1.4.2020
Overall Comments
Many thanks for sending me your 5th Assignment.
As this is the last of your assignments on the Drawing 1 course you have chosen to work with the figure and with portraiture.
I have read through your learning blog which is very informative as well as reflective and it explains clearly your progress through this last chapter.
Working with figures in groups inspired by seeing other artist work was a good idea and trying to combine a linear drawing alongside an interactive background set you off on an experimental path that attempted to unite drawing with aspects of collage. In that way you discovered which materials worked best on which substances, a very useful learning process.
I would suggest that if you are going to work with wet materials on paper that you stretch the paper before-hand.
When working with dry pastel for example I will stretch the paper just in case at some point I decide to introduce a wet medium. Cheap coloured paper does not have much size in it and again if it is stretched carefully you can put on a coat of rabbit skin glue and that will do the trick. It can be bought in granular form and heated up in water. Again gluing down paper as collage material will work better on stretched paper.
It is interesting you say that as I have just reworked Assignment 3, at your suggestion, and I stretched the paper before-hand. I had thought of it when thinking about my options for reworking this assignment and considering the limited paper options I had. I had to rummage through old boxes to find my gummed tape, but I am really impressed at the difference it has made. The paper is only 250gsm weight and I have wet it several times over. It has dried flat and looks good. I wish I had thought to make this connection earlier in the unit as it would have made quite a difference to my perceived options.
The most successful drawings here are the nude study in ink with the chalk pastel backgrounds and the double images on top and the subsequent variations that were then produced.
Thank you. These were really enjoyable, energetic and instinctive explorations. I learned a lot about materials, as I have over the whole course, and built up my understanding of pushing the artwork by layering different mediums until I achieved the effect I was after.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
The new direction portraits take you in the direction of the double portrait and you have found a number of examples by other artists as inspiration. Here you have done some excellent drawings with red conte pencil and with powdered graphite. You also went on to do further drawings using biro and prismacolour pencils to good effect.
Preparing for the assignment is well presented with you manipulating the photographs on the computer to try and achieve the most advantageous composition and it is interesting that you decided on one that references the Sully portrait.
The Digital Notepad I used to experiment with compositions gave me so much more freedom to continue to explore so many different options in a ’real’ way with photographic and drawn images combined in a way that quick paper sketches just wouldn’t have permitted. It was a really efficient way to work as a middle ‘thinking’ stage.
Experimenting with four A3 size drawings as development work was a necessary progression and pinning the work up gives you a good idea of how things are going and I like the way you worked between the different versions to expand your ideas.
The final A3 image is a summation of all your ideas and contains many good features. First of all the background is subtly harmonious in its use of colour and imagery and sets of the portraits well. The drawing of the hair is particularly good although I would have gone for a more realistic depiction to right hand girls’ hair on the left hand side as the combination with the background looks confusing and this idea does not work as well as the pattern on the blue clothes. The drawing of left hand girls’ eyes are masterfully done. Overall a good drawing for this the final assignment.
Thank you for your positive comments on this. My rationale for leaving the ‘essence’ of the hair in part for both girls was to pay homage to Jonathan Yeo’s portraits, where he so often just suggests the hair. I wanted to frame the faces with their fringes, particularly as their beautiful red hair is such an integral part of their identities, and then to fade out the rest of the long hair. I also hoped that this ‘suggested hair’ would appear to recede further into the background, and help focus attention more effectively on their faces. Yeo uses this technique in some of his portraits where the front of the face is sharply defined and then as he curves around to the edges, they seem to ‘melt’ into the distance.
Sketchbooks
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
Sketchbooks are going well and they are an important part of assessment. The drawings seem to range from more detailed street drawings and portraits as well as rapid drawings of chickens, which I like very much for their spontaneity.
Research
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
The research into materials and methods continues and as you are very aware, increasing your knowledge of how materials work.
Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
The learning log is very well done with attention being given to all parts of the course from analysis of paintings to reflective assessments of your own work.
Suggested reading/viewing
Context
An artist you could look at is a Scottish artist called Victoria Crowe who combines drawing skills with effective experimentation with materials an intelligent use of colour.
Another artist who often worked with double portraits is Alice Neel . Here is her portrait of the the twin brother Moses and Rafael Soyer both of whom were also painters.
I did look at both these artists and found Victoria’s work particularly interesting. This first work in particular reminded me of work by my favourite artist Morag Muir, who is also Scottish.
In this time of lockdown exhibitions can only be seen on line and most Galleries are putting out some digital coverage. Here in London we are missing out on the Aubrey Beardsley exhibition, the Andy Warhol , Gauguin and the Impressionists and The Titian Poesies at the National Gallery.
I was really looking forward to seeing the national Gallery Exhibition on Artemisia Gentileschi in May, and similarly I would have loved to see an Aubrey Beardsley exhibition. I have previously visited Warhol (Edinburgh) and Gaugin (Fondation Beyeler, Basel) exhibitions.
On BBC I player you will find James Fox series on The Image and Waldemar Januszczak’s Art Mysteries .
My own exhibition A Series of Triptychs at the Riverside Gallery in Richmond has been closed down by the pandemic but you can view a video I made of the installation on
Thank you I have saved this link to follow for later.
Pointers for the next assignment
- Reflect on this feedback in your learning log.
- Look into which of your work you think you could improve before sending off for assessment. Assessment this time will be digital and I believe the head office is at the moment working out how this will best be done and if you ring or e- mail them ( I believe they are all working from home digitally ) they will give you the definitive advice on how it will be done.
I have reworked Assignment 3 as suggested and will update the Assignment part of my blog accordingly.
I have also contacted the OCA to find out about next steps for submitting my work for the June Assessment digitally.
Well done, you have now completed the course and I wish you all the best for your assessment and the next course that you decide to follow.
Many thanks for all your support and timely feedback throughout this Drawing 1 module.
Wishing you all the best for your future art endeavours.
Cathy's OCA Drawing 1 Blog 