Assignment 1

I've been aware of this assignment since the start of the course and it's led me to ponder exactly what is important to me or has significance.  I've found myself  thinking that material possessions don't fit the bill but relationships and memories are the most important things to me.  With that in mind I've selected some things that symbolise my thinking.

• A box that my father kept important documents in. It's still used for the same purpose symbolising continuity.  Inside the box is a school photo from 1962.
• My eldest son's first shoes (he's now size 11 and nearing forty) - to denote the importance of my family
• My camera - a constant aid to memory

Precious things

I think this is a bit ambitious - the complex shapes of the shoes and the depth of the box are slightly worrying.  I think I'll do a preliminary sketch before I commit myself too deeply.

I began by drawing the box but soon realised that because the box was on the right of my vision I'd started on the right side of my paper and it threw everything awry.  Because this was just a test I carried on to practise the placement of the items in relation to the box.  This is what I drew (all in pencil):

Preliminary sketch showing the inappropriate
placement of the box

On the whole I was satisfied with this (unfinished) drawing as a starting point.  The box looks solid and the shoes that were troubling me look OK and in proportion.  This work felt as though I was using some of my burgeoning skills like perspective and shading.

When I felt ready I began my drawing proper paying particular attention to the placement of the box on the paper.  I did outline sketching in 4B pencil starting by holding the pencil at the end and working at arms length.  I find this allows me a lot of freedom to make several shapes without committing myself to any.  

Precious things - pencil, conte crayon, charcoal, fine liner and stumping

I drew mainly in pencil except for the camera (pencil and conte) which then stood out too much - it felt unbalanced.  To redress this I put in some deep shadows and shading; then I used a combination of conte crayon and charcoal to define parts of the shoes and it looked better.  I have yet to master the use of materials without a point (conte and charcoal) as I'm never quite sure where my mark is going to emerge! I found myself reluctant to use materials which are hard to remove for fear of spoiling my image.

I think the composition works well and I'm pleased with how it looks "real" and proportionate.  I find I don't want to be too critical because I've come so far in such a short time I think it's nothing short of miraculous.

One thing that surprised me is when I compared the photo to the drawing the box lids were so different.  On the photo it looks huge and I didn't transfer this to my drawing.  If I had done I may have thought it looked "wrong".  When I look at my drawing now the lid looks too small.  It's a good learning point about observation.

Being able to draw like this is really exciting.