The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real. (Lucian Freud)
I started my first sketches with the idea that I’d like to focus on plants and flowers, but would also want to try out fruit and vegetable to see how I got along with these different kinds of organic forms. I made 11 sketches overall, which I think is quite a lot, in view of the instructions to spend around 2 hours on each (which I did, sometimes more and sometimes a bit less). I understood this as an advice to look hard and try to capture detail. So I tried to select objects with interesting forms or textures.
I began with a rose. I had bought a bouquet of roses, but in view of the task decided to depict only a single flower, and found this complicated enough. A natural choice of media was coloured pencil, as I found it was well adapted for detailed work and subtle colour blendings. I took much effort to get the structure of the petals right – how they embrace the core in layers, and how they curl their upper part to the outside. I think I captured this successfully .
But I found it difficult to get the colours correctly. The rose petals were rose on the outside and soft yellow on the inside. The dry medium I used created sort of a rough texture which didn’t correspond overly well with the softness of the rose. I also did not manage to create the colour blendings in the size I had chosen to draw. But despite the shortcomings, I found it an achievement that I got the basic structure of the petals right.
I made a second drawing of the rose, using just pencil this time, because the first drawing was kind of undecided at the core of the bud, and I wanted to have another go at this. It was a line drawing first and then I added shadings to improve readability.
The third drawing was a dried Artichoke. I drew it with felt pen in its original size. The artichoke was a fascinating and very complex object. It had a hairy structure at the core, in violet-beige-silvery colours. I think the drawing is quite successful, although it is rather stylized, instead of realistic.
The next drawing was a pomegranate, which I had cut into half. I used inktense pencils and washes. There was much more correspondence between the fruit’s surface texture and the drawing, I think quite an improvement over my first drawing in dry coloured pencil. In particular, the washes worked well with the red seeds, which had darker flesh around a white kernel. I think I managed to create a bit of three-dimensionality, although the glossyness of the fruit’s surface is missing. The drawing also reflects a bit of experimentation with the media. I have not that much experience with inktense pencil washes and used this drawing to try out layering several washes .
I had thought about the requirement to draw a large format for the assignment and thought it might be a good idea to also try larger objects. These would require not that much enlargement, compared to small objects or painting only a section of an object. So maybe a houseplant, not too small, would be another possible choice for the assignment. I had seen Cyclamen recently and was quite fascinated by their waxy petals and the group of swan-like stems of the buds over dense green leaves. So I went out to a garden center in midtown to see whether they had Cyclamen. The problem was, that their season was almost over and most plants were preparing to go for a rest.
So there was only one left. I got this one and another plant, a Croton Mamey. This is a tropical plant in firy red, orange, yellow and green tones, and whose leaves are screwed in a very strange way. But interesting and fascinating to look at and just right for a try. I made a line drawing with pen and ink, but the leaf structure in the middle was difficult to read and I decided to add some colour, using inktense pencils and wash. I think I captured some of the strangeness and the intense colouring of the plant. The colours I mixed in the middle got a bit muddy unfortunately. The light situation may have had to do with this. I think I drew in artificial light and the right half of the plant was a bit too dark and made it difficult to see the individual leaves.
A few days later I drew the Cyclamen. I chose inktense pencils and washes again, but no pen and ink this time. I think the technique corresponds well to the softness and subtleness of the plant, its forms and colours. I really like how I drew the buds, with soft purple and greyish tones and shadings. The leaves were quite difficult to draw. I drew only a section of the plant which to me looked like a nice composition. I really like this drawing and I think it was the one I enjoyed most.
Then, apparently a change from the beauty of flowers, I chose a corn cob for the next drawing, and 6B pencil as a medium. I got quite impatient while drawing, but looking at the result now, I think it is among the more energetic drawings I made. While drawing, I struggled with the soft pencil because it was difficult to depict fine, subtle lines of texture of the outer leaves. But looking at it now, the soft pencil created darker marks and this benefitted the overall effect.
