After two months off the drawing course, I can wait no longer… I’m not officially resuming coursework yet, but I intend to gradually find my way back into the course. The past two months were intensely filled with working on the master’s dissertation. It is a quantitative study and involves lots of statistics. I’ve completed the technical part of it and what remains to do is the writeup. It is still a lot of work to do, but I need something entirely different from it to avoid over-involvement and work-blindness. So I decided it would be good to take up OCA coursework again. For now I’m quite glad that I don’t have to care about assignment deadlines. I’d like to benefit from this by trying to develop a more natural and less stressed attitude to projects and exercises.
Assignment 2 Tutor Report
Open College of the Arts – Tutor report
Student name Patricia Karsten
Course/Module Drawing 1: Drawing Skills Assignment number 2
Overall Comments
First of all thank you for submitting project 2 in a very well organized manner. This helps us both to refer to the comments with the particular exercises in mind. Secondly, as an overview a thorough attempt to try out all the exercises with a bold approach. Your learning log is very detailed and goes beyond what is suggested; it displays your enthusiasm and commitment. However, do not be too negative with your skills. I know you have found this assignment challenging but this allows you to focus more. It may be a good idea to look at other students work on the OCA website from the same course.
I understand your aim is to go for the Creative Arts Degree and that you plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the work you have shown in this assignment, and providing you commit yourself to the course, I suggest that you are likely to be successful in the assessment.
Feedback on assignment
Exploring coloured media: The first project is done with a vigour and aggression, which is bold and really demonstrates your lack of inhibitions. At the same time your mark making studies are done in different ways such as stippling, directional, ordered etc. and this has allowed for you to be quite free in what you produce. You are looking at the potentials and limitations of the marks, which are particularly shown in the two colour pencil pieces. They have the potential to become pieces in themselves.
Detailed observation: I agree with your comments that the pencil and pen media is not your strongest point to depict textures and lines. They seem unfinished and vague to properly represent the main elements of your subjects. I think with detail you need to have more patience to successfully produce a piece (hence your reluctance to do stippling.) You could have drawn your subject bigger to fill up more space but also using layers you could have added more interesting marks to show more of the form of the subjects.
Still-life: The four pieces are divided into two parts; the coloured pieces are too vague where we lose the form and separation of the individual subjects. They are too expressive to the point that they are foggy or too light to see the definitions. The line drawings however are quite solid and defined and show shape and texture well. Considering in the previous project your line drawings were weak, here you have concentrated more and depicted two interesting still-lifes. It would be more interesting to see some of the expressive colours from the colour pieces combined with the bold marks of the pen.
Drawing fruit and vegetables in colour: Here you have considered texture and they are depicted most successfully in the pastel drawing (lighter version). The darker piece is too flat, as you have not depicted the form of the subject. Try and move your media in the direction of the forms more. The overlapping of colours has allowed you to do this in the other piece. The same goes for the felt pen drawing in the blue bowl. The others do not seem like final pieces but a good set of studies for you to look at the composition. However, I think you could have been more ambitious with the composition, e.g. drawing the inside of the fruit and veg so you can play even more with textures. I agree with your notes, there are empty spaces around most of the studies and to have completed the oil pastel piece on a different coloured surface shows that you have realized this. Again, your work is veering toward an expressive and textural style. Be careful with your measurements as some items are out of proportion.
Project 5: Despite the unfinished piece, a good attempt at three different styles with three different media. Here you are starting to be more ambitious with trying other things. The most successful is the negative space piece; you have managed to capture the outlines well that show detail of the plant without actually adding them in. The background is considered and makes up for the textures eliminated from the plant. I would have liked to see a combination of the colour piece with the pen over the top to add a more solid and convincing piece. You have good observational skills with seeing the complexity of the pants. Of the two larger pieces the pencil crayon is the most precise as it shows a patience and detail. The darker one, a little too heavy and misses out the details. Again somewhere in between would have been better. Here you are concentrating on details away from your expressive style so it is interesting to see where you will go next.
