Thursday 29 April 2010
(Traveling with family; opportunity to work almost nil.)
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 458-475
Total time: 31 minutes
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday 27 April 2010
(Traveling with family; opportunity to work limited.)
Reading:
Howard Etter & Margit Malmstrom Perspective for Painters
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, Pp 32-73
Personal sketchbook work: A poor copy in graphite pencil of the track light previously done with water-soluble pencil.
Total time: 39 minutes
(Traveling with family; opportunity to work limited.)
Reading:
Howard Etter & Margit Malmstrom Perspective for Painters
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, Pp 32-73
Personal sketchbook work: A poor copy in graphite pencil of the track light previously done with water-soluble pencil.
Total time: 39 minutes
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday 26 April 2010
Course work: Completed (I think) work on the foreground-midground-background drawing: found it necessary to add a few accents in white Conté crayon to offset the slight cream tint of the paper.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 446-457
Howard Etter & Margit Malmstrom Perspective for Painters
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, Pp7-31
Personal sketchbook work: A sketch in water-soluble pencil of a portion of a track-light fixture.
Landscape drawing check and log:
(The following responses apply primarily to the foreground-midground-background study, as I have commented on the other work as I logged it.)
“In what way did you simplify and select in your study?” I omitted detail in the trees delineating the farther extent of the midground, as well as some midground detail, in order to separate it more clearly from the foreground.
“Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns amid all the visual information?” To a considerable extent, yes. The clouds were simplified in order to help keep the eye on the foreground and the terrain features.
“How did you create a sense of distance and form in your sketches?” By decreasing detail and tone in distant objects, and by making distant objects smaller than similar objects nearer the eye. In the extreme foreground, the use of perspective for the gate and the field road approaching it helped in the illusion of depth.
“How did you use light and shade? Was it successful?” The greatest variations in tone are in the foreground, and in the sky nearest to “overhead.” The high ground seen at a distance is only a very light tone, with no indication that it is in fact heavily forested. I think that I was reasonably successful here.
“What additional preliminary work would have been helpful towards the larger study?” I should have done several smaller studies before launching into the larger one. I should also have either used graphite pencil as the medium for the drawing, or spent more time familiarizing myself with the properties of water-soluble pencils.
Total time: 1 hour 14 min
Course work: Completed (I think) work on the foreground-midground-background drawing: found it necessary to add a few accents in white Conté crayon to offset the slight cream tint of the paper.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 446-457
Howard Etter & Margit Malmstrom Perspective for Painters
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, Pp7-31
Personal sketchbook work: A sketch in water-soluble pencil of a portion of a track-light fixture.
Landscape drawing check and log:
(The following responses apply primarily to the foreground-midground-background study, as I have commented on the other work as I logged it.)
“In what way did you simplify and select in your study?” I omitted detail in the trees delineating the farther extent of the midground, as well as some midground detail, in order to separate it more clearly from the foreground.
“Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns amid all the visual information?” To a considerable extent, yes. The clouds were simplified in order to help keep the eye on the foreground and the terrain features.
“How did you create a sense of distance and form in your sketches?” By decreasing detail and tone in distant objects, and by making distant objects smaller than similar objects nearer the eye. In the extreme foreground, the use of perspective for the gate and the field road approaching it helped in the illusion of depth.
“How did you use light and shade? Was it successful?” The greatest variations in tone are in the foreground, and in the sky nearest to “overhead.” The high ground seen at a distance is only a very light tone, with no indication that it is in fact heavily forested. I think that I was reasonably successful here.
“What additional preliminary work would have been helpful towards the larger study?” I should have done several smaller studies before launching into the larger one. I should also have either used graphite pencil as the medium for the drawing, or spent more time familiarizing myself with the properties of water-soluble pencils.
Total time: 1 hour 14 min
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday 25 April 2010
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing. Strengthened the uppermost sky tones a bit. Added a gate (from imagination) to break up the visual barrier of the fence, and to provide a little additional depth to the foreground. Added some detail to the extreme foreground.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 434-445
Personal sketchbook work: A few random objects on or near my desk.
Weekly reflections on learning experience: Moved from working on skies to working on foreground-midground-background in a landscape: at least the latter stays still! By moving things around a bit, and adding clouds and a gate that weren’t present in my original photograph, I am getting near completion of this part of the exercise. Working with water-soluble pencil has proved something of a challenge: I have found it impossible to get a uniform wash. Several applications of pencil and water, interspersed with drying periods, seem to be required. At least in my hands a stiff bristle brush seems to produce better results than a softer watercolor brush.
Total time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing. Strengthened the uppermost sky tones a bit. Added a gate (from imagination) to break up the visual barrier of the fence, and to provide a little additional depth to the foreground. Added some detail to the extreme foreground.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 434-445
Personal sketchbook work: A few random objects on or near my desk.
Weekly reflections on learning experience: Moved from working on skies to working on foreground-midground-background in a landscape: at least the latter stays still! By moving things around a bit, and adding clouds and a gate that weren’t present in my original photograph, I am getting near completion of this part of the exercise. Working with water-soluble pencil has proved something of a challenge: I have found it impossible to get a uniform wash. Several applications of pencil and water, interspersed with drying periods, seem to be required. At least in my hands a stiff bristle brush seems to produce better results than a softer watercolor brush.
Total time: 1 hour 25 minutes
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Saturday 24 April 2010
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing. Today I added cloud elements based on yesterday’s sketchbook, as the photograph I am working from was taken on a clear-sky day. The decreasing size of the cumulus clouds and the diminishing tonal contrast toward the horizon aid in creating the impression of depth in the drawing.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 422-433
Personal sketchbook work: A little sketch of part of a paddock, with a run-in shed for the horses, and a background treeline, done in my pocket sketchbook.
Total time: 1 hour 31 min
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing. Today I added cloud elements based on yesterday’s sketchbook, as the photograph I am working from was taken on a clear-sky day. The decreasing size of the cumulus clouds and the diminishing tonal contrast toward the horizon aid in creating the impression of depth in the drawing.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 422-433
Personal sketchbook work: A little sketch of part of a paddock, with a run-in shed for the horses, and a background treeline, done in my pocket sketchbook.
Total time: 1 hour 31 min
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday 23 April 2010
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 398-421
Personal sketchbook work: A cloud sketch with water-soluble pencil, a medium that combines many of the inconveniences of watercolor and graphite. I am experimenting with various methods for improving my handling. These clouds were drawn from my back porch, looking southwest.
Total time: 1hour 28 min
Course work: Further work on the foreground-midground-background drawing.
Reading:
Rose-Marie & Ranier Hagen What Great Paintings Say (Vol. 2)
Taschen, Köln, 2005
Pp 398-421
Personal sketchbook work: A cloud sketch with water-soluble pencil, a medium that combines many of the inconveniences of watercolor and graphite. I am experimenting with various methods for improving my handling. These clouds were drawn from my back porch, looking southwest.
Total time: 1hour 28 min
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