Working towards my still life of natural objects

These are the latest drawings I have done, working up to the assignment of a still life.  I tried several different compositions and then added a little colour.  I think I am just playing around at the moment trying to find an idea that actually works.  As it takes me so long to draw anything, I am constantly having to move my tray of rapidly fading vegetables around the house so they are not in the way. No two drawings are ever going to be the same. Oh, to have a study!

Drawings with texture

After my initial attempt at depicting texture, (the strange looking knitting!), I tried again and had much better success.  I think it is much easier to draw natural objects as they have no hard lines, and even if one line is slightly out, it doesn't throw the whole drawing.

Using texture

This week I have been doing some exercises on using texture.  I had great fun going round the house and garden looking for different textures to draw.

I tried to use pen, biro, pencil, ink and charcoal.

I then tried to do some rubbings, or the posh name, frottage.

I made a simple collage from the impressions, but it wouldn't quite fit onto my scanner.  You can only see the middle bit, but you get the idea.

My next drawing was trying to use some of the textures that I had just tried to depict.  The drawing is of some knitting on two circular needles.  It is very unsuccessful, and came out looking like some weird internal organ!  But, it was the first time I had tried anything so difficult, so I will go off and have another go. 

Composition of natural objects

This week has been incredibly hectic, and I have not achieved quite as much drawing as I had first hoped.  My first sketch was returning to the theme of reflected light and I spotted the lamp in the corner of the room one evening and thought that would be a good subject.

I then went on to try 'Composition of natural objects'.  My first sketch of the peppers and garlic, came about after looking round our rather neglected vegetable patch.  Surprisingly, there I found two wonderful looking peppers which fitted the theme beautifully.  Sadly the drawing does not do them justice.

Having had only mild success with this I took my time to plan the second drawing using quick sketches to see which composition looked best.  I settled on the bottom right one and I was really pleased with the results. I still have a lot of trouble deciding what looks like a good composition, but I think taking the time to plan the drawing really paid off in the end.



Reflected light

I have been doing a few drawings trying to use charcoal.  My first attempt, the glass and bowl, was not very successful.  I think this was due to the fact I tried to do it in my A4 sketch book and I really needed a much larger area to get some good sweeping strokes going. 

I am much happier with my second attempt which I drew on  A2 paper.  It did seem a ridiculously large area to fill, but I think by choosing large saucepans as my subject, this somehow helped. The lid is not quite right, but I enjoyed the messiness of the charcoal.

I have now doing an exercise on still life sketches of made objects.  I have this time gone for objects which are quiet small, cotton reels and bobbins.  I'm not quite sure how to arrange the objects and whether there are any guide lines or rules on this subject.  I don't think I have got the composition right in any of the three sketches I have done.
   The pen worked better than the pencil as the drawings seemed more lively.  I think this area needs more consideration as the first assignment is a still life. Back to the books.......

Tone and Form

 

                                                                                                                                                                     I've been trying my hand at tone and form this week.  Looking at how light casts shadows on the surface of objects. I must admit this was  fun, but I still can't get my pots or cups to look quite right.  

Most of these drawing were in pencil, but I did try the apple in biro.  It came out very bold and, obviously with no hope of erasing anything, it does have a certain messy quality about it.

Basic shapes and fundamental form

I have completed two pictures on the theme of using boxes and cylindrical objects.  I must admit I am having considerable trouble getting the ellipses to look right.  You know they look wrong but it's working out how to rectify them that is the trouble.

For the second one I have added some colour, but I must admit it all came out a bit wishy washy.  The colours would have looked better a bit stronger, but all I had to hand at the time was my daughters colouring pencils.