Re-visiting Assignment 2

I'm very happy with the Tutor Report I've just received.  It's full of feedback on my work and pointers for improvements and getting more out of my course.  There were also some suggestions directed at improving my Assignment and I'm going to re-visit it and see what I can do.

Assignment 2 - very dark

Co-incidentally I've had a visit from an artist friend who looked through my work.  She thought the mug in my Assignment was a mushroom!  That has led my to trying to get to know my mug better - I observed my mug from 6 different viewpoints starting with a high shelf and ending up on the floor.

This was an interesting exercise and one I should have done earlier.  Following the progression down the shelves made me very aware of how the mug appeared to change its shape and how the handle (which I always find hard) showed different faces.

In the light of my tutor's comments I've spent some time looking at my Assignment and these are my thoughts

• it's too dark - but shadow can be manipulated
• a way to knock back the newspaper would be to use it along with the white parts and cover any unwanted coloured photos as I did in version 1:

Version 1- much lighter

• The idea of using cut outs is one I like.
• I could try multiples of the same item

I looked at the work of Patrick Caulfield and found this image which I really like:

Coloured Still Life - Patrick Caulfield, 1967
Acrylic on board.  56x89cm (1)

Caulfield has used three goblets but presented each one differently.

I photocopied my work several times on A4 paper and began cutting out shapes then arranging and rearranging the the items.  It ended up with the main item being worked with was the mug but the rings were changed as well.

Cut outs with moved items

Cut outs and two cups

Cut outs and three cups

I think two cups works best because it retains some balance; it makes a good threesome with the biscuit and connects with the rings.

If I cut out the mug it looks an amorphous blob; not even like a mushroom.

As a basis I'm going to use a drawing from yesterday that offers a better defined shape like Caulfields. I hope it will give me the opportunity to try a cut out for my mug drawing.

I used image 3 which was eye level and suddenly I feel I'm on to something.  I've moved the whole thing over to the left so the mug isn't so near the edge of the paper. This is very much a cut and paste exercise.

Trying cut outs

Do I need to introduce shadow to ground the mug?  If I follow Caulfield's example there will be no horizon and no shadow.  Does my biscuit look too big?  It doesn't offer the same perspective as the mug.  Does this matter?  The only way to know is to test it, so I quickly sketched a couple of biscuits and cut down one of my photocopies.

These need to be bigger and much better defined

This is a different perspective but the right intensity

While I try to decide which way to go I'll work up my mug.  I plan to adopt a cut and paste approach and that will allow late decision making.

My best mug

I've considered this for ages using the photocopied elements in a variety of configurations.  I knocked back the newspaper with white tissue paper and it's OK if you like the crumpled tablecloth look but it's yet another thing I'm unsure of.

I've decided to run with the final experiment and I think it's because I feel more comfortable not having to make decisions regarding differing perspective etc.

I put a light blue wash on my paper so that my white mug would show up and knocked back the newspaper with watered acrylic paint.  The main elements were on water colour paper because I like the texture then they were glued onto A3 paper. The image is cropped because I can't scan A3 although it does need reducing in size.

My finished work - the shadow on the white mug is where the paper stretched

This work has been through many reincarnations but in the end I'm pleased with the result.  I've used a variety of media including pencil,  soft pastel, conte crayon and some coffee grounds mixed with PVA. It is balanced and the circular motif follows through the image.   The diagonal line made by the biscuit through the mugs is pleasing. 

Doing clever things like Caulfield is probably some way off although I'm aspirational! 




(1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/coloured-still-life-70663

Assignment 2

Assignment 2

I saw a workman who had put his large coffee mug down on a newspaper and it struck me that it might make the basis of a still life.  I want to see if I can draw something that will tell a story.

I gathered my items and sketched a variety of arrangements.

1. The basic things I saw

The mug on the newspaper was basic so I added the spoon (1).  The mug belongs to my husband and I hope it will become part of the story.  I found it hard to get the paper to look as though it was sitting on the table.  This is the foreshortening the course notes warned me about.  Whilst I thought the context was interesting this composition isn't, so I added an Oreo biscuit which is probably a bit small (2).  I put the mug on a newspaper that was open, face downwards to add more interest.

2. I added an Oreo biscuit

3. Portrait format 

In sketch 3 I turned the mug round and tried a portrait format.  This configuration gave me the added problem of the foreshortening of the spoon.  This is something I need to get to grips with.

4. Looking down onto the mug

In the final sketch I looked down on  the mug and took a bite from the Oreo biscuit.  Although there's lots wrong with this sketch that at the time I couldn't fathom I think the composition has more possibilities than the others.  I can see the start of my story as well.

I had a bit of practise at the mug and tried to ignore what my brain told me and rely on my eyes.

