Part 2 Project 6 Ex 1

This project  is about my home and I need to do some quick sketches.  I find drawing quickly very hard so I'm trying to put a limit on these - no more that 10 minutes each.

The corner of the kitchen with natural light coming from the left

It's amazing to look at the photo then my drawing and see the very obvious mistakes.  The top of the sideboard is too deep, the chair wrongly positioned and the perspective is awry.  There are items in the photo that don't appear in the drawing simply because I didn't see them.  Amazing.

However the chair looks comfortable and I managed well with 10 minutes.

Next I moved to look at the opposite corner of the kitchen where the door to my studio was open. There were so many planes to the architrave and the door linings that I began to get confused so I left a lot of detail out.  I homed in on the doors simply because they were tricky.

The corner of the kitchen with the door to my studio open

I'm happy enough with this from the point of view of perspective but I've completely missed the effect of the light and the way the open door looks so dark.

The next sketch is another corner of my kitchen and poses problems that I was unable to resolve. The two open shelves on the end of the units were particularly hard and I ended up leaving them. The windowsill is too deep as is the reveal.  I hadn't even spotted that the worktop isn't drawn in. This really does emphasise how easy it is to miss very important details when you get hung up on a tricky bit.

The next room is where I do my work and the sink is a crucial piece of its equipment.  I focussed on it with the light coming through a glass door directly opposite.

Somehow the perspective of the sink isn't quite right but I'm happy with the depth I've managed to get in the worktop and the tiles are OK.  The light is full on and it creates blocks of intense light and shade.

I'm going in to the lounge next and I'll try not to overlook important details.  These images have been photographed as opposed to scanned because they are rather larger.

Sitting in my favourite chair - light source behind me

I've tried to draw this in the past and been unsuccessful.  This is much better and the multitude of angles has worked well.

I changed chair and faced the dresser with the settee in the foreground.

The corner of the lounge - light source from a huge window behind me

It surprised me that I could get a fair representation that looks like the reality.  The proportions are accurate and I didn't do any erasing except for the lines of the dresser that are behind the settee.  I managed to do it quite quickly.  I am happy with the curves on the settee and the way I managed to get the idea that the seat backs move independently of each other.  I've done little with light and shade and I think I should but I would run out of my self imposed 10 minutes.  When I looked at the photo I realised how much light and shade there actually was.  Whilst I was aware of it as I drew it was peripheral.

If I was to turn around and and look at the other end of the room I'm faced with a wall of glass and I haven't a clue how to tackle it so I'm going to move on to the music room.

Looking at my piano from the settee - light source from the left

I have realised that all my sketches to date have been in pencil so I've made the change to a charcoal pencil.

My piano is black and very shiny so it was hard to draw with reference to the light which came from the left.  It is nestled into an alcove and I had to figure out how make look that way.  It comes much further forward than I originally thought, hence two skirting board lines on the right.  It is in scale and it was done quickly with no erasing.

In the music room facing away from the piano - light source from the right

It constantly surprises me the way the near objects need to be so much bigger than you would anticipate.  I'm only just getting the hang of it.

The bedroom gave me some problems in the shape of a bentwood rocker where I didn't get the scale right at all.  I think if I did it again I might draw the rocker and then put the corner around it although It might always be tricky from the viewpoint I took.

Lying on the bed with light from the window on the left

Just one more sketch this time in the hall looking through to the kitchen where I struggled with the corner unit.

Looking through the hall to the kitchen

It was a challenge to get the feeling of distance in this sketch and I didn't get the inner hall right because I didn't have enough room to get the two brick pillars in.  I think the door to the kitchen works well as a sort of invitation.  I found the curved skirting board on the airing cupboard difficult with no chance of lots of tries because I was using charcoal.  There's a silly mistake on the right hand skirting board - I didn't extend it round the corner so the perspective is wrong leading into the inner hall. 

All of these sketches have had their own difficulties but in general I'm happy. I am much better at identifying my mistakes than I used to be.  Whilst I make no claim to have mastered perspective I have become more proficient at untangling what I see.  I certainly didn't realise how complex the nooks and crannies of our house are.

I feel that whilst these sketches are (without exception) not 100% accurate they capture the feeling of my home. The purpose of a sketch is to create a basis from which more detailed, accurate work can be created so perhaps this is OK.

I would like to do more of these sketches but my assignment deadline is fast approaching and I need to push on.