After finishing assignment four, I realized that I had not completely worked out this project. There were several more sketches in my little sketchbook that I took with me, but I found it very difficult to draw during daytime when I work and so the drawings lacked dedication. My mind is busy and I’m stressed, and I have great difficulties to switch into “drawing mode” during lunchtime.
So I thought I’d better work from photos, at home when I’m quiet and have time. I can take some whenever an occasion presents itself and can draw later. I made a trip to Union Square with the idea of taking pictures of people. This is a rather unusual motif for me, because otherwise I’m more interested in nature or interesting perspectives, and tend to omit people in my photographs.
Exercise 1: Sitting and waiting
I made my sketches in the large A3 sketchbook which contains early work for parts 1 and 2 of this course. I drew only on one side of each sheet because the paper is quite thin and the drawings shine through to the reverse side. The large format requires enlarging the images from the computer screen, but it permits enough space for detail studies, if the photo is detailed enough.
The first sketches were in pen and indigo ink: A couple, a young man, a young miss on high heels, and a young woman on a windy day. The last sketch was a bit more experimental in composition. Instead of fitting the woman in the center of the sheet as I did with the first drawing, I drew her quite large and as if walking into the scene. This reflected the situation of the picture, the woman was walking in front of me from left to right.
I continued drawing from these photos over several days. I stayed with pen & ink because I felt that the practice helped me to overcome my fears of making misplaced marks. I thought I’d benefit from staying with one single medium and maybe develop a bit of a personal style in it, or at least a bit of routine.
What I like about these drawings is that I made little compositions from different sections of a photo, or drew elements at different sizes. My favourite from this set of sketches is the chess players drawing. This would be the one I can imagine to develop further, maybe into a painting at larger scale. I also liked the young woman on a windy day, because of the hair flowing in the wind and the movement in the feet.
I completed the exercise with drawings after photos from a works outing to see how I get along drawing several people in the same scene. I found it quite difficult to achieve resemblance because the photos were not detailed enough and in the face, tiny marks and tiny errors have a huge impact on the expression of a face. From these drawing I chose the final group at the table for working up in coloured pencil. I like that drawing for the atmosphere it conveys, a group of men sitting together.
Exercise 2: Fleeting moments
I thought this exercise asked about moments that would make “good snapshots”, special moments that quickly pass by. I found it difficult to decide on a theme for this exercise and finally chose “At the woodsmith’s shop”. I made these photos several years ago. From my photos I chose those which incorporated some movement or particular energy. I remember that I was impressed by how the movement of the arm with the hammer can develop such power to form the red-glowing iron.
I was more experimental with media in this exercise. For the first drawing, I chose oil pastel because it had that movement blur and I thought this could be done by working up a thick layer of oil pastel. I liked the result but wasn’t able to depict any details of face and hands.
So for the second drawing, I wanted to try coloured pencils which permit more detailed work. I liked the correspondence between the figure and the fireplace where the iron was heated, and wanted to include both elements in the drawing. I slowly began laying out tonal areas but the drawing remained very pale. This was not what I wanted, so I decided to work over with black pen. The initial hatching was more or less irritating and the drawing did not work, but at some point I let go and developed the really dark tones of the background and figure. I left out the fire and the glowing iron in contrast. In the end I was surprised and satisfied that the drawing began to function.
For the final drawing, I chose charcoal because I wanted to focus on the tonal values and the energy in the posture coming from the intention of moving the hammer with force. The pressed charcoal stick was awkward to work with, I think I prefer the softer willow charcoal because it is easier to make dark blacks. It is again a drawing that lacks fine detail, but I like how I captured the posture of the figure and the woodsmith’s equipment.