The first 3 are 30 minute cobbled still lifes. This is where you just sit in a room and pick 3 to 5 objects and just imagine a still life then draw it and paint it. It was recommended that I use water soluble pens. I’ve been using a Tombow lately but it puts down lines that are too thick for my liking with this exercise. I used it quite a bit in my last building paintings. So I used a Universal One and a Snowman. The Snowman has a thicker line. These are painted in my 5 X 7 sketchbooks on 140# coldpress.
Here I’m sitting in the kitchen using a Snowman pen
Sitting in the living room using a Universal One.
Objects from the dining room.
We have a friend in Mississippi who is a potter. He took a picture of his kiln when he was firing pottery and I thought it would make a good subject for a Yupo painting. I have a 9 X 12 tablet of synthetic paper that’s not yupo but acts like Yupo and is cheaper. It’s harder to take it all the way back to pure white which makes it hard to get what I wanted but I thought it was interesting.
That kiln shot is promising! I love the warm colors; you can really feel the heat already. Is it finished? The cobbled still life sketches are intriguing. I like the line with wash. Out of curiosity, though, I want to be clear how this works. If you're in the room and the objects are also there, wouldn't you get a better sense of light and space if you just assembled the still life and painted directly? What is the advantage of imagining the still life?
ReplyDeleteYou don’t have to move and you have to use your imagination. There are no rules. The process is the important thing not the result.
DeleteThe middle one is most intriguing because of the variety of shapes. The challenge for me in painting still life’s is defining the shapes with values, but the outlines add an interesting component here.The kiln painting needs more variety of values to define the shapes. It especially needs more darks!
ReplyDeleteI like the last one best, it has a gravity that the first two lack. These ink, or whatever, and watercolor things I think the watercolors are getting the short shrift. In the last the ink is more forthright about being the boss and not the partner. Kind of like Pancho, Lefty's buddy, wearing his gun outside his pants for all the honest world to see.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at the difference between water soluble ink pens. I used the Tombow last week on the buildings and determined that they were too thick to be used for drawing of this type. Between the Snowman and the Universal One, I prefer the Universal. It gives some run but doesn’t diffuse too much. Kinda stays in its own lane.
DeleteDidn’t like the composition of the first one but could easily do one with a better composition but these are just quick sketches done for educational purposes.
I don't get the purpose of the "imagine a still life and paint it" process. Maybe because I just luv still life painting and seeing how each thing relates to whatever is next to it in space and color and value. To me, that's what makes it so exciting, so magical. And that's what appears to be lacking in each of the examples you've provided. There seems to be no beauty or even relationship between objects, they are stacked against each other in improbable ways that almost seems sacrilegious to me. Anyway, I must be completely missing the point of whatever the purpose is for the exercise.
ReplyDeleteGeez! I was just trying to learn something. There is a sketching show on PBS that I got this idea from. Anyway, I learned what I needed to know.
ReplyDeleteCould you share what it is you learned that you needed to know from doing the sketches. That's what I was trying to ask. Thanks.
DeleteThe ability to manipulate objects and place them in a more pleasing configuration can work in sketching. You are not always able to physically move an object but you can do it in your mind. This can be true in landscape painting as well. Sketching frees me from the fear of making a mistake. It’s only a sketch done in 20 minutes. Since I’m doing it in ink, I’m not able to erase the marks so I have to overcome the fear.
DeleteIf you are in someone’s house they might not take kindly to you moving their stuff around and if you are urban sketching you can’t move buildings around but you can do it in your head.
So I learned not to be confined to reality and got more comfortable with my drawing. It’s just a quick sketch not a completed masterpiece. If it wasn’t for class no one would ever see these.