I’ve finally completed part 2. I had several occasions where I was near to giving up. I hope I will get on better in the next part of the course.
The task of the assignment was to set up an interesting composition of natural objects, and make a drawing using the media of my choice. Instructions advised to first select the media, then decide on the composition and try out different variations in the sketchbook.
I had some difficulties with this sequence, because I already had an idea what I wanted to draw before I had decided on the medium. I was interested in drawing squashes because I liked their forms and colours. Initially I wanted to combine two squashes with an artichoke arranged on a wooden chair.
The initial pencil study of the objects and the compositional sketch were nice. But I wanted to use oil pastels and from earlier experience I knew that I wouldn’t be able to depict fine details with this medium. Therefore I changed the composition. I kept the squashes but changed the artichoke for a vase with sunflowers. I made another compositional sketch of these items on the chair, but then decided to change the composition because I found it unnatural to have a vase on a chair.
After considering several alternatives, I decided to use a small, high table covered with a red and orange table cloth, and improvised a black cloth in the background to have a neutral background. I preferred this to the actual interior of my working room which presents too many irritating details which I did not want to include in the drawing.
I was very unsure about my choice of oil pastels. Two preparatory sketches of a sunflower and the squashes further convinced me that the task would become quite difficult. Nevertheless I wanted to give it a try and see how far I would get.
I selected dark grey pastel paper which I thought would help to give depth to the arrangement before the dark background. I began with sketching the objects in a light colour, then added coloured areas and tried to work out some details.
There was a point when I was so disheartened that I did not only want to throw away the drawing, but also abandon the whole drawing course because I simply did not see any progress or any use in what I was doing. After a break of 10 minutes or so, I decided to try harder and try to improve what I had drawn. I kept on reworking the drawing for around 5 hours until I was moderately satisfied and the paper was more or less saturated.
After all, I like the drawing and am glad that I did not give up. But I really don’t know whether I will be able to complete this course.
Reflection: Which aspects of this assignment did I enjoy most?
I think it was the free choice of what I wanted to draw and with which medium.