After this, I went back to my roses, which in the meantime had begun to dry out. I am very fond of dried flowers and usually keep these for their beauty for quite a while. I used watersoluble wax crayons with washes first, and later added contours with pen and ink. Again I struggled with the too small size I chose, because the space was not enough for me to create the colour blendings. I also realized the wax crayons were way too bold for my liking.
But I was so fascinated with the drying roses, that I made another drawing and this time, enlarged it by around factor three. I began using HB pencil and focused on the structure and layering of the petals. I added shadings to improve readability. I worked for quite a long time here and think that I captured something of the crumpliness of the drying petals, both in the surface texture and the contours of the leaves. I then added a grey-brown wash as a background, the colour of my carton behind the rose. The actual colour was much more intense. Maybe I should have reworked the background, but I did not find this central to the task.
The next object was a red beat which had fascinated me by the red stems and green leaves attached, and the impressive colour contrast of dark violet leaf veins before the green. The problem was, the entire plant was too large to fit onto the sketchbook page. I decided to draw only the brownish root with the red-violet stems . I began with pen and ink only and was quite satisfied how I captured the knotty surface of the beet. The stems were difficult to separate visually, so I decided to add colour and used watersoluble wax crayons again. It was only a tiny leaf that permitted to bring out the red-green contrast. For a more dense composition, it might be interesting to arrange several beets so that they can be seen together with those colourful stems and leaves.
Then I had to pause for a few days because of work commitments, but once when I was in a supermarket, I saw a celery root and was intrigued. So my last drawing so far was this celery root. I chose HB pencil again and struggled a lot with the strangely interwoven root system. But I kept trying until the texture seemed to cover the entire surface. There are plenty of small observational errors, but the drawing seems to work nevertheless.
This drawing was a real challenge, because the surface of the object was extremely complex and irregular. I had great difficulty keeping my eyes focused on any particular spot while drawing.
Deciding on an object
From all the objects I drew so far in this exercise, I think the celery root was the most difficult and challenging. The most enjoyable drawing was the Cyclamen. I really liked the roses for their beauty, too.
Now the problem with the Cyclamen is that it has lost all buds and more than half of its leaves, so there’s currently not much left of it for drawing. The roses in their beauty would be my second choice, but then I don’t have this particular feeling of a real challenge. They’d certainly be difficult enough as a subject, but I don’t feel visually overwhelmed and forced to push myself further to find new ways how to cope with the complexity.
I also thought about one of the later exercises which are to draw only a section enlarged. The celery root seems to lend itself to experiments like this.
Choosing this object represents more personal risks, because it’s a decision for something I find highly difficult and beyond my current abilities, rather than choosing the most beautiful object. I felt attracted and repelled at the same time. The surface texture reminded me of ancient paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, the Dutch painter who depicted really strange fantasy creatures.
Maybe the choice is inspired by the visit to the Mike Kelley exhibition, because I had been in the mood for trying out something strange, almost weird, when I looked for some more drawing objects. The celery root in the supermarket just looked so weird. It even made the cashier, a young girl of maybe 20 years, giggling and asking “What is this???” – “Looks funny, doesn’t it? It’s for making soup”, I explained…
And then there was this quote by Lucian Freud, which I came across today on a website: “The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.” I know Lucian Freud from earlier research as an extremely realist painter. I’m not overly fond of his paintings or the style, but I find much truth in the quote. Although, I’m not sure whether it is possible to pin down its meaning. I’d already have a hard time to define the term “abstract”.
Maybe it means that when looking intensely at details, you loose the connection to the whole. You begin to see the forms and texture of the details as abstract forms, disconnected from the larger object to which they belong. Focusing on these details during the representational drawing, and trying to depict them accurately, makes the whole object more and more (photo-) realistic and similar to the real object.
With respect to my choice of the celery root as a drawing object – I’ll see how I get along. If it’s too difficult or I if loose my nerves, I might dismiss and get back to the Cyclamen.
Resources
Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch painter (c. 1450 – 9 August 1516)
Quote by Lucien Freud: I wasn’t able to locate the actual source, but it’s been quoted multiple times on a variety of websites.