Project 6: This is your weakest project as you have not fully captured the essence of the animals or the accuracy of the anatomy but you have realized this. Next time try and take photos and study the animals and break them down into shapes. So the head might be a circle etc. then add in the details. However, this exercise is useful to work quickly and force you to do quicker studies to release your inhibitions.
Assignment: You have made an appropriate decision in choosing your final subject and well done for preserving with doing multiple studies before tackling the final. There are some interesting textural details depicted in the flowers and the tones of some of the areas add to the form. However, although you spent time on this piece, it could have been worked into more. More layering with the pastel of different shades would have added to its conviction, a stronger light source could have helped you with identifying the tones more. However, a good attempt with the media and the size of the piece.
Sketchbooks/ Learning Logs/Critical essays
Again like your previous assignment your learning log is in-depth and clearly shows your journey of progression. Each project is evaluated well with a true personal self-reflection. You have weighed up the potentials and limitaions of the media you have experimented with and thought about the effects of the piece as a direct observation as well as looking at where it could lead. This has obviously helped with your decisions towards the more final pieces. Your visual language is also demonstrated which goes beyond being descriptive; it is becoming more analytical.
You have researched relevant artists that have obviously inspired you and you have commented on them with your personal opinions based on facts and you are now starting to contextualize. However, there is not enough. I know you said you have not much time to do this but it is vitally important you do to support your progress and demonstrate your understand of the work you do both technically and contextually. The Matt Niebuhr page is very good as it shows the artists work, your interpretations and judgments but also how the work can be pushed into other techniques.
Suggested reading/viewing
Read ‘the important of looking at Artists’ from the OCA website.
The contemporary artists you have looked at shows that you are beginning to open up to more styles. As stated in the previous assignment you cannot ignore what is going on the in art world. Have you looked at the suggested websites and artists from the previous assignment? Your work is improving and you have done some very successful pieces but at the moment it seems that you are lost in taking it further. So look at the artists and sites below and think about how the work from this assignment can be pushed to be more individual and intriguing.
• Linda Weintraub, Making contemporary art: how today’s artists think and work. (Thames & Hudson, 2003)
• Leo Duff, Phil Sawdon. Drawing – The Purpose. (Intellect 2009)
• Arts & artists- www.artresource.com
• Artists – www.the-artists.org
• Art movements- www.artmovements.co.uk
Look at the work of:
• Van Gogh- Particularly his drawings.
• Raymond Pettibon
• Devendra Banhart
Pointers for the next assignment
Reiterated from assignment 1- Start to contextualize your work now by researching and being influenced by other artists. You have started to do this by being informed of the suggested artists and analyzing their work.
Continue to be in-depth with your learning log and documentation of your progress- this is one of your strongest points.
Look back and reflect at your strong points now and see which you can develop to push yourself. In this project you have tried an array of approaches and have followed the assignment well. A substantial amount of work, which shows you are progressing well and delving into more unsafe areas. Well done.
Tutor name: Diana Ali
Date 22-10-2012
Next assignment due 31-12-2012
Taking a break from OCA studies
I have now completed the most tasks of this project, landscape drawing. There are still three research points to do and possibly another attempt at the large, final drawing.
But I will take a break now from OCA studies in order to complete my Master’s studies with the Open University. I hope this will be by the end of March 2013. I realized that I was more and more pulled into OCA coursework and neglected that there was still considerable work for the Master’s to be done, before I could depart onto something else.
On the one hand, I’m unhappy because drawing (and the associated struggles about which I’ve written at length…) had begun to become part of my life, and I will miss the challenge. On the other hand, there’s a sense of relief resulting from the decision to focus on the Master’s for now, because doing these two big projects in parallel had brought me to my limits.
Maybe I’ll write an occasional blog article, but basically it’s bye-bye for now, until next April.
Check and log: Landscape drawing
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.
