In what way did you simplify and select in your study? Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns amid all the visual information available to you?
I simplified by omitting details in textures, by drawing the outlines of shapes much simpler than they actually were, and by using tonal values rather than textures. I think I even oversimplified in response to the overwhelming amount of detail in a full landscape scene. My challenge would be to become more confident in including detail, in order to make my drawings easier readable.
How did you create a sense of distance and form in your sketches?
I created a sense of distance mostly by changes in size and through overlapping forms. I also employed tonal values rather than textures for distant elements.
I created forms in various ways. The most simple was to just outline an object. But I also used a method where I followed an imaginary contour line with marks that tried to capture a bit of the texture of an object, for example stone walls or tree contours. I also used the negative space technique and switched my attention between the shape of the object and the shape of the background spaces.
How did you use light and shade? Was it successful?
I realize that there seems to be hardly any trace of light and shade in my drawings. Maybe it had to do with weather conditions – I think all my drawing sessions were in grey, dull weather with rather dim light (with the exception of the first cloud study session). So the lack of light and shade in my drawing actually reflects the actual light conditions.
I managed to depict some shady areas, but overall my drawings really lack contrast and should include really dark marks. I thought this was because the pencils I used were not soft enough, but the lack of sunlight may have contributed as well.
What additional preliminary work would have been helpful towards the larger study?
I think I would have benefitted from doing a linear drawing of the raw composition without any details, but maybe including some tonal values, before approaching the larger drawing.
Then I would find tonal studies of important elements helpful, for example when there’s a group of trees I might do a study how to depict the stem and foliage, and the overlapping of the tree shapes. Much more practice in general would of course have been helpful. Personally I would have liked to do more drawings outdoors without formal time restriction and without restriction to particular topics, because I think I need to practice a general skill of observation and translating into marks on paper.