any minute. No strong shadows the only darks in the windows of the shed and house and in the trunk of the cherry tree that appears in all but one of the drawings. Small garden so the cherry tree is going to make an appearance wherever I position my self with a sketch pad.

Leaves have all but fallen from the tree, and I feel that the landscape section of the course has come at the right time..might not get the contrasts in light and darks that come with a sunny day but I prefer to draw the leaf less tree.

A4 sketchpad  and a HB and 4B pencil

1st drawing is off the edge of the conservatory, with wind chime hanging over a chair, (loving polished each year with danish oil - oh the joys of owning garden furniture, rarely find time to sit in it so I'll make it the focal point in the drawing) the chair I have tried emphasise by making the neighbouring plant pots quite dark. steps leading up to a shed, dark patch on shed to indicate window.. conservatory window white, pale blind is drawn in this room (no dark reflections visible).

2nd drawing cherry tree in front of arbour and wall with flower pot standing on it that in front the tree, plants between pot a tree lightly rendered to help give a sense of distance between the two objects.

3rd drawing and possibly my favorite, like the black patches that define the windows and patio door, sitting in arbour looking past the cherry towards then back of the house... confusing patch of graphite in bottom right corner of drawing is a trampoline in front of the conservatory.

Last drawing looking across the garden from side of shed  towards neighbouring houses, altering scale of the v of the roof line and window to, I hope,  give a sense of one house being very much in the background, the second house in middle ground and the cherry tree in the foreground. Tried to hint the mass of ivy that is grow along the fence.

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Research point - Ben Nicholson

In Ben Nicholson work landscape and still life are the two main themes. His focus was on capturing a zen like simplification of the subject matter, it's inner essence rather than a literal representation. His approach was influenced by the cubist movement, and reflected by his use of overlapping planes, but rather than overlapping objects that appear in a cubist still life (I am visualizing a violin and sheet music) he overlaps simplified still life forms (e.g., jugs, cups, bottles) with colour memories from landscapes he had visited (e.g.,Tuscany) or from where he lived (e.g., St Ives). A good example of this can be seen in the work March 14 1952 WBG, see following link:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/ben-nicholson/march-14-1952-wbg-cLWtj11dAwZ0zEVnOK5n0w2


Reference Material: Ben Nicholson  drawings and painted reliefs, Peter Khoroche

Research point - George Stubbs

George Stubbs anatomical studies of horses would have helped inform his final paintings as this knowledge of underlying structure be it the skeletal frame and or the layers of surrounding muscle would have allowed him capture a truer/ more correct representation of the horses form.

In the following studies I have drawn the skeleton of a cat, dog and a horse from photographs found on the internet, on the biro/ink drawing of the skeleton I have placed, the outer form that I have imagined, as suggested by the skeleton, in a layer of smudged charcoal so that the skeletal frame is still visible.


Cat:

Dog:

Horse:

Part Two - Research point 1 - Detailed Drawing

For detailed drawings I immediately thought of  the work of Stephen Wilsthire, Cityscapes drawn on a large scale besides the  quality/ accuracy of the drawing in some cases these picture are drawn from memory. In some of his drawings he introduces colour ( e.g. a yellow taxi a new scene) but I prefer those without colour drawn purely in black pen. 

http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk

For a past artist, pre 20^th century I think of the anatomical studies of Leonardo da Vinci,  following link to an article on the accuracy of his studies  which includes examples of his drawings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17907305

For both artists attention to detail is about wanting to achieve a true representation of their subject matter, possibly more so in the case of Leonardo da Vinci.  Another work that makes me smile (has anybody counted the eyes) drawn out the motivation of scientific research is  Robert Hooke's The Eye and Head of Drone Fly (1665)

Other works that have recently seen (Master Drawings from Mantegna to Matisse, The Courtauld Gallery ) that are perhaps a better reflection of detailed work where you would expect more artistic licence to be at play are the studies for an engraving by Pieter Bruegel  The Kermis At  Hobeken (1559). The drawing depicts a festival in the Flemish village of Hoboken

http://www.pieter-bruegel.co.uk/gallery/engravings/hoboken-mid.jpg

Assignment (D1) Two

In this still life drawing I have chosen to use coloured pencils as personally they push me towards a more controlled/ tighter end result, a better observed and therefore more representational piece of work. That said as part of the preparation for the final drawing, I used other medium (Ink, oil pastel and charcoal) and a looser approach to work out a composition I was happy with.

The still life includes some pears and a purple cabbage and two bottles, the contrasting man-made object as suggested in the assignment brief. Felt the light coloured Williams pears would contrast well with the dark leaves of the cabbage.

I have left the bottles as recognisable forms roughly sketched in pencil, with a straw in each bottle to help link the bottles to the rest of the drawing which is in colour. I think the unresolved nature of the bottles helps to emphasise that the main subjects in the drawing are the pears and cabbage and adds, in my opinion another area of interest in the drawing. In the top left hand corner of the drawing again I have used charcoal for the grey wall behind the scene to add a different texture to the picture.

The table surface I am not entirely happy with but I am not exactly sure what I don't like about, would another layer colour plus the burnishing technique help here...possibly.

Also think I should have made the cabbage dark..though I am sure the tones are true to what I was seeing at the time.

First ideas on subject matter were different to my final choice, mushrooms peppers and a banana skin. I felt the composition, not helped by the subject matter, was following the mistakes I had made in assignment one, too much of a disconnect between each object.



Shitake mushrooms study 1:

Shitake mushrooms study 2:

One of the thumb nail sketch studies for the pears and cabbage still life:

Pears and cabbage still life study 1:

Pears and cabbage still life study 2:

Pears and cabbage still life final drawing:

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Exercise - Fish on a plate

Fish of choice Mackerel, very distinctive tiger strip pattern along the spine against emerald blue colour.  First sketch drawn in acrylic ink with dip pen.

Mackerel drawn in oil pastel using  low odour thinners to blend the colours

Mackerel drawn using water-soluble pencils, using water in the colours on the back and to block in the shadows. light hatching used on the stomach of the fish to indicate the texture of the skin.

Two mackerel on a plate, with one of the fish positioned so that its back is facing the viewer making  the most of the surface with the most colour and detail.  The first study done using oil pastels and  thinners and the second study done using water-soluble coloured pencils.  In the second study I have spent more time on the drawing, focusing again on the pattern on the back of the fish which I think is a key indication of the type fish I am drawing.

As I have possibly mentioned in a previous section enjoying using the oil pastel and the effects that can be achieved when used in conjunction with thinners, such as drawing the black pattern on the fish into a slightly damp layer of thinners.  

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