Deciding on the composition
Selection of objects: a lengthy decision between fruit and vegetables, and the choice of where to put them on. I decided on vegetables and chose champignons and onions because I liked the reduced colour palette of only white and brown tones. I chose a wooden chopping board rather than a porcelain plate, because I found the contrast between round vegetable forms and rectangular board more interesting. With its brown colour it also corresponded well to the colour palette of the vegetables.
For the composition, I tried out several variations. The final arrangement was the result of an unadverted push at the table which made one of the onions roll off the cutting board. This nicely interrupted the orderliness of previous arrangements where all objects had been placed close together on the board.
I chose my viewpoint at an angle from the front, rather than looking right from above. This was with respect to the final drawing, because I thought that if seen from above, the fruit would look as if attached to the wall. I set myself at an angle to the table, such that the rim of the board would not be parallel witht the horizon line, to give the composition greater dynamic.
I chose brown paper and fineliner for the drawing, because I wanted to practice hatching techniques. The brown underground also corresponded well to the colours of my objects. I planned to apply mixed media, adding colour crayon later for the white champignons to bring out the highlights of the arrangement.
How it went
I was intimidated by the fineliner’s black marks which cannot be corrected once they’re on the paper. This is a great difference to pencil. But I had chosen fineliner exactly for this reason: to learn how to overcome the anxiety of making incorrigible black marks. I took some time to look at the arrangement, observed the lines implicit in the objects’ relative positionings and looked at shades and reflected light patterns.
I began with dotted lines to first create a light sketch of my objects, their shapes and relative sizes. When I felt that I had roughly outlined all elements of the composition, I drew more definite lines on top of the dotted lines. I also indicated areas of cast shadows with lines across the objects. Then I applied hatching to indicate the darker areas. This was when things went wrong. Especially when hatching the cast shadow on the table and the shadown patterns on white champignons, things didn’t work out.
The hatched areas on the champignons did not support the form, and they were much too dark. Probably it would have sufficed to indicate shades on these white objects with some parallel lines, rather than cross hatching. For the cast shadows, I don’t know. They are quite dark in the original arrangement, but my hatching marks disturbed the visual impression. Maybe I must decide on a particular angle and stick to it, to make the marks more neutral and less prominent.
What I liked in the drawing was the way how I traced some surface lines of the onions, independently of hatching. The lines followed object traits; they supported the impression of roundness and made the onions recognizable. By contrast, I felt that I destroyed the champignons with my hatching. Probably I should have left them all blank with just the outline plus some parallel lines to indicate shaded areas.
Finally I used colour crayons to make the drawing more lively – some white for the champignons, and brown and yellow tones for the onions and the wooden boards. The colours are very subtle on the brown paper and I think this works quite well with the subject and the technique.
The drawing
– The objects in the composition are too close together – there’s too much empty space on the paper. I think the drawing would be more convincing if there was some kind of background. My choice of placing the objects on a table without anything else makes the drawing more of a study than a final work.
– I might cut the paper to adapt it to the composition – make it a 1:2 landscape format just large enough for the board and the objects’ shadows to the right.
Ideas for improvement in the future
– in a similar arrangement, I could place the champignons differently, so that more of the stems is visible – this would have made the forms more easily recognizable
– I must work on my hatching technique. I feel as if I’m destroying the drawing by my uncontrolled strokes. With pencil it’s less grave because pencil can be rubbed out and worked over until the tone is correct. But with a deep black medium like fineliner, all errors are extremely visible and cannot be corrected. Maybe I should practice with a smaller number of objects to find out how much hatching is really needed to create tonal shadings. It is probably much less than what I currently apply
– I think the white champignons are a good object of study tonal shades, they are more interesting than the white mug that I used for the pastel study. It would probably be a good idea to practice hatching with fineliner and learn to create shaded areas without destroying the objects.