Thursday 7 January 2009




Course work: Did three more preliminary marker drawings for the marker drawing portion of the exercise. This time I chose only three items: a large mango, a small lime, and a pear that had seen its best days. Each of these (except the mango) was predominately of a single color, and I finally positioned it so that only a little green was visible. After some experimentation I discovered that colored pencil would apply very nicely over the marker color, and could be used for shading, reflections, and color accents. I then proceeded to the A4-size drawing, which used marker, a small amount of pen and ink, and colored pencil. Having purchased a marker-paper pad, hoping (in vain) that the colorless blender would work in it, I did a second drawing of an almost-identical setup; a slip of the marker required correction that did result in a rather hypertrophied mango. The colored pencil did not work as well on the marker paper, and the resultant work was less satisfactory than the first effort.

Of interest, although the marker paper seemed to be of little value for use with markers, the smooth surface shows promise for use with graphite pencil, which lays down smoothly, blends readily, and erases easily. I’ll test it with fixative when weather permits.



From my efforts with markers, I have learned the following:

(1) Select subjects either of uniform color or with a sharp border between unlike colors (2) Don’t expect to have much luck blending colors (though one can superimpose unlike colors and get a mixture, the resultant colors often seem to defy the rules of color mixing; smooth blending at the border of unlike colors does not seem doable)

(3) Colored pencil works well as a color modifier. Some small experiments on scrap paper indicated that soft pastel, hard pastel, and oil pastel could also be used in conjunction with markers.

(4) Although I dislike markers less now than following my experiments at the beginning of this assignment, I think it unlikely that they will ever be a major part of my armamentarium.



Reading:



Kenneth Leslie Oil Pastel

Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1990

Pp 46-81



Personal Sketchbook work: In my pocket sketchbook, a little sketch of some of the branches of a tall shrub. In my A4 sketchbook, a last look at the pear that has served me so faithfully since 27 December 2009, done lightly with graphite and very lightly overworked with colored pencil.

Total time: 2 hours 57 minutes (71 h33m)