Project 4: Exercise 2 - 
Composition - An interior 

I have chosen to use my bedroom for this exercise. Initially I ruled this room out of my house sketches as it is old, without decoration and rough. However as I woke up this morning, for the fist time I looked at the old pink colour of the walls in the morning light and I thought that perhaps there is something to be found here. 

I started with a quick sketch of the room. This exercise has asked that I look at angles, so I concentrated on the line of the walls to gage where the angels were: 



I then moved onto studies of the room in both portrait and landscape. I worked quickly with each sketch and used the far right corner angle as a starting point. I took a seated position and adjusted my position slightly each time. 

I looked at the angles of the items in my viewpoint, the size and corners of the large chest of drawers. I struggled here, certainly in the first sketch as I felt the angles were too steep. 
By sketch 3, I felt I had begun to adjust this. 

I found the portrait sketch felt limited, I felt stifled with and unable to include enough in this sketch: 

Foreshortening: Portray or show (an object or view) as closer than it is or as having less depth or distance, as an effect of perspective or the angle of vision.

2.Prematurely or dramatically shorten or reduce (something) in time or scale.


To study the tonal value of the room, I sketched my composition with a light brown coloured pencil. I remained in a seated position and worked at eye level. Squinting my eyes I used a 4B pencil to shade in the very darkest areas I could see. Working in the morning, I could see where the light was not catching. 

I then moved on to the lighter areas using a 2 H pencil. The light brown coloured pencil helped define the very lightest areas: 


Reflection: 

How interesting to return to a room I had initially ruled out and find light and lines and interesting textures. In the next exercise I look forward to bringing texture to the walls which you can see in the photo of the room. 

I found the portrait sketch stifling, with the area I was wishing to cover, landscape seems to work better. 

The tonal sketch was the most exciting and satisfying. A way of sketching I wish to take forward. It felt like a more interesting way to sketch. 

For this tonal drawing, I sought advice from 'Experimental Drawing' by Robert Kaupelis. Although I did use line for my sketch, to take forward with me I have absorbed this advice "When tone rather than line alone is used to define form in a more complex still life arrangement, the difference between figure and ground or positive and negative shape becomes more obvious". 

Reference: 

'Experimental Drawing' by Robert Kaupelis Chapter: 'Organization/Structure: Making Things "Work Together" 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Research Point - The still life genre  To approach such a huge area of research, I have decided to study a painting from each century and note down my observations on medium, style, application and the mood of each piece.  Pieter Aertsen 'A meat stall' 1551. Oil on canvas:  This painting offers a scene of abundance. A stall full of meat, of food. Outside of the doorway I can see many people going about their business, picking up supplies. In the immediate scene I can see fish and sausages, birds and ham and of course the most striking element, the head in the centre.  The oils are used here with such precision and skill. The colour is exact, so truthful. The scene has been depicted exactly as it would be caught on a camera in this modern age. There is no room here for an untruth. It is a photograph of the stall. A stark reality.  The shadows have been painted in so accurately on the white cloth just right of the head. In shade a pale grey. ...
Read more
Image
Research point:  Landscape artists from different eras Claude Lorrain 1604/05-1682 Claude Lorrain, born Gellee in 1604/05 is one of the earliest know landscape artists.  Rome was his interest and inspiration and where he spent a large amount of his life. Lorrain would sketch the Roman countryside with fellow artist Nicolas Poussin. These sketches would the be developed into oil paintings.  Lorrain was influenced by Northern painters, Elsheimer and Domenichino .  Lorrain's earliest dated canvas is 1629 with 'The storm' from 1630. 'The storm is a drawing/painting of an unknown location. Pen and brown wash are used on blue paper to depict a seascape. Figures on the beach are pulling hard to bring the ship to shore in the foreground. A ship floats wildly amongst the waves of the sea in the middle ground and in the background, I see the cliffs. Is it a real scene or is it fictional? There is such energy in this piece, I can see the great effort ...
Read more
Image
RESEARCH POINT  Odilon Redon Here, I also found the pencil sketches of the trees to help with my study.  'Two Trees'  The dark bellows through the trees from behind, like there being an expanse of dark behind them. You can see the dark to the side of the trees too. The tone is bold and the darkest marks.  The light hits the trees further up. I think the light comes from the right hand side. There are dark marks that show the round shape of the trunks. The straight lines of the trunks appear delicate and look as if they move downwards, perhaps downward strokes of the brush and pencil.   The light especially hits the branch on the right side, this branch to my eye is the lightest part of the piece.  Redon also includes bobble like marks on the tree trunks to depict texture. Things marks appear round in shape and move upwards around the tree, again enhancing the appearance of their shape.  'Portrait of Madam Redon Embroid...
Read more