Here we are again folks, onward to Project 2. This project is concerned with basic shapes and fundamental form: understanding how objects are constructed from 2d planes and how light within a space affects how they look. Exercise 1 asked for a small group of objects to be arranged and, using only one colour, described.
As with any drawing task I’m faced with there are two essential things I need to do before commencing. The first of these is to procrastinate. I need to go into my work space and spend an hour tidying and rearranging my supplies. Although this has often felt like time wasting, I’ve learned it serves two very important functions for me. In reality, it’s preparation under a different guise, a less frightening title. It allows me time to think through what I’m about to embark on and to come up with a vague plan of attack. It also means I can collect together all the materials I think I might need, so that once I’m into it, and the momentum is flowing, I don’t need to stop to find an emergency pencil sharpener. For this exercise, it meant collecting the items I was to draw and setting up an impromptu stage, along with effective lighting. The second essential is warming up; I need to get my arm and brain moving. I have a number of different techniques for this depending on what the actual task is. I might fill sheets of A4 with nonsense scribble, or like in this case, I’ll do a few small study drawings in my sketchbook. I’ll pick an object from my immediate area and draw it, often in various mediums. This not only warms up my drawing muscles but also sharpens the observationist’s eye.
Now that I was ready to get going, I set up the items and turned the light on. I spent the next few minutes moving things around until I had a composition I liked. I didn’t want the items to feel like they had been curated, but had been discovered, as I thought this would make a more engaging drawing. Then in my sketchbook I did a few quick rough drawings. Turning the stage and my view point every drawing allowed me to study the scene from all angles. This gave me the opportunity to be certain of the angle I wanted to depict, but also helped inform me of what was going on behind things when obscured from a particular point of view.
From the rough sketches, I selected the final composition. I chose the first layout as I felt that it
had the most pleasing balance of overlapping shapes and negative space. Thinking about the negative space, I did one more drawing before moving to a larger surface. With some charcoal I tried to only
draw the negative space. I ignored the items and just filled in the shapes that surrounded them. This was very useful, I found it much easier to look at the space and abstract it into simple shapes. This in turn allowed me to be more confident and accurate with the sizes and proportions of the items in the final drawing. Thinking about this put me in mind of David Hockney’s famous swimming pool paintings. His use of sharp angular shapes, the abstraction of both light and form make these works incredibly powerful and intriguing to me.
The surface I chose for the larger drawing was somewhat unconventional. Some weeks ago I had a meeting with the warehouse manager at work. Without going into the boring details, one of the topics for discussion was the company’s waste contract. This got me thinking and I asked him to save me a selection of the large pallet toppers that come in with every delivery. These are pallet sized pieces of double walled cardboard that protect the top and bottom of the stock in transit. I thought they’d be a great (and, very importantly, free) source of unusual surfaces to work on. I have subsequently gaffer taped a few of these to the floor of the main thoroughfares around the warehouse. Hopefully, when I come to retrieve them in a month or so’s time, they will be covered in marks and I can make something interesting from them. Due to the limitation of my work space, I cut the sheet down to A2. I need to find an alternative place in the future if I choose to work larger than A2.
The drawing itself is ok, I’m very happy with the scale. I could definitely see me working bigger than this in the future. I feel I captured the sense that the objects ‘live together’. It has benefited greatly from the study drawings that preceded it, especially the cloth. My main issue with the outcome is that it’s too forced a composition. I wanted to get the feeling of items discovered or found in situ and, on reflection, I haven’t achieved this.
After re-reading the brief and looking at the example image in the course documentation, I was intrigued by the drawing of the jar of pickled onions (well, they look like pickled onions to me). I thought it would be good to try and draw something that had things within things. One of the items from my group of objects was a commemorative box of R2D2 golf balls. So, using two coloured pencils, I proceeded to draw the outer box, the inner boxes, and then the balls themselves. Although
not a great piece of drawing, it was a fun and informative mental exercise. Trying to work out the proportions of objects that you know are there, but
can’t see.
In other news……..
This Christmas I have been very fortunate to be the recipient of a few amazingly exciting art related books. It would feel very remiss not to let you all in on the bumper haul and my initial thoughts.
The Life and Works of Jean-Michel Basquiat - Tashen
This enormous, spine shatteringly heavy book is amazing. It comes in a cardboard carry case with a handle and nearly crippled me on Christmas day carrying it back from the in-laws. It has reproductions of all his major works over 500 pages, some of which fold out, which is always exciting. The quality of the printing and the sheer size allows you to really get in close with the work. Did I mention it’s amazing? Well it is. Did I also mention I love this guy’s stuff? This book will definitely not be gathering dust on the shelf. So much to look at and learn from here: the naive mark making and the astonishing use of colour juxtaposed with the almost tribal black figures really makes me want to paint.
The Story of Art (14th Edition) - E. H. Gombrich
One of the advantages of having a former art teacher as a mother-in-law is that you get given gems like this. This was her go to art history book when she was doing her fine art degree.
To be honest, I haven’t had a deep dive into this one yet, but
from a quick look at the introduction, I can already tell this book isn’t going to be a bind to read and will be an incredibly informative and useful reference.
Rembrandt - Typex
Last year I had the pleasure of visiting the major Rembrandt exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It was mind blowing and will live with me for a very long time. Getting up close to the master’s hand, being able to see the skill in which he could create feeling and form with so few lines. This
graphic biography of the aforementioned master by Dutch cartoonist Typex (Raymond Koot), was one of the books I would have bought from the museum at the time, if only they had had a copy in English. This has now been added to the collection and I look forward to giving it a good read.
The Hobbit Sketchbook - Alan Lee
Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m one of those Tolkien nerd types. I’ve loved the stories of Middle Earth ever since my mother read The Hobbit to me as a child. Alan Lee is one of the foremost
Tolkien artists and is my absolute favourite. He has made a career bringing Tolkien’s world to life through his illustrations and paintings. This book contains mostly pencil sketches from his time as a conceptual designer on the Hobbit trilogy
of films. The guy’s pencil control is astounding and shouldn’t be sniffed at just because he mainly works in fantasy. It’s also
a signed copy which makes it that much more special, thanks Dawn.
OK that’s your lot for now, beef ragu and a nice glass of Sauvignon, me thinks.
Happy scribbling
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