Landscape drawing: Plotting space through composition and structure
The task was to make a landscape drawing on A3 cartridge paper, this time trying to deliberately establish foreground, middle ground and background using a variety of techniques. The drawing could be done by enlarging one of the earlier sketches or as a new drawing made on the spot.
I’m very unsure whether I have actually completed this task or not. I found the instructions difficult to digest, and the associated illustration suggested that annotations and explanatory ruler lines were expected.
Nevertheless, I had these instructions in mind with the three larger drawings I made after the oil pastel drawing of the evening sky at the Schillerpark.
Friday 12 October 2012 – Jungfernheide
That afternoon, I made a trip to Jungfernheide, a large recreational park in Berlin with forest, some meadows, a pond and nice pathways between the trees. The location did not work for 360° landscape drawing as I originally intended because there was no open view, and not for cloud studies because the sky had become just one thick gray mass.
So I made a drawing of a scene that I liked, trying to take on board the instructions from the “plotting space” exercise. The location was to the side of the little pond with a view towards a pedestrian bridge, framed by large trees. I tried to incorporate some of the hints on foreground/middle area/background.
I took some more time for the drawing and learned something about the reflections on the water. I think I should take still more time while drawing, and try to draw the elements correctly. I like the drawing, but it isn’t accurate with respect to the distance between elements and this creates some visual confusion. For example, the branches of the tree to the left are too far towards the middle, so they lack connection to the tree from which they originate.
A major problem had to do with my myopia. This time I put on my glasses, so I could see much better at a distance, at the expense of having a blurred view on the sheet where I was drawing, due to far-sightedness. Basically, I have two situations: not using glasses and having a clear view on the sheet but not being able to see details at the distance, or using glasses and having a clear view at the distance but blurred vision on the sheet. It’s really a nuisance to have both of these eyesight problems.
While walking back, I reflected on the drawing and the problems I encountered. There was another thing I noticed, this had to do with figure and ground. When I looked at the scene, there were many light objects before a dark ground, and also many dark objects before a lighter background. Most objects also changed their relative tone over their entire space. This is something that I see but cannot draw yet. I think it’s the reason why my drawings don’t work (besides many other problems, that is). I’m drawing dark elements and have the white paper background, and the other part of the visual impression, the light elements before the darker background, is missing. On some very few areas in the drawing I included tone to achieve the effect of light object before a darker ground, for example the bench to the middle right.
The problem with this is that I don’t want to use hatching to indicate the darker areas, because the parallel lines seems to distroy the impression of foliage. So the solution might be to just keep working and making more leave-like marks until the area which serves as a background to another gets darker than the other object.
Taking time for details
The other aspect that I found interesting was the effect of taking some time for details, because it’s like a journey of visual discoveries. For example, at the beginning of the drawing I saw that the water was darker than many of the other elements. Only after some time spent drawing, I began to see the reflections on the water surface: the bridge, the trees and the sky.
I drew no sky in this image because the sky was just a uniform light gray. Hopefully there will be some more interesting cloud formations in the next few days. From time to time I have seen extraordinary beautiful skies over Berlin. Recently I made a trip to the countryside eastwards of Berlin, towards the Polish frontier. When I went on a walk towards the river Oder which designates the frontier, there was indeed an open view into all directions, and on that day, there were wonderful cloudscapes. They would have been great for drawing. So I hope something similar will occur again.
Other places to go
Before departing to Jungfernheide, I had spent some time searching the internet for locations in and around Berlin which would be nice for landscape drawing. I found several which I might explore in the future. I’m glad that the drawing course gives me a reason to make some more trips out of town!
Protected natural parks by the Horst Sielmann Stiftung
– Döberitzer Heide in the western outskirts
– Wannichen, around 120 km to the south, midway between Berlin and Dresden
– Groß Schauener Seen, around 100 km south-east of Berlin
Müggelberge near Köpenick, around 60 km to the east of Berlin
And I’ve just viewed a documentary about Ireland on television. It would be a dream to travel there just for drawing and painting the landscape. If only I could take my cat Paula with me!
