It proved difficult to draw the negative shapes as I constantly wanted to revert to drawing the positive shapes. Looking at negative shapes will help in drawing because it enables further measurements to be made regarding proportion. As negative shapes do not have 'names' as such it makes you look at the shape itself rather than using the preconceived ideas that language labelling is capable of doing. Because of this accuracy is potentially made easier. Not only that but negative shapes are an important part of any composition. Looking at the image of a tree for example, the spaces between the branches are as important in the overall picture's design as the branches themselves. I think it's hard to remember the importance of negative shapes but recently read 'Lessons in Classical Drawing' by Juliette Aristides wherein she admits to having to constantly remind herself to do this despite knowing its importance. This is a reassuring admission as I know it's something I need to improve upon.
Three plants - proportion and 3D spacing.
For this part of the course I decided to draw two pots in my garden. I took my easel into the garden as I had decided to draw whilst standing and looking down upon them. In order to create depth I placed one pot behind the other and worked hard to try to achieve the correct measurement for the ellipses on each as the forward pot would have the widest ellipse. It was also fairly foreshortened and it took me some time to work this all out. Having recognised that I wanted to draw the stones upon which the pots were standing this involved using perspective and I decided that the vanishing point would be off the paper. Consequently I tried to estimate where this would be and draw it accordingly. In order to draw the plants in proportion I did several sketches first to work out where the pots would locate on the picture plane.
A2 Colored pencil
This first attempt in pencil was quite daunting to me as the fine points mean it takes some time to build up the colour. The course instruction book suggested three hours or more but in the end I spent nearer seven hours on this.
To help with the 3D effect I attempted to draw in the form tone on the pots and in keeping with colour theory made the front pot darker than the rear. At one point the whole thing looked really flat to me so I intensified the colour of the front pot by adding red to the brown and this, I think, helped bring it forward. Initially I wanted the red peppers to be the focal point but, I think, the composition failed in this because of the pot being more prominent than the plant and this is due to its size and colour strength. However, the hosta does draw some attention as the light works across the leaves. I tried to make the front leaves on the pepper larger and more detailed to show they were further forward and in similar manner left the rear pot less detailed and lighter in colour.
The light in this was quite disastrous as I placed the pots in a position to draw and anticipated that the light would be right at the time that the initial drawing was done- during this time the plants were not in direct sunlight. However, at the time I expected the light to be coming to the left the sun in fact got too low to be on the plants. At this stage I decided to try to imagine what the light would have done and finished the drawing in this manner. Consequently there are several errors. I couldn't do the exercise again using the same plants as I had managed to kill the hosta by putting it in a hot spot on the patio.
After this I reproduced the drawing in pen and ink and then oil pastel.
I feel that neither of these is successful . I decided on the oil because I thought it would be easier to cover A2 paper size with better effect. Of course, this meant that fine detail was missing. The pen and ink was meant to be the best of both worlds, a pen for fine detail and a wash to cover broader areas. However, the paper was not a good choice as the washes were overdone by me and the paper buckled and what was meant to be a light effect was overworked by me.
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