13 September 2009




Course work: Continued work on Assignment 1, Section 6, Using Texture. Completed six additional 5x5 cm squares with pencil marks and dip pen representing various surface textures, then did twelve more squares with various experiments (25 in all) utilizing different media and some solvents to look for ways to produce interesting textures.



Reading:



Anne Classen Knutson, Andrew Wyeth: Memory and Magic

Rizzoli International Publications, New York 2005

Pp 45-79



(No author listed: Translated by Natalia Tizon), Art of Sketching

Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 2007

Pp 11-157

[Comments regarding this book: There is a good bit of useful information on sketching a wide variety of subjects with a large assortment of media. In my opinion, the book suffers from disorganization: related topics are scattered widely, and there is not a logical progression from simple to more complex topics. Nevertheless, it is a useful book to have available, as paging quickly through it is likely to provide some unthought-about idea, approach, or technique.]



Personal sketchbook work: A drawing of a telephone, with emphasis on the tangled cord, and a challenging drapery study, set up by dropping a towel on the floor. (Drapery studies are always worth doing, since drapes and folds are so common in still-life setups and in clothing.)



Weekly thoughts on learning experience: I have now been working on the course for 25 days, and have done at least some work every day, totaling about 60 hours to date. At present, I am still on schedule with my planned pace through the course. A review of my earlier work in the course, and of some pre-course sketchbooks and drawings, suggests that my work is improving. My sketchbook work has been somewhat better this week, with only one day on which I did none, although my sketches often seem somewhat more formal and organized than what I envision as “ideal” sketches. My hatching is somewhat better, with more even application.



Total time: about 4 hours