23 October 2012 – Akershus Fortress, Oslo, Norway
I went to Oslo to visit the Emil Nolde Exposition, and later that afternoon I made a walk to Akershus Fortress which is an ancient Wiking fortress at the harbour. I had taken some drawing materials with me on the trip because I had planned to draw there. I began with a sketch in watersoluble graphite and then used watersoluble wax crayons for the coloured bushes. It was quite cold and after about half an hour, my fingers became stiff and I stopped drawing. Originally I had the idea of maybe using a light wash to create tones, but then I did not have any water with me and also preferred to leave it as a simple drawing.
I think I did well in outlining the view on the building using the graphite pencil, and the lines of the pathway are creating the sense of space and distance. But adding colours didn’t do the drawing well. I thought it would be nice to depict the strong autumn colours of the bushes on the side, but it didn’t work out. So actually I wish I had stayed with graphite. Nevertheless I like the drawing, and it’s also nice because it’s associated to my memories of Oslo. It was just a bit too cold for drawing outside!
26 October 2012 – Volkspark Rehberge
This was the day with the very strangely patterned sky, whose cloud studies are included as No 2 in the cloud formation blog post. I went to the park to work on both exercises – cloud studies and plotting space. I made this drawing after some sketches of the cloud formations. I was sitting on a bench and right before me, there was a path running from left to right, with many autumn leaves. Behind the path, there were a few higher grasses demarcating the beginning of the middle meadow, then the open meadow, and at a distance the trees on the opposite side of the meadow. At the distance to the right there were only lower bushes so somewhat more of the sky could be seen.
If I had been able to, I would have drawn some detailed leaves in the foreground, then the higher grasses, and then the large trees at the distance. But it was cold and I was impatient and instead of drawing close-by details, I scribbled the visual rhythm of the leaves in front of me. I reworked the distant trees to achieve some of the light before dark / dark before light effect, but I think it is not very successful because the marks are too rude.
What was nice about the scene were the autumn colours and the fresh air, and none of this I captured…
Reflections on the three drawings
I like the drawings, but I think they were not very successful in terms of the task instructions. So I’m thinking about having another go at the exercise. Maybe I should work after a photograph, but then everything becomes a matter of copying what I see on the photo and this doesn’t mean very much. At an earlier occasion (I think it was after the Schiller park oil pastel drawing) I thought it would be good to draw outside, but select a detail to focus on rather than depicting the whole scene. But then I would never arrive at drawing a landscape, because for larger scenes I have to abstract from detail. Probably I should try a variety of approaches and see what works for me.
Landscape drawing: Cloud formations
This task was to draw tonal studies of cloud formations in the sketchbook, using charcoal, oil pastel and conté, and with the aid of putty rubber. Sketches should be small and done quickly, capturing different weather patterns and times of day. They also should give volume to the clouds and show movement, with a focus on light and dark and capturing contrast and tonal effects.
After recovering from reading the instructions, I began planning for the exercise.
Friday 12 October 2012
The weather is nice today, but the cloud situation is unsteady. This morning there were no clouds at all, but by now (midday) the sky is almost covered with white clouds. I was planning to go outside to draw this afternoon and will decide later on whether I will do the cloud exercise or the next one, which is independent of clouds.
The oil pastel drawing I made yesterday was a first attempt at drawing clouds, only that it wasn’t focused specifically on clouds.
Re-reading the task instructions, I understand that I could just go on the balcony and have a look at the clouds and draw from there. I will study the next exercise’s instructions and then decide how to plan the afternoon.
That afternoon I went outside to Jungfernheide, another large park not far away from my home, and made a first attempt at “Plotting space through composition and structure”, the next exercise which is covered in the following blog post.
Cloud formations No 1
A few days later I decided to do the cloud studies, because the weather was nice and there were interesting cloud formations. Rather than driving out of Berlin again or going to the park where I usually take a walk, around midday I went to a different place at a sidearm or canal to the river Spree, which I remembered to offer nice and hopefully at least moderately open views.
