Living in the North of England, I was never going to struggle for reference material for this exercise. The weather changes frequently and doesn’t shy away from the dramatic. That being said, if I draw what’s outside the window right now it would look something like this:
Sorry, bad joke, but looking out of the window is what I did for this exercise. Before I picked up a pencil, I tried to look at the sky in a new way. It’s true to say that familiarity breeds contempt, the sky is always above you, and unless some serious weather is happening, it’s easy to not see the clouds and their infinite variations. So, like the previous tree based exercises, I needed to allow my self to really look the sky.
Along with looking at the real thing, I also explored some work by other artists to see what I could learn. Here are a few examples of works I found informative:
If you ask most people to conjure an image in their mind of Turner’s work, what would it be? I’m almost certain they would think of a dramatic seascape rendered beautifully, dripping in romanticised light. But what I conjure is something differently, I have been looking at a lot of his preparatory works and sketchbooks. These have a speed and dynamism to them that make them very informative. This image in particular has a high level of contrast, it feels alive. It doesn’t take very much effort to hear the rain or the crashing of storm whipped waves.
Ackroyd is best known as an etcher and printmaker but his published sketchbooks are a fascinating insight into his process. They demonstrate an amazing understanding of light and how it can effect the viewer. A few years ago I had the privilege to attend a demonstration by the man himself. He talked and worked in front of an assembled gathering of about one hundred people as though he was in his own living room. What was fascinating was how he used his watercolour sketches, done on a boat, plain air. He could vividly remember having painted them, what the weather was like, what the sea conditions where like. They where a physical short cut to his sense memories, allowing him to time travel and etch on the boat.
I know I began this blog with a bad joke, but looking at the work of Norman Cornish demonstrates quite how bad a joke it was. This painting demonstrates what skilled observation can allow an artist to achieve. Training yourself to see what is really there and interoperating it into paint, rather than allowing the brain to fill in the spaces with a lower resolution place holder. I recognise this sky, I feel like I’ve lived under it all my live, but until now never really seen it.
So, to work, I executed all these drawings in a single day. All were drawn from life, looking out of my window, on a particularly changeable day. We had a bit of everything that day: clear blue skies with fluffy balls of cotton wool dotted around, to heavy leaden, ‘better bring the washing’ in skies.
They were done with charcoal pencils and white chalk. Although reasonably happy with them, mastery of the sky won’t come with one afternoon’s efforts. That much is obvious, I will endeavour to not ignore the sky and try to make it an active participant in my landscapes going forward.
This drawing was done in white and grey marker pen. I’d been watching a documentary about early computer graphics and how 3D objects in the computer are created using flat planes and progressive shading. It was an experiment which after a few attempts I abandoned. I couldn’t resolve the picture in my head. I’ll file it away for another day.
Having spent some time observing the sky, I wanted to test myself. I would try and create an image from my imagination while attempting to keep it realistic. Not quite there yet, am I?
This small ink study can best be described as a doodle, it was done with a fountain pen starring out of the window. When in reality, I should have been concentrating on the blog I was writing at the time. The writing part doesn’t come all that easy and being distracted is almost inevitable.
This final drawing was done from a photo reference, I wanted to attempt some really extreme weather. Waiting for a massive thunder storm, then running out into it to draw isn’t advisable, so I had to settle for a photo. For the first time in this drawing, I approached a level of contrast I was happy with. There is something evil and powerful in a thunder cloud and this attempt came the closest so far to capturing this emotional response.
And so, we reach the end of another exercise and barrel head first into the next.
Happy Scribbling.
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