Naomi's Drawing Venture

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 ...

Part 5 Exercise 4: Statues  This is a very old statue that I found in my garden when I moved in:  It is a small statue with many that has been a little eroded over time. There must have been a top to this statue, possible a bird bath top? That is long missing. The statue is of a child, cherub like in his features.  What I find interesting about this statue is that I don't know the story behind him, the purpose of this small statue or who he belonged too. He makes we work hard too to see his features as time has taken many away at first glance.  I like the shapes that form his body. Although eroded, I can still see the shapes of this hands and feet. His eye are a little sunken with big eye lids and I can see his cheeks.  The texture is interesting too. Largely grey in colour there are white patches and yellow patches showing age and the affects of weather.  I made some sketches of the statue from different angles using a HB pen...

Part 5: Exercise 2&3: Study of a townscape using line and a limited palette study  Study of townscape using line:  As suggested, I am using two sheets of A3 paper to continue the street scene I have been working on. I use the centre of the two to to plot in the centre of my viewpoint.  I use black in and a nib to draw the lines of the street. In the foreground is the grey of the road, the middle-ground is the gardens and the Cotswold stone wall that runs along the entire street and then the structure of the houses. However, working with a linear perspective and at a diagonal, I do wonder where actually is the foreground? Would the  side of the first building at the far left of the composition be the foreground?  To help define the this preliminary drawing I have added two shades of grey watercolour for my own visual benefit:  What would you do differently next time?  As a preliminary sketch I enjoy the feel of this draw...

Part 5 Exercise 1: Sketchbook of townscape drawings  Viewpoint:  I have chosen to work with the street that i live on. It is a traditional street with many houses either side of the road. The terraced houses are Cotswold stone fronted, each with a plot of garden. The street is filled with many types of people, some elderly, some alone and some with families and children. During this lockdown period, everyone has been home so it has been an emotional insight into how everyone lives:  I sat at the bottom of this street looking up, following the line of the curb and I began to loosely sketch what I could see. I used the 10cm boxes to capture detail with a 3B pencil.  I noticed the lines and textures that run along the houses, the differences in shape of the stone. The contrast of the form and tone in the Cotswold stone to the brick work at the sides of the houses I could see.  I sketched the scene standing up at approximately 2pm. I recorded...

Contemporary artists who work with landscape and a range of viewpoints Tacita Dean has had landmark exhibitions in London including the National gallery, National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Academy.  'The Roaring Forties - Seven Board in See Days' 1997 is one of several chalkboard series that evoke black and white cinema, a series of storyboards. 'The Roaring Forties' is the name given to a zone in the Atlantic Ocean renowned for its gale force winds.  In the ghostly chalk boards I see struggle and weather, might and fight against the winds and the sea. A large ship battles against the elements and the sea rages around it. The sky is vast. There is such a lonely, eerie, isolating feel to the drawings.  Georges Seurat 'Landscape with Houses' 1881-1882 Seurat is highly thought of as one of the most important Post-Impressionist painters, however he did deviate from this journey, from the spontaneity and speed of impressionism to a more...

Artists who work in series with the landscape Peter Doig Echo Lake 1998: This is a dark scene, a night scene. I see a police car on the roadside, reflected in the water. The sky is dark and there are tiny stars to be seen. The trees on the right of the painting are illuminated, perhaps by a street lamp or perhaps from the natural light of the night sky. A police officer stands at the side of the river with his head in his hands, he is reflected in the river.  The painting is broken in almost half by the horizontal line of the landscape running straight through the middle of the painting. Here is where I see the lighter marks of the painting. Large brush strokes represent the riverbank, these marks are also reflected in the water.  The night sky is the darkest area of this piece, the sky is also reflected, but in a slightly lighter tone. The stars are so delicately reflected in the water also. A beautiful touch.  The scene evokes an emotion of d...