And indeed the place was nice. There was a small pathway next to the water where I walked a bit until the view was open to the sky and cloud formation passed by. I did quite a few sketches in charcoal (1+2), conté (3+4) and oil pastel (5-8). Rather than making them small, I covered a page with each sketch because I thought it would be easier for me to have a little space, for my first attempts.
And again I was very disappointed by what I was actually able to draw, compared to the beauty and impressiveness of the real clouds. Strangely enough, I like my drawings, but not for their resemblance with clouds (because there isn’t much). I decided to take some photos. Maybe I can learn how to draw clouds when I have a picture to look at. Maybe I learn how the structures look like at home, without a feeling of time pressure.
So what did I learn today? That I’m not able to depict clouds at least moderately realistic, that I’m not able to use putty rubber to work out lighter areas. That I’m not able to draw clouds with conté pastels and that a blue sky with just black to draw the light grey of the clouds doesn’t amount to a nice picture of clouds. There were some brief moments of learning though, for example when I discovered the property of ‘building up’.
I don’t know. Maybe it will work better next time. Maybe I’ll try to be very realistic and work after the photos. It has also to do with mark making. I just don’t know how to use the drawing tool to depict the object in the way I want it to look like. I feel like a Gorilla trying to speak, but only producing strange noise. Huge frustration.
Friday 26 October 2012 – Cloud formations No 2
I had another go at cloud formations. Weather conditions were ok, but the clouds were very strange. They looked like regularly baked patterns, with almost no blue sky to see. So my cloud studies are just in that they look very strange, too. On the first one, I managed to draw 2 formations on the A4 sketchbook page, but for those afterwards I just couldn’t get myself to do miniature sketches smaller than A4.
The first page was done with Conté, the second in charcoal, and three and four are oil pastel drawings. I found it very difficult to achieve any kind of naturalistic depiction with oil pastels. They look like anything but not clouds! But still, they are following what I saw in the sky.
27 October 2012 – Cloud studies after photographs
I made a third attempt, this time using photographs I had taken during my first two excursions. Strangely enough, this time I was able to downscale. Probably this was because the image in front of me (on the computer screen) was much smaller than a real sky.
I made three pages: First Conté, then charcoal, and finally oil pastel. From a technical point of view, I think these three are much better than the earlier attempts, and I especially like the charcoal page. But somehow I prefer the earlier “weaker” ones after a real sky – maybe just because they are so strange.
Concluding reflections
Writing this article and re-reading my notes on task instructions, I realized that I had read them well and understood that the sketches were supposed to be made quickly. But I may have missed out one important point: Instructions also advised to take time to study the cloud formations. I found the sketches after photographs more successful than the sketches from real clouds. Maybe this was because sitting quietly at home, I had more patience to study and look before drawing.
Miscellaneous: Edgelands
This is a preliminary note for myself because I would like to explore the Edgelands idea further when the time comes. Edgelands is the title of a new post on the We Are OCA blog by José Navarro, and it is also the title of a price-winning photography book. The concept is about “urban abandonment” – buildings and other civilisatory installations which are abandoned from profit-oriented human use. What happens is that plants and weather conditions lead to a rottening process which has its own beauty.
And there’s lots of this in Berlin, too. While the center areas mostly have been beautified, there are still quite a few of these Edgeland-type areas around. I’m finding this important because having just embarked on Part III, Drawing Outdoors, I have begun searching for nice places to draw. Without thinking about it, I had been guided by my personal romantic idea of intact landscape and have sought out places in and around Berlin which at least moderately fit the idea.
Reading the Edgeland post, I realize what I have been avoiding, or not taken as proper landscape. That is, the course materials actually pointed to the drawings of industrialized landscapes by Lawrence Stephen Lowry. But juggling between various commitments and trying to benefit from good weather conditions, I had made my first excursions for ourdoor drawings before doing the research point. Then studying Lowry, I realized that my idea of landscape drawing was dominated by a search for beauty in nature, avoiding urbanization. For me, there was a border between townscape and landscape.
The Edgeland concepts brings back to mind that urbanization is an interesting drawing topic, and abandoned urbanization even more. Some time ago I wrote about how fascinated I was about the Angkor Temples in Cambodia – abandoned 500 years ago, and the jungle has taken over in the meantime. I like the similarity!
References
We Are OCA: Edgelands
http://www.weareoca.com/photography/edgelands/
Visit to the National Gallery, Oslo, Norway
I went to Oslo in Norway for a day… I loved it. I know it’s very irresponsible from an environmental point of view, adding to ever growing flight tourism and associated pollution, but well… I had many individual-centred justifications for just doing what is possible today which wouldn’t have been possible 20 years ago. The journey from Berlin to Norway is a bit longer than an hour, plus of course the time it takes to and from the airports. Total travel time was around 6 hours, which resulted for me in a day at Oslo from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Main reason for going was the Emil Nolde exposition about which I had read on the Nolde Foundation Seebüll Website. It was announced that there would be around 100 works – watercolours, paintings and drawings. I had been to a small Nolde exposition in Berlin earlier and was very curious to see more original works. I have posted an article about the exhibition visit on my blog for the Watercolour 1 course. It’s a bit unfortunate to split the report about the journey between two different blogs, but this has to do with the OCA regulation that students are not allowed to submit the same material twice. So I decided to associate the Nolde exhibition visit with the watercolour course because learning about Nolde’s watercolours was the main reason to go there. By contrast, the afterwards visit of the National Gallery was motivated by a more general interest which fitted with the approach I take in the Drawing course.
Oslo: View towards Royal Palace / National Gallery
The Oslo National Gallery permanent exhibition is organized chronologically along the development of art, beginning with very early sculptures. The leading idea is to present World/European developments in art and to show how these were reflected in the works of Norwegian artists. The National Gallery also has a huge archive of engravings and prints, some of which are included in the permanent exhibition, stored in large drawers in almost every room. There are originals by Dürer and Picasso, among others… It was a very inspiring and instructive visit and I took quite a few notes and made photographs of the works I referred to. The pictures of works in drawers are distorted due to my placement before the drawer, and the glass reflections are disturbing, but I include them here to have at least a reminder.
Religious motives
In the room devoted to Baroque I came across a large oil painting by flemish painter Dirck van Baburen (1595 – 1624), entitled “Christ among the doctors” (1622). Looking at this painting, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment, realizing that the same Christ whose birth is celebrated at Christmas was the one who died on the cross. This may seem strange because the life of Christ is such a well known story to most people in western culture. But for me, the two episodes (birth and death) existed independently in memory. I was really perplexed by the insight that they were indeed part of the life story of a single person. I think it happened because religious motives have a prominent place in art, and I had seen quite a few depictions of religious scenes on that day.
In particular, I had been impressed by the religious motives in Nolde’s work, some of which were included in the exhibition I had seen that morning. I was especially intrigued by the painting showing how the dead Christ with his red wound marks on feet and hands was held by a group of three people. I found Nolde’s religious paintings very modern and saw them as transporting very ancient stories into modern times by using a modern visual language. Suddenly, the story of the life of Christ came very close to my heart. I hadn’t experienced this before when looking at depictions in a more classical style.
Human figure (Italy, 16-17th century)
In a drawer, I found these two studies of male nude figures by italian artists in the 16th/17th century. I found the positions and the perspective taken very interesting and unusual. Maybe the artists wanted to study the perspectivic shortening of the human figure? I really like the energy and power of these drawings, and how masterly they are made.
Carlo Cignani (1628 – 1719), Reclining male nude (left)
Annibale Carracci (1560 – 1609), Seated male nude (right)
Etchings and woodprints (16th – 17th century)
It was nice to look through the drawers and see original works by Rembrandt and Dürer… I made notes about techniques which I found relevant for drawing. For example, Rembrandt used parallel lines to create shades from