Not quite right

Getting better

My Oreo

Throughout this work I had been troubled with the newspaper not seeming to lie properly on the table. I didn't want to dispense with it because it was integral to my story.  I decided to try my "looking down" composition using newspaper as my ground.  I taped a sheet to my sketchbook page.

A newspaper ground

The work on the mug paid off because this one is much better and the spoon had improved as well.  I think the Oreo could be a little closer to the mug but generally I'm happy.  I put some coffee rings on the left but all they did was wet the newspaper and leave it crinkled.  The main thing I don't like is the coloured photograph which is very intrusive.  I covered it up and what a difference.

No photograph

I used a mixture of pencil, fine liner, graphite sticks and soft pastels but the newspaper was very fragile and hard to work on.

I looked for a newspaper page with no coloured pictures but failed miserably so I cut strips with no headlines or colour and used PVA to stick them into my sketchbook. This had the twofold benefit of firming up my working surface and getting rid of the intrusive elements.

This is what I drew:

Getting there

When I propped the image up and stood back the Oreo was just too big and I was ready to start again. I think unconsciously I remembered that things in the foreground look bigger.  The Oreo looked just like a Wagon Wheel so as time is really pressing I decided to give it a layer of jam. Fortunately the chocolate texture was OK.

This time I used a small pot with an unglazed bottom to stamp my coffee rings and it worked much better than before.

I put in the dense shadows that seemed impossibly long.

Where's he gone?

I tried some crops:

Fig 1

Fig 2

Fig 3

Fig 1 - doesn't allow the viewer enough information to know the mug has a spoon in it.  The shadow is too dominant.

Fig 2 - Considering the biscuit is the focus it seems wrong to take any away.


Fig 3 - is the best crop because it allows the biscuit to be centre stage, shows the coffee rings well and leaves the viewer in no doubt that the coffee has been abandoned.

The newspaper has an attractive inconsistency and the tone changes throughout the image because of colour on the reverse side. The paper was much easier to use than my first try although there were parts that were a bit bumpy.

I have found before that I work better when I can get some momentum and that happened on this Assignment.

Did I tell a story?  Well, maybe but I don't know how the viewer will receive it.

Have I fulfilled the required criteria?  I think so. 

Mr Turner - film review

Mr Turner (1)

On Sunday I went to see Mike Leigh's "Mr Turner".  Like most people I am familiar with Turner's paintings but I knew little of the man.  What I learned didn't endear him to me. 

The film stars Timothy Spall, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey, Paul Jeeson and Lesley Manville.  Spall has been lauded for his performance and it was indeed impressive.  The Daily Telegraph describes the performance thus:  

Spall coughs and shambles about the place like a moulting, phlegmy Gruffalo, eyes bright and hungry, bottom lip jutting proudly forward like the spout of a custard jug. (2)

The film tells the story of the last 25 years of Turner's life and encompasses the death of his father to whom he seemed devoted and very dependent. The loss affected him very much.  A loss that affected both father and son was the committal of Turner's mother to an asylum - the older Mr Turner never forgave himself and it weighed on his son throughout his life.  In a powerful scene in a brothel where Turner is sketching all the repressed emotion seems to catch up with Turner and there is complete meltdown.

Timothy Spall as J. M. W. Turner (3)

I think Turner's treatment of women was what really marked him as distasteful to me.  Even taking into account the social mores of the time he was portrayed as a sexual predator, abusing his housekeeper (his niece, who became more frail as the film progressed) ignoring the pleas of the mother of his children (to whom he wasn't married) and in sickness accepting the ministrations of a seaside landlady who bought a house on the Thames so they could live together.

Spall was utterly convincing as Turner; eccentric, unlovable, egotistical and self absorbed.  Anyone who spits on a painting to add moisture doesn't get my vote!

I came out of the cinema absolutely exhausted and didn't go along with the person sitting behind me who said "it was a bit disjointed".

Detail from Turner's self portrait (4)

(1) http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2014/10/6/nyff-mike-leighs-exquisite-and-frustrating-mr-turner.html

(2) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10833174/Mr-Turner-review-supremely-enjoyable.html

(3) http://thefilmstage.com/features/mike-leigh-talks-mr-turner-art-mirroring-cinematography-sociopathic-genius-and-more-at-cannes/

(4) http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/31/turner-mike-leigh-film-timothy-spall

Part 2 Reflections

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Each exercise on this course builds on the last one and in Part 2 that equals a lot of new learning.  I find it difficult to integrate all this new information into my drawings and at the end of a piece of work I’m likely to think “Oh no! I forgot all about negative space” or something similar.

My intellectual understanding of tone is sound but I find it hard to put what I know into practise.  Really dark shadows somehow seen impossible even though I know they are true.  My Assignment is a case in point.

I find that I have had favourite sections like still life and drawing around the home.  I got really bogged down with my animal drawings by trying to put in too much detail.  However, I was pleased with my owl.

