Part 1 - Project 2 - Ex 1b

Retford Art Society

http://www.retford-art-society.co.uk/

I made my first foray to Retford Art Society last Friday and I was made so welcome that I'll be paying my annual membership and going regularly.  There's a real variety of events over and above the regular meetings and I'm bound to learn lots more about technique and materials as time goes on.

I took my A3 sketchpad and gathered some bits and bobs that were on their worktop.  There was a wicker basket, a jug and a cup.

I think from the lightness of the pencil you can see how tentative I was in the presence of people who have been producing there own art for years.  I struggled with the jug handle and once again found it hard to represent what I was seeing.  It's very strange that the brain and the eye are so out of synch.

I have some reflections that might be important

• I like working on A3 or A2
• Pencil is easy because corrections are only an eraser away
• This can make my work seem lifeless and without expression

As far as the brief for the course is concerned I'm going to wander a bit until I build up some confidence.  First I'm going to try other media and see what happens.  This is a selection of many attempts I've made - I've used cheap lining paper and brown paper.  It leaves me free to use lots.

The model

I used this jug and turned it around several times.

Pencil - 7B

Graphite stick - 9B

I covered my paper with light charcoal then drew into it.

Watercolour

Water colour wasn't nearly as forgiving as graphite and charcoal. Lines are painted and that's that!  In some ways I think it might be liberating but when confidence is an issue it can just get to look a mess. In the above example I tried to use as few lines as possible and I'm quite pleased with the result particularly with the spout.  I refrained from altering the base of the jug and the handle leaves something to be desired but stuck to my self imposed rule of few lines.

During my two textiles courses I've become much more free in my style and I don't want to tighten up again.

I tried again with with the books and masking tape and this time I used charcoal on charcoal.  I think the perpective's getting a bit better - there's certainly less erasing.

Books on a charcoal ground

I've plenty of time to practice so I think I'll use it then go back to the brief and try it all over again.