For assessment – Part 1 Form and Gesture

Project 1 – Feeling and expression

Exercise 1 – Experimenting with expressive lines and marks

Calm – Happy to be drawing on paper without the pressure of producing a picture. Thoughts came to mind whilst drawing across the page, remembering stepping stones across a stream in Dovedale, the clear sparking water not too deep and the feeling of security as the stones already in place, take me across to the other side. I enjoy the moments and find my shapes and strokes are mostly soft curves, wavy lines with not too much pressure on the paper.

Joy – Great time drawing unbroken curves and swirls feeling like I was dancing on the paper with lilting movements. Enjoyed doing some splodges of ink with a stick. Liked the effects with charcoal drawn holding it on its side.

Anger – I didn’t want to do this one at first as I was afraid of the emotion. Once I started putting marks on paper it was easy to continue. Most of the drawings were lines and shapes with hard edges. Also the markings were darker as I applied them with more energy and pressure to the paper to release the angry feelings.

Fear – With this drawing I noticed most of the shapes and markings started at the top of the page and went downwards, often beginning with light strokes and increasing in intensity as I imagined a sinking feeling e.g. before a flight or public speaking. I also felt the fear of seeing a bat flying at night or going into a dark basement without a light.

Exercise 2 Experimenting with texture

Notes

This was a very enjoyable exercise and I will try to describe some of the textures shown in the images above. I used a range of drawing tools – pencil 2B+6B, graphite stick, graphite pencil,chalk pastel, charcoal, drawing ink and writing ink.

Top left – Drops of drawing ink had a shiny surface when dry which felt smooth and crisp. The blue streaks were a stick dipped in ink which was difficult to control and so was more interesting.

Top middle – my favourite of all these experiments was the avocado with its wonderful waxy,rough textured skin which made an exciting frottage that would look stunning when incorporated into a drawing.

The image on the right shows my attempt to draw soft,silky fabric with graphite and a putty eraser plus some smudging. it wasn’t easy to portray the folds and I will need more practice at doing this. I also tried to depict markings on leather with graphite 4B, this was a challenge as there are so many marks and lines involved.

Exercise 2 Observing shadow using blocks of tone