Quality of outcome

My work is very variable – at one moment I think I’ve made progress then I regress and make something that looks like it’s from primary school.

However, when I think where I was in July when I started the course I realise how far I’ve come both creatively and personally.  I’m proud of what I’ve achieved but not complacent.

Demonstration of creativity

I sometimes get too involved in getting it “right”.  A major learning point has been that if I want to be expressive (and I do) I need to take some risks and just go for it. 

If my work has momentum it is far more exciting than something that has been meditated on until it’s comatose.  Just where the happy medium is between expressive and unplanned is part of the skill I suppose.

I have found it difficult to understand the paradox of drawing with expression and the rendering of detail.  It is tough to use expressive drawing in a still life.

Context reflection

In Part 2 I have researched extensively because I love to do it.  There’s a lot to learn from investigating theory or just looking at how other people have tackled the same task.

I reflect as I go to try to identify my strengths and put right those things that aren’t going so well.

I have become a member of my local Art Society and exhibited for the first time.  I have joined the Lincoln Weavers Group (bearing in mind I’m a Textiles student). These groups expose me to other ways of being creative

I keep my learning log (blog) up to date because it’s a good record of what I’ve achieved.  I put everything in my log, warts and all, because most learning comes from reflecting on the mistakes.  

Part 2 has offered a very varied range of topics and I have found it challenging not least because it’s been a long haul.  I find I’m longing for informed feedback.

I'm excited to be moving on to Part 3 and it's a strange coincidence that it's "Outdoors" when I've just seen "Mr Turner".

Part 2 Project 6 Ex 5

Mixed media

For this exercise I returned to a sketch I'd done earlier.  It's of my favourite armchair; one where I can curl up and all becomes right with the world.  It's my bolthole and feels very safe.

My bolthole

This is drawn from a point at the dining table.  The perspective isn't good so I determined to try again and do a better job.

In this piece of work I need to explore mixed media and ones that are outside my comfort zone.  Being the coward that I am my first attempt was in pencil and so awful I threw it away.  The next image is my second attempt, again with pencil.  I decided that I wanted to show the context but that the chair really needed to be the focus.

My bolthole in pencil

This was done in just a few minutes using a cube as a basis for my chair shape.  Other than taking out my faint cube lines there was no additional use of an erasure.  This is something I'm very proud of as it was an entirely necessary piece of equipment just a few weeks ago.

My bolthole in conte crayon

This was done without any cube to guide me and no initial pencil sketch - just straight into conte crayon.  Although I've used conte crayons a little I don't really find them easy to use, they seem quite scratchy.  My marks were made quickly and I ignored what I thought was "wrong" and just did it "right".  I used three colours and no other medium.  What I ended up with was a rounded looking chair that is in proportion and looks as though it sits in the corner of the room.

My bolthole in water soluble pencil crayon

This also was done quickly and it's starting to seem as though I get better results when I work that way.  It goes back to what I've thought before - I need to stop labouring and just do it!

I drew in crayon and then used water to soften the edges a bit.  I did a sort blue wash throughout and it is effective.  I decided on blue because the chair is blue and although it is a cold colour the chair still looks inviting.

My bolthole in ink 

To say I'm scared of my dip pen and inks is something of an understatement so I bit the bullet and drew with a broad nib.  The work I did in the previous exercise helped.  I used both the wide part of the nib and the side of it. I mixed a very well watered cobalt blue ink wash for the chair and used some fine liner marks for the fringe on the bottom of the chair and the floorboards..The walls were a pale black ink deepened for the shadows.  The wooden floor is in pencil crayon put on in lines the direction of the boards.  The sideboard looks insignificant which I don't think is a problem.

My instructions say that I should be looking at my subject from a variety of viewpoints and I'm very aware that I haven't done so. I tried to see the chair from a different aspect but I found I could make precious little change because of the position it's in.  The straight on position is all I could realistically manage.

In pencil to get the feel of the chair

I didn't toil over this and the shapes are getting easier to draw - not just this shape but generally I'm finding I can look and make make better judgements.

Fine liner and felt pen

This was real scribble.  I used fine liners in various gauges to get tone.  It's a very curvy chair.

Oil pastel and soft pastel

I find oil pastels aren't my favourite medium and I don't particularly like the effect.  Here I used a mixture of both oil and soft pastel.  The oil didn't like drawing over the soft pastel (predictably).

My final effort is to start with a water colour wash and then wash my chair in a deeper tone of the same colour as the wash (raw sienna).  I end up with a chair shape that I outlined.  I wanted to indicate the pattern on the chair fabric and did blue marks that I wasn't happy with.  I soften it with a cream pastel and it looked a bit better.  The dark wall shadows are in ink.  This was an experiment that didn't particularly work but it is shows that that I am less afraid to try out new things.

Water colour, soft pastel and ink

In this exercise I have gained some confidence with unaccustomed media without having to worry too much about anything else.