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.

5)

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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