Research & Reflection – Art Journal

Project 1 COMPOSITION

Research – Still life genre from 16th century to present day.

What a joy to be able to see the Van Gogh exhibition at Tate Britain this summer. Went together with our local art group and had a wonderful time – my first time visiting the Tate Gallery – will certainly go again!

I was particularly interested in the pictures not done in oil as at that is relevant to me at the moment ( studying drawing skills ) I like the Miners in the snow drawn with Graphite, chalk and watercolour, it creates an atmosphere of cold and hard work. Also like the ‘Dustmen’ drawing ( didn’t capture the display text for that one ) . The quality of my images are not the best and because it was so crowded in the gallery I had to be quick!

It came as a surprise to learn that Vincent read Charles Dickens books and seemed passionate to depict in his artwork the things that Dickens writes – see foreword below –

was happy to discover the ‘Still Life with plaster statuette ‘ ( bottom left ) as my studies are focusing on still life and I’m interested in the way artists choose different viewpoints in their compositions. As you can see this is painted from a high viewpoint which captures our attention and you wonder what is underneath to support.

Below is a sample of some of the artwork which inspired me –

I painted a copy of Van Gogh’s ‘ Still life with yellow straw hat’ I used chalk pastel to map it out first leaving some areas to show the planning process, painted in acrylic on pastel paper.

List of illustrations

Fig.1. Flowers in a porcelain vase Ambrosius Bosschaert 1609 oil on panel https://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/list.php?m=a&s=tu&aid=5839 12.07.2019 23.12pm

Fig.2. Still life with the drinking horn of the Saint Sebastian archers’ Guild, lobster and glasses. Willem Kalf 1653 Oil on canvas 86.4cm x 102.2 cm https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/image-download-terms-of-use-?img=n-6444-00-000015-wz-pyr.tif&invno=NG6444 09.07.19 14.49pm

Fig.3. Still life with water jug Paul Cezanne 1892-93 Oil on canvas unfinished

www.tateonlinegallery.org.uk 12.08.2019 14.04pm

Fig.4. Still Life with a bunch of grapes Georges Braque 1912

https://widewalls.ch/still-life-artists/henri-matisse/ 09.07.2019 14.56pm

Bibliography

Anon (2005) Vitamin D New perspective in Drawing Phaidon

Cooper, P. (1995) Cubism Phaidon9780714832500

Hardwicke, K and Sims, N. (2017) Artists drawing techniques London. Dorling Kindersley LTD

Hosegood,B (n.d.) Still Life SA Rotovision ISBN 2-88046-477-3

Jerome, B Drawing lesson on Cubism YouTube [Accessed: 17.07.2019]

Malpas, J (1997) Realism Tate Gallery

Millet, L (2002) Little book of Matisse France, Flammarion ISBN 2-0801-0885 9

Nguyen,D (2015) Drawing Techniques and Tips [online]. Available from: rapidfireart.com [Accessed: 05.07.2019]

Rizzi , J (2019) Pierre Bonnard Tate Gallery

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