Part 2 Project 6 Ex 4

Line and tone

I've felt a little unsure about this exercise - there's no specific instruction regarding what I should draw so I'm going to play around and produce a variety of tones.

The Tate tells me that

In painting, tone refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a colour (see alsochiaroscuro). One colour can have an almost infinite number of different tones. Tone can also mean the colour itself. For example, when Vincent van Gogh writes ‘I exaggerate the fairness of the hair, I even get to orange tones, chromes and pale citron-yellow’, he is referring to those colours at a particular tonal value. In his famous theory of painting, the French painter Georges Seurat describes how colour (teinte) and tone (ton) can be used to create particular emotional effects: ‘Gaiety is obtained through the use of dominant luminosity in tone; of prevailing warmth in colour.’

The term seems to have come into widespread use with the rise of painting directly from nature in the nineteenth century, when artists became interested in identifying and reproducing the full range of tones to be found in a particular subject. This in turn led to an interest in colour for its own sake and in colour theory. (1)

I began by creating some interesting tones with Cotman water colours - wet on wet, using A5 water colour paper.  The first two were worked from top to bottom of the paper.

Ultramarine and raw sienna

I know watermarks are not to be encouraged but I love the one at the top.  The gradations are delicate and there are many shades in the crossover points.  This would be good for a sky.

Cerulean blue and alizarin red

I expected much more purple from this mix but instead I got two quite distinct colours with just a hint of purple at the meeting point.  I might have developed more mixing if my paper had been slightly wetter.

Cadmium yellow and cadmium red

This one was a yellow and red sandwich and produced the expected shades of orange.

And finally I used all the colour left on my palette because I don't like waste and I do like to play:

This is subtle and rather beautiful.

The next few are in my sketchbook using solid block water colour paints with my emphasis being on the density of my paint.  The rule is more water less colour so I experimented with wet on wet and wet on dry and layering..

Wet on wet

Wet on wet

Wet on wet, layered x 2

Wet on dry, layered x 4

Wet on wet random brush strokes

Dabbed with a tissue

Wet on dry overlapped

I've avoided my dip pen and ink in the full knowledge that I'm denying myself a good resource.  I thought this was an opportunity to try again without pressure to produce anything specific.  I used a broad nib or an old brush.

A flower, a firework or an insect?

Above is an ink spot which I then swished wildly with a brush and it became almost anything. The density of the ink decreased as the brush ran out of ink and left individual brush marks which got paler and paler. It's very dynamic.

Using a brush

The second image also uses a brush and an initial ink spot but the direction of the stroke creates a different mood although the mood is still energetic.

Free marks with a broad nib

The third image is drawn with a broad nib very freely.  On its side the nib makes thinner, fainter marks.

More deliberate marks

The image above uses the same nib but the marks are placed firmly side by side in the same direction.  This gives a deeper tone the more free flowing one doesn't have.  It's no better or worse; I'd just use it to get a different feel to work. 

NB

At this point I contacted my tutor because I felt that I wasn't doing what was required.  She gave me some very useful pointers and my work from this point is based on her advice.

Henry Moore's Shelter Drawings

My starting point is a look at Henry Moore's Shelter Drawings.  I hadn't heard of them before so did some research and found they were drawn as a response to Moore seeing thousands of Londoner's taking refuge in the underground during the Blitz.  The resulting drawings became some of Moore's most important work. A look on Google images shows terrifying representations of countless people escaping their ordeal.  

Tube Shelter Perspective.  Henry Moore, 1941
Graphite, ink, wax and watercolour (2)

Moore made sketches that he developed into large pictures on paper.  Of interest to me in this exercise is his use of wax as a resist.  Moore had discovered the wax crayon just as the war began and realised it's potential for his work.  He found that because water wouldn't penetrate it and he could scrape layers off, it allowed him to add texture to his drawings.

Using light coloured wax crayons he defined outlines, then applied an overall layer of dark toned watercolour that slid off the greasy areas of wax crayon.  Finally he used ink to better define the forms. (2)

Three Seated Figures - Henry Moore.  1941.
 Indian ink, charcoal, wax crayon an watercolour  48 x 37cm http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/contenidos_articulo/3 (3)

In Three Seated Figures Moore used what he called the "two-way sectional line method of drawing".  Using this Moore outlined his figures as usual and then made horizontal lines in addition and created volume without the need to define them with shadows. (3)  This is undoubtedly a step too far for me!

I will to retreat to the comfort of my home to experiment with using a resist as a means to positively mark highlights.  My only experience of using wax as a resist is doing some batik so this will be another first.

I'm going to use my piano as my object to draw.  

My tutor suggested that I should draw looking at my subject not my paper.  I had to think about this carefully;  I am being asked to draw in a medium I can't see and can't erase, without looking at what I'm doing.  Well I'm prepared to try anything once and I'll see what happens.  I used Payne's grey water colour for the entire image and Bockingford paper.

My piano from a slightly different angle

Not my finest hour

There's no doubt that I really did as my tutor suggested is there?  I had no idea where I was on the page and the temptation to look was overwhelming.

I suppose I am surprised that things like the stool are basically in the right place.  I drew an outline of what I could see without recognising what the impact would be.  For instance the metronome was done in wax that I then couldn't colour deeply enough.  To be honest I decided this couldn't be redeemed so spent no real time on it.

I had another go and took a sneaky peek now and then.  This time I almost realised that wax equals light.

My shiny piano - not the easiest subject

I bought some Quink ink and diluted it.  I made four containers with varying strengths of ink and then tried them out.

Dark tones using Quink

Trying out wax and Quink

My first attempt with ink was an image of an open door that I sketched in an earlier exercise.  I did this without looking at my paper.

The door to my studio

Ink wash on wax

Using my graded ink

At last I've managed to get the light marks in the right place.

I decided to draw the teapot because it offers lots of light and dark.  I drew using wax but only put in the light tones.

Ink wash on wax

Using ink washes and wax lines

This looks a bit rough and ready and the handle isn't quite right but I.m quite pleased with how it's turned out. I'm amazed at the number of colours that have emerged from the black ink.


This exercise has been a bit frustrating because at first I wasn't clear about what was wanted. However, once I understood I found it quite an eye opener.  I realised that I always concentrate on the darker tones first and drawing the light ones with wax took a lot of getting my head round.


(1)  http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone

(2) http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/moore-tube-shelter-perspective-n05709

(3) http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/contenidos_articulo/3