PART 1: EXPLORING COMPOSITION – project 4 – The human form

The object of this exercise is to create a drawing which leads the eye of the viewer into the overlapping twists and turns of the limbs of the human form.

I have made two drawings for this exercise – the first one is the combination of two combined body parts. Two hands clasped together! The tension of the hands together can be seen in the veins showing under the skin of the arms and in the tightness of the skin over the knuckles, The hand underneath is in a more relaxed state with the structure of the fingers slightly relaxed. I feel that I have retained the sense of tension in the image. As far as adding another dimension to the image, I always feel that hands can have a special emotional dynamic. Clasped hands indicate a story – are they the hands of the same person or two different people? What is the emotion which has brought these two hands together? I think the sensitivity of the drawing leaves the viewer space to consider these kinds of ideas, thereby bringing the viewer into the image.

For the second drawing I took a more complicated view of the human figure, showing different planes. The lighting emphasises the structure of the forms and the tension of  the muscles also giving a dramatic effect to the drawing. There is not the curving element of the limbs guiding the eyes in and around the figure but the composition is about different planes which guide the eye. The limbs certainly are not floppy but illustrate the strong tension of a crouching figure.

PART 1: EXPLORING COMPOSITION – project 3- changing the scale

Project 3 – Changing the Scale

Aim: The focus of this project is to explode notions of scale and experiment with an extreme change of scale to achieve a powerful drawing….

The starting point of this project was to assemble a collection of small objects and then to make a drawing of a section of this image which could be enlarged to create a landscape view or architectural detail. I collected some buttons, pieces of bread which had been cut into cubes for the birds, some old pegs and some elastic bands. A handful of these items were then placed on the table with no attempt to arrange them.

Using a frame I took different sections of the arrangement for drawing.

From a small quick sketch of one of these I drew an enlargement. I spent quite some time trying to see how I could use this image in a larger context of the landscape around me. This wasn’t easy and challenged the imagination.

Initially, the shapes and lines of the image were beginning to suggest ‘puddles’ and so I used a coloured pen to redraw the lines of the circles and rectangles. By this time the imagination was flowing and I felt the excitement which comes when the ideas are beginning to show themselves.

Before taking the idea further I went back to several photos I’d taken of puddles and moving water. This proved a further stimulus to the imagination and so I began to work on this idea.

On a larger sheet of watercolour paper I redrew the image using the dropper and acrylic ink. I was tempted to use watercolour but at this stage, I didn’t want to be beguiled by the paint and away from exploring the image with drawing.

The acrylic ink dropper is a great drawing tool – you can get wonderful sweeps of lines which when water is added reacts like watercolour without the fuss. I only have a limited number of colours of acrylic ink and so I’m not sure I entirely like the blue but apart from that I felt excited about the outcome of this drawing.

I love the energy of the image and I think for me it has captured the essence of a puddle on a stone path. The image has also captured the reflections which are part of the magic of puddles.

By this stage I felt I wanted to take the theme of ‘puddles’ further as I could see further possibilities. I moved the frame to another section of the arrangement, in particular to bring in the shapes and lines of the elastic bands. So this second study comes from an arrangement of elastic bands and bread. The hungry birds will have to wait longer for their food, I’m afraid!

I drew an initial study of the section with an HB pencil so as to get the detail. I just loved drawing the elastic bands! For this study I wanted to focus on the contrast between the flow of the water and the hard spaces around the puddle.

This idea was taken further using a different medium – black ink and pen.

Next study: Revisiting the arrangement of bread cubes, buttons, pegs and elastic bands, I drew from the other side of the image because I wanted to focus on the strong perspective of the peg.

The image began to take on different forms – circles, winding shapes, strong diagonal, squares – and instead of these remaining separate, I began to see the shapes within another image. At first I experimented with bringing out the perspective, suggested by the peg, of logs lying beside a stream with the curves and movement of the water beneath them.

From this image I began to develop the idea of the diagonal into the image of exposed roots of a tree. This seemed to lose touch with the original image of the peg etc and become just a drawing of an old exposed tree. So I went back again to the arrangement and began to draw freely with the pan pastels.

I wasn’t going so much for accuracy as to try to get the feeling of the shapes. Suddenly the different shapes which I mentioned above began to crowd in – I was seeing the long diagonals of fencing and squares of huts. As I said before all the shapes from the original drawing were merging together to suggest an image of a scene in Sweden at Skansen which we visited recently.

This final image was interesting for me because I hadn’t thought of drawing the landscape of this place. As it began to emerge from the tiny arrangement of objects on my table top, I began to see the potential of starting from extraordinarily mundane things in order to arrive at unusual compositions of landscapes. This image is quite abstract but it has all the elements of the scene which I experienced.

SKANSEN

REFLECTION: PART 1 – project 1

REFLECTION: PART 1 – PROJECT 1

As I reflect on the first project in the course I am aware that I’m looking for something extra during the coming months. I feel that in the other four courses I have ticked the boxes – that is to say, to the best of my ability I’ve carried through the assignment requirements and learnt a lot on the way, both in terms of skills and about myself. However I’m at the point where I want something more from the course. Rather than ticking the boxes I want to approach each module from the point of view of what can I learn about my own practice in completing this work. I have no doubt that there will be space within the course outline which will allow this or perhaps this may lead to me failing to tick the boxes…just have to deal with that!

 

Project 1 – Observational drawing

‘Exploring composition’ fits so well with my practice at this stage and I want to use these exercises to really understand the essential elements of composition within the picture plane. It seems to me to be a very complex subject and one which up to now I’ve not really got to grips with.

‘Composition is the relationship you set up between all the elements in your artwork.’ (Page 17 OCA course outline Drawing 2)

In this first project focusing on observational drawing, it was interesting to see how changes happened as the initial idea is ‘nudged’ into different ways of looking. In the different studies I played with ideas which came, sometimes driven by using different media, sometimes driven by simple creativity. Experimenting with different media helps this process along as the different tools that can be used necessarily will result in different outcomes because of the nature of the implements. I enjoyed the difference in the outcome of using first charcoal and then pen and ink for example.

However, in analysing the sentence above which describes what composition is, the phrase ‘all the elements’ needs to be pulled apart. What are all the elements? The picture plane? The initial image? The medium used? Up to now, these have been the elements forefront in my thought when I begin to work. But taking this further, are there other elements, especially when one considers that part of the task is to lead the viewer’s eye into and around the composition?

So, to add to the above list, I need to ask myself what holds my interest when I look at a painting, capturing and holding the viewer’s eye so that one never grows tired of looking? What does that? I’m guessing that it’s a number of things… and I suppose it may be different things for different people. Ideas that come to me on this: colour, tone , texture; arrangement of forms over the surface; the relationship of form and colour; balance? I can see that all of these elements are important and can result in a satisfying composition. However I suspect that there is more…

Looking back to the aim of this project, which is to reflect on the wider potential of observational drawing, I feel that my studies have done that. I’ve taken the original image and worked with it. So many ideas and possibilities have flowed from that and I’m sure there are still more to come. It has been a creative process and probably the end result shows that, despite the elements of the original image still being evident. However, there are so many more avenues to explore with this – I wonder if you ever come to the end. It is surprising how much can come from just one image!

So what do I take away from this exercise? Not to stay with simply representing the image which is in front of the eyes. Work with it, stretch it, destroy it and let it reveal what it has to say.

PART 1: EXPLORING COMPOSITION – project 2 using space

Using Space

This project required ‘experimenting with colour, composition and detail to create an image which uses the whole support, rather than relegating some areas to the ‘background’ or leaving them unworked.’

This has been an interesting project and one which I’ve had to spend some time getting into. I began with research into the work of Elizabeth Blackadder and, because of the very individual use of space in her paintings, it forced me to examine much more closely the whole area of space and background in the context of composition.

It was Blackadder’s interest in Japan and the philosophy behind Japanese art which intrigued me from the start and opened up a new way of looking at the space between images in a painting. From Zen philosophy, she may have been influenced by the idea that empty space doesn’t mean nothingness. Simplicity and emptiness characterise much of her work but not emptiness as we know it. I wanted to explore along this line of thought and so, in the sketchbook, I began with an empty space containing only colour, using a sheet of coloured paper. The colour of course is suggestive of something and so I suppose you immediately have an active space. Perhaps ‘active’ is not the right description because I find that the coloured paper is very flat, as I suppose white paper is (thinking of Blackadder’s flower paintings) and so the composition becomes very flat. If I had painted the background colour there would have been an element of texture and tone.

Exploring this further I then added a stroke of green. As soon as I did this, what was the space immediately became the background with the stroke of green claiming dominance. One seemed to rule out the other. I took this further and added an image to the space. All I could register was the image.

I continued with the directions for the exercise and built up objects on a hanging cloth which I then drew in coloured pens. The space between the objects looked very empty and was indeed background. I spent some time arranging the images, changing positions, taking them beyond the boundaries of the paper but still the spaces between them seemed empty and lifeless.

I felt to be getting nowhere with this and so I went back to Blackadder’s painting entitled ‘Still Life with Iris’.

Elizabeth Blackadder- ‘Still Life with Iris’

How to begin seeing the space as an active part of the whole and not just background!! On closer study, I could see that there was a lot going on in the empty spaces, tones of colour, repeated flashes of colour, shapes, texture, small indistinguishable shapes (possibly objects), lines. I hadn’t noticed these at first but now I could see that they created movement and energy. Suddenly I found that my eye was going to the spaces first.

So I began to explore this in a few studies bringing tones and texture into the spaces, trying to make the spaces part of the objects. I didn’t want to get too involved with paint at this stage and so I simply used coloured pens. As I focused on the spaces, the image began to come alive.

I experimented further by starting with the space using tones and textures of grey and then introducing the objects. None of these studies are particularly interesting but I could see the importance of using the space. By now I was working with the whole of the picture plane and both the objects and spaces had equal prominence. I found watercolour a good medium for this and allowed the washes from the pens to find their own way around the space. My thought was leading naturally towards other artists, Matisse, yes, and Emile Nolde.

Henri Matisse- ‘Still Life with Vegetables’ – 1905/6

Emil Nolde – ‘Men and Women’

Emil Nolde – ‘Conversation”

Following the research into Matisse and looking at his work I wanted to explore further this concept of the importance of the space in composition. I am constantly reminded of this element because I have Matisse’s painting, “Femme au Chapeau” painted in 10905, as my screen saver on all my devises and so I’m very familiar with the way he throws power and energy into the image by repeating the colours and tones of the image in the space behind. All the amazing array of colours in the face appear in the spaces around the face creating a kind of patchwork of colour all over the canvas…truly inspiring! In my sketchbook I took another group of objects (I didn’t arrange them as a still life, just as various objects) and began drawing them with wax crayons. The difference here was that was I drew one object I repeated the colours elsewhere on the paper surface and so I was building up the composition as I went along. I worked quickly and didn’t spend time thinking through perspective and tone – I was just responding to the colours and the surface. I enjoyed this exercise and feel that the outcome has energy and movement…learnt a lot! I feel that this concept of using the space in a painting has a lot further to go with me and I’ve just tapped the surface.

Project 2: Research on Elizabeth Blackadder

Elizabeth Blackadder

Elizabeth Blackadder- ‘Orchid, Blue Vanda’

Elizabeth Blackadder- ‘Still Life with Iris’

Painter and printmaker, Elizabeth Blackadder was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1931. She is well-known for her paintings of flowers and still life, both in watercolour and oils, but she also painted landscapes and portraits. Her interest and love of flowers began very early in life when she spent much of her childhood alone and began collecting, pressing and labelling local flowers. At first glance her flower paintings appeared to me to be botanical paintings and it was only when I began to research her life and interests that it became obvious that they were much more than that.

Blackadder has always had an interest in collecting objects and is fascinated with the art of non Western cultures. She visited Japan several times in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to understand the composition of her paintings I felt I needed to know more about the influences on her work and so I spent some time researching the ideas behind Japanese art. In ‘Japan Style’, a catalogue from an exhibition organised by the V&A and the Japanese Foundation, 1980, Kodansha International Ltd, 1980, there is an essay: Japanese Aesthetic Ideals by Mitsukuni Yoshida.

“In its constant search for variety of form, Japanese design had developed its own peculiar form of symmetry, which did not depend as in Europe on precise geometrical values. For example, the Japanese preferred to use a diagonal, rather than a centrally placed horizontal or vertical line when dividing a rectangle symmetrically.. In other cases they would seek to achieve a balance based on inner meaning rather than shape…”p 18

Japanese art focused primarily on a love of simplicity in which the arrangement of objects was composed in a standardised way in narrow spaces where there was nothing irrelevant or unrelated. The subjects of the paintings centred around the natural world, reflecting their love of natural beauty. It could be said that Japanese art is a pursuit of perfection.

I then did some research into Zen philosophy and the concept of empty space or ‘emptiness’. I was trying to understand the concept of meaningful space as opposed to background when thinking through the composition of a painting. This was definitely enlightening. ‘Emptiness’ in Zen philosophy is not complete nothingness, it doesn’t mean that nothing exists at all.

I didn’t feel able to accurately comprehend more of this concept in what I read but it left me with the sense that within the spaces that Blackadder leaves between objects, there is movement and life, that they are active spaces in which there is a connectivity. I could see the strong Japanese influence in her work in the arrangement of forms (cats, ribbons, flowers, plants on an empty or abstract background). The natural world features consistently in her paintings.

In studying her flower paintings I was trying to see what part the white spaces played in these works. At first glance they seem like botanical paintings and certainly the uncompromising white spaces have the effect of highlighting the objects. During my visit to the Goya Exhibition at the National Gallery in November, I took particular note of the treatment of the background. In many cases it was simply a dark space behind the portrait and this had the same effect of bringing the subject to the forefront of the image. Even in this it seemed to have a purpose.

PART 1: EXPLORING COMPOSITION – project 1 observational drawing

DRAWING 2 – INVESTIGATING DRAWING

 

PART 1 EXPLORING COMPOSITION

Project 1 Observational Drawing

I began by taking several photos of unlikely compositions around the house and the garden. As it’s generally the unlikely which interests me this was fun and I could see the possibilities of some of the images. I chose to draw some garden equipment which had been left outside the house.

I began with an observational drawing in pencil. At the same time as doing this exercise I have begun reading ‘Writing on Drawing’, edited by Steve Garner, and this has had the effect of focusing my thought on why I draw and what drawing means to me. A first drawing, as this was, is my way of getting into the subject and so I guess it is a kind of exploration of the subject. Even though my work tends to end up rather loose and non-representational, the initial study is generally as close as I can get it to portraying what I see. It was interesting to be thinking this through as I worked.

My next step was to photograph the drawing. This allows me to stand outside the drawing to see what it is telling me. Each element had its own space and there was a silent ‘waiting’ feeling. Interesting shapes had been created between the different items. I took quite a few photos close up of the different sections of the drawing and I always find this a fascinating step as so many new images emerge. While I was photographing, the sun suddenly came out and I found that a section of each photo was in darkness and this happenchance was just too good to ignore.

The first study into composition was to take one of these ‘close-ups’ and reproduce it in charcoal and pan pastel. I liked the feeling of exploring the shapes and it was interesting to see what a tiny section of the original drawing could produce. I may take this idea further using more than one of the images but at this early stage I just wanted to get an overall feeling of where the possibilities lay.

I then began to explore a composition based on a photo montage. This held many possibilities and the original image began to take on a new energy. I wanted to explore this energy with the pencil and so I began to draw focusing on line. But as I continued to study the photomontage it was the tonal shapes which held my attention. So I abandoned the lines and followed the shapes of tone. After several hours of working with this, I wanted to obliterate some areas and painted over them with acrylic white. It was interesting that when these dried it left a texture on the surface. I continued to explore the tonal shapes. Looking at this study alongside the original observational drawing it is interesting how much more energy and movement I can see in this study.

Going back to the original observational drawing and looking again at cropped details of it, I decided to explore the lines of the image further. I wanted a more playful image. I spent some time with loose line drawings using different media, ink and pen, then biro. I simply worked on pieces of paper and just pasted them over the top of others trying not to be precious about the outcome. I loved the immediacy of the pen and ink even though it was incredibly difficult to achieve the right lines – you only get one chance at it! I need to practise more to get my ‘eye in’. I am finding I’m much more hesitant when using pen than with pencil. The spareness of the line in this sketch was intriguing! Exploring with the biro took me further in terms of composition of shapes and lines and I was thinking more about the whole picture plane and the composition of the image. However there is a deadness about it!

The exercise in terms of my own practice

Because I want to use each exercise to inform and extend my own practice, I did a final study using line with pen and ink and acrylics. By now the image was firmly in my memory so I wanted to draw using only memory. I always enjoy this point in image making when you have the freedom to invoke the image from memory and it’s fascinating to see where that takes the image. I used A2 paper and began to draw freely with the pen and ink not thinking about accuracy of form etc. I really wanted the expression of the idea to come through. I love the movement of the line now and the image is beginning to take hold of the form on its own. Following this study, I repeated the idea on cartridge paper, this time thinking more about space on the paper. I want to explore a very expressive use of line and so after the first drawing I obliterated most of it with white paint and then redrew using paint and a thick brush. The parts I didn’t like, were then covered over with white paint again.

Final reflection

I think I’ve moved somewhat from the original drawing but there are still elements there. It is fascinating to view the studies as they progressed. In the first observational drawing I was simply reproducing what the eye was seeing in as careful a detail as I could. In a way it is a kind of analysing step. But after that I was exploring what the image was revealing…its secrets in a way! So much is possible from any image. Even though I feel to have ‘nudged’ the image into greater energy and flow through the exploration of line and shape, there are still many more compositional possibilities.

I’m not sure that this final composition is making the best use of the space particularly on the left hand side. I like the right side where shapes are simply suggested but left undefined. The image itself seems too far to the bottom of the composition. More planning of the composition is needed at the start – I feel it was still the lines and shapes which I was focused on rather than the composition. perhaps a drastic cropping of the drawing slicing off the top third would produce a more interesting result. The same could be said of the line drawing which I have positioned in the centre of the page leaving areas of white paper around the image…not particularly interesting!

This has been a very exciting project because of the possibilities that I can see in it.