Research - Working with line

Have been researching the works of David Hockney and Charles Rennie Mackintosh for ideas on working with Line.

I have assumed with drawing the if  I try and produce on paper what  I see in front of me then a I should be moving in the right direction and my drawing would in prove the more  I practised this...thinking that the lines, the type of marks, I made would stay the same but my drawings would move closer to correctly capturing the subject matter and this would result in a successful outcome. Now I am beginning to understand that the successful outcome is more than how realistic your picture is...variety of marks, composition, choice of of colour amongst others are all factors in creating a good drawing... obviously aware, or it is my believe at this level, for this course, that I should avoid being overly illustrative

When I look at the drawing of Hockney and Mackintosh I think they have sense of realism, draughtsmanship skills are apparent, but there is also and illustrative quality about the work that doesn't compete have too strong a say in the finished work.


My copy of  Hockney's  drawing of W H Auden

This drawing appealed, the sense of weight /mass you get in shoulders and hands in just few number of lines and with no shading/tones

With Mackintosh's drawings  I see the influence of Japanese prints, two dimensional pictures with very flat washes of colour. The floral subject matter again borrowing from Japanese works, traditionally more accepting, than the West, of taking their subject matter from nature. His work I find more stylistic than Hockney's but this is probably influenced by the fact that Mackintosh was an architect and designer during the arts and craft movement.

Exhibition Visited - Leon Kossoff

Article in the week magazine drawing my attention to the exhibition, selection of charcoal drawings by Leon Kossoff,  London landscapes selected from works produced over the past 60 years. Liked the drawing the magazine had included in the article and after looking at some of the images of Leon's work I decided to treated  myself to an extended lunch break (I'll make up the hours... honest) to visit the exhibition.

All the work have drawn with strong/ energetic linear marks, which helps to intensify the sense of perspective in some of the drawings  (e.g., Willesden Junction (1962)) and in others adding to the feeling of busy urban life (View of Ridley Road  street market (1975)).  All drawings and paintings used a limited colours palette, the drawings mostly done in charcoal with the addition of no more than two or three pastel colours, helping to define the sky, foliage on trees and in the Arnold Circus series the red brick work of the buildings (quick look on Google street view to make sure I was happy with the choice of red).

In all drawings the limited palette in keeping with the subject matter of the London city landscape, but for me his drawing are about the marks rather than the colours. The paper crowded with confidently applied marks that all appear to be trying to grab your attention with very view areas of quite (e.g.,wall above entrance of station in The Flower Stall, Embankment Station 1994)... I am sure this helps replicate the feeling of a being in a busy place, stuck in the hustle and bustle of city centre.

Blind Contour - Hand Studies

Exercise suggested by the tutor in last assessment, had tried this recently when drawing the sheep's skull and found results all though wrong in the sense that the accuracy/realism that I would achieve if I was looking at the paper and assessing the marks I was making as I drew was not there... the lines, although mine, had a life of their own.

The same results where true of my hand studies. I took my time whist making the marks alway looking at my hand however I felt I could go slower but worried that if I did I would then start to loose sense of where I was in the drawing in term of what parts I had already drawn and  scale.  Also holding your hand up and keeping it and fingers in one position for a period of time is a challenge in it's self

After performing the above blind contour studies, I did two studies where I allowed my self, as normal, to look at the drawing.  Perhaps I had my drawing head on the evening when I was doing these hand studies but the drawing seem to go smoothly, didn't introduce and errors that are obvious to me or struggle to much with the study....perhaps performing a blind contour drawing would be a good/ useful warm-up  before starting other drawings in future.

Exercise - Torn paper collage (option 2)

Studies towards collage..



1. Thumb nail sketches, working out composition

2. More thumb nail sketches

3.  Smaller collage  studies thinking about colours and the combination of paint with the collage

Looking the above studies I think I go with a three quarter view of the skull that fills most of the paper, less abstracted representation of the skull and quieter background but staying with the blue and the green.


In the final piece, for this exercise,  I coloured some cartridge paper with watercolour prior to tearing it into strips, the intention here was to have a more subdued background than I felt could be achieved taking pages/pictures from a magazine.

Wanted to highlight the fact the picture was a collage and allowed a certain amount of space between the pieces of torn paper, also used a dark mount for this reason.  Not sure I am entirely happy with this decision.

Happy with the rendering of the skull in the more closely joined/overlaid pieces of paper...

Detail of skull, yes need to consider cropping this work...

Exercise - Line drawing (option 2)

Blind contour drawings, apparently drawing the subject with out looking at the drawing forces your brain to work in a slightly different way (left and right side both getting involved) practicing this can have a positive impact when you  go back to drawing in a normal manner .

Although there are obvious issues with the drawing, I was surprised that the end result was still recognisable as a sheep's skull and how a sense of symmetry is present ( eyes and horns) given that in all three drawings I was working slowly from left to right. 

Exercise - Introducing colour (option 2)

Colour studies, the first two produced using oil pastel which I enjoy using, the medium which suits my heavy handed fast approach... certainly not a medium that allows you to be to concerned with detail ...will not the way I use it.


1:

2:

In both drawings I switched of the spot light I had been using too generate strong tonal contrasts, switching of the light and allowing indirect natural light to hit the skull's suface allowed me to see/identity more colours...pinks, blues, yellows and greens.