When I had looked at the final drawing later that evening, I realized that the dark green leaves did not have enough contrast to the background, which was why the image appeared a bit unclear to the right side. It was like dark objects before a dark background. I slightly reworked the background and made […]
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Miscellaneous: Pastel roses (continued)
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Miscellaneous: Pastel roses
This was some extra work in pastels. From Bill Creevy’s book on pastel drawing, I had taken ideas for mark-making and tried out some basic techniques, like dusting or colouring in layers. Then I wanted to make an attempt with the linear approach to pastel drawing, as explained in the book. The basic idea is […]
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Observing negative space and perspective
Page 1: Positive and negative space with natural objects (onion and champignons) I thought this would be a good opportunity to practice getting the shapes of the champignons correctly, which I found difficult in the natural objects composition. I chose the same objects, 2 onions and 5 champignons, and placed them at the edge of […]
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Check and log: Still life
Do you think it is easier to suggest three dimensions on man-made or natural objects? Try to explain your answer. I found it easier for the man-made objects, because they tended to have more regular shapes. Maybe my crude hatching technique was less disturbing when the objects’ shape was clearly defined – I’m comparing the […]
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Composition of natural objects
Deciding on the composition Selection of objects: a lengthy decision between fruit and vegetables, and the choice of where to put them on. I decided on vegetables and chose champignons and onions because I liked the reduced colour palette of only white and brown tones. I chose a wooden chopping board rather than a porcelain […]
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More artists: Bill Creevy
I did some research to learn about pastel drawing. I came across the great names of classical artists, especially Degas with his beautiful ballet dancers. I will look at them at a later time. I also looked for inexpensive study pastels at an art supplier, who had also listed some books on pastel techniques. There […]
Miscellaneous: Pastel mark making and tonal study
I would like to get better at drawing with pastels… I did a brief internet search for tutorials on this technique and read some tips here and there. I saw too many photorealistic pastel drawings of pets and portraits, this is a style I don’t like. I’d like to do it differently… To get some […]
Still life sketches of made objects
I chose simple wooden musical instruments: Maracas (wooden stick attached to a coconut bowl which is filled with rough sand) and Cuban claves (cylindrical wooden sticks that are struck together to set the rhythm of a piece). I tried out three arrangements: Landscape format, light from the side and viewpoint at 90° from the light […]
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Check and log: Reflected light
What are the difficulties in separating cast shadow from reflected light and shade? I found it difficult to achieve an overall balanced pattern of shadow and lights. It was too easy to overdo the contrasts and create “holes” by making lines or areas too dark. The reflected shadow and light follows the contours of the […]
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Research point: Giorgio Morandi
Giorgio Morandi (1890 – 1964), Italian painter and printmaker who specialized in still life, depicting very simple objects like pots and vases, for example ‘Natura morta’ (1956) (source: Wikipedia). Morandi seemed to have been fascinated by reflected light – he chose the most simple objects and followed the patterns of light and shade on their […]
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