Ex 2.1

Part 2 Intimacy

Research 1 Project 1 Still Life Genre History

This research is under the ”Artists and Their Work’ accessible from the Main Menu of this Blog.

https://cwocadrawing1.home.blog/still-life-genre/

Research 2, Project 1 – Composition

Positive and Negative Space

This research is under the ‘Artists and Their Work’ accessible from the Main Menu of this blog.

https://cwocadrawing1.home.blog/pt-2-composition-positive-negative-space/

Part 2, Exercises and activities

Having researched some of the earlier, sixteenth and seventeenth century artists in particular, I was keen to try a simple ‘lemons in bowl, with peel’ drawing of my own, but to make it contemporary in that the plastic chopping board, beer bottle and knife would be a modern version of this. I also had some new Prismacolor pencils I was keen to try out.

I took a range of different photos exploring composition.

I also experimented with lighting, viewpoint and different background combinations.

However, having started the drawing I soon realised the paper I had chosen was not really suitable for the task. I suspect that the pencils will allow for more control of tone and application of subsequent layers, and darker darks on a smooth surface paper rather than the highly textured one I chose.

Using my gridded viewer I drew it up to A3 size.

I then tried to add lighter undertones, but quickly found there was a limit to the number of layers I could add and I could not get the darks I was hoping for in some places.

Still I am relatively pleased with the drawing despite this.

What did I learn:

• Next time I will use a smooth paper or card to experiment further with these pencils. 
• Practice building up layers subtly to allow dark tones to be really dark where needed.
• Again, the gridded view finder helped me scale up my drawing. Continue to use this for planning out drawing.
• Try to further explore the impact of lighting on still life arrangements, and in particular, low light to create a different atmosphere.
• Experimenting with photography is a quick and practical way to start the initial explorations. these can then be developed with thumbnails to identify what works, doesn’t work and where to alter the arrangement. The thumbnails also allow a chance to proactively consider what media wi ll be most suitable.