Observing Negative Space and Perspective

Looking at the outlines of my selected objects, I followed the instructions and drew the line from the left side of the paper. Secondly I when back to the starting point and retraced the table line but this time I drew the lines of my object under the table level, after which I filled in the details of the basic outlines. The whole time I spent concisely looking at the negative spaces and the picture as whole.

The same exercise was attempted without taking the pencil from the paper. This was more difficult than I thought it would be, and I tried to resist the temptation to erase the mistakes made to start over and correct them.

Using Texture

Some more experiments with making marks, this time to show texture. Not all of them worked as well as I hoped, although one showed a stunning effect I didn't expect. One of my squares I painted with a very wet wash of orange watercolour then sprinkled dishwasher salt on it. As it dried the salt drew in the colour leaving deep rings of colour where it had been. It is a shame that the photograph here does not show the sparkle the salt left behind.

Having practiced with texture marks, I attempted a picture which would show texture to the maximum. The bath puff worked well I believe along with the sacking around the soap, but the face funnel I'm not happy with at all. I started the drawing with tinted charcoal and found that the colour range was not suitable so finished the picture with soft pastels.

I really enjoyed looking around the house and garden for textured surfaces for the frottage section and have shown some of the results here. This simple but effective effect gave me inspiration and I used this technique to make a cover for my A3 sketchbook below.

Check and log

I have discovered some interesting new ways of making marks to show texture and I'm now more excited about experimenting with different techniques and materials. Things that would not be first thought of as for drawing or painting, such as the salt experiment above.

It is clear that I do need extra work on my form. I found myself wanting to shade and hatch where I knew it was not appropriate when showing textures.

The technique of frottage is something I will be studying more. I loved the whole process of looking for items around the home and garden to use for my rubbings of crayon and graphite sticks. I want to spend more time on looking into ways of making pictures with these markings. I was compelled to just cut them out and make collages from them, as the above sketchbook cover.

Composition of Natural Objects

For my composition of natural objects I selected two apple halves, some grapes and what I believe to be the most beautiful fruit when cut in half, the kiwi.

I just love the the colours and the rough texture of the kiwi and although challenging, I wanted to have a go.

Once I had drawn my objects in 2b pencil, I realized the upside down apple piece did not work, so I removed that and took to my pastel pencils to add colour to the page. I think the end result is not so bad, the kiwi is ok also the apple, and the grapes work really well. I am struggling with certain shapes and had difficulty drawing the plate on this occasion.

Check and Log

I think it is easier to show three dimensions on man made objects. Natural forms are inconsistent with shape so any shadow, highlights and shading do not follow any regimental shape or lines.

My composition showed a sense of solidity due to having the objects overlapping each other, having them next to or slightly behind one another. The shadows becoming one underneath the composition as well as having a feeling of depth about the picture as a whole.

When changing composition of my arrangement it changed the why I approached the drawing. Different objects became the focal point in each arrangement, although the technique is still the same to create form.

I choose to position myself looking slightly down on the objects to show ample shadow falling from the composition. The fruit arrangement was influenced by the uppercut side of the kiwi and a little of the textured skin underneath showing through. The shadows and the way the highlights reflected off the objects influenced me for my view point on the man made objects.

Still Life Sketches of Man Made Objects

 For my first sketch I chose five objects, a lipstick, the lipstick lid, mascara, nail varnish and a nearly empty bottle of perfume.
I liked the composition but felt it was a little busy for a small sketch.

I used pencil and cross hatching for the shading. I used the pencil on the side for the frosting on the perfume bottle, and picked out the highlights with a rubber.

Having taken out two objects I liked this composition much better. It was less complicated and I liked the balance of the three items

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Next I wanted to test some new pastel paper. As I've never used this before I first used charcoal. I loved the effect of the heavy grain and only need to add more pressure for the shading. With such a bright arrangement I couldn't leave it at that and wanted to show the colours in my sketches. I used pastel sticks and pastel pencils. The sticks were harder to use and mainly relied on the pencils and rubbed in the dust with a contour stick to make really dark shadows and highlighted with white soft pastel.

Check and log - Cast Shadows

The cast shadows fall from an object and will have different gradations. On that casted shadow you may have the reflection of the object's colour on it as well as the objects contours and highlights. The reflected shade and light work in the same manor as the cast shadow but with different contours. Also the reflection of the object will bounce back on to itself, especially on a shinny surface.

The first lesson in depicting realistic reflected shading and lighting is learned in the power of observation skills. Once you have learned how to see an items contours and its different shading in the shadows, you can then concentrate on showing this in your drawings. I found I had to keep looking at the angle of the contours as I was drawing as they do not always follow the same lines as the original object and will often refract, therefore they will not always be a mirror image. This can be shown in careful shading and highlights as you would if it were the solid object.

In the style of Patrick Caulfield

I spent some time researching Patrick Caulfield's work to enable me to produce a piece of work in his style. I choose to use A4 sketching paper and coloured charcoal for my picture of a jug. I wanted to draw shadows under where the handle would be to give a feeling of depth within the negative shape and inverted the shadow to give an illusion of 3 dimensions to my 2 dimension drawing.

I will be repeating this exercise at a later date, as I would like to try this style again but with other mediums such as acrylic paints.

The following pictures taken from www.bridgemaneduation.com influenced me in the above drawing.

Reserved Table, 2000 (acrylic on canvas)

Caulfield, Patrick (1936-2005)

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK

Lantern (screenprint)

Caulfield, Patrick (1936-2005)

St. Mary's Hospital Paddington, Art...

PAD 344270

Shadows and reflected light and shade

I loved this exercise working on a large scale. I've never worked on anything larger than A3 paper so looking down at a clean A2 sheet was at first a little scary. The large sweeping movements of the charcoal had me lost in my own world and concentrating on where my next mark would be. This is probably one of the first pictures I've not had the rubber next to the page waiting to be used. I was determined not to make any mistakes which would result in starting again. The light was coming from almost directly above which made the reflections and shadows more of a challenge to record in my work, and my putty rubber may never be the same after lifting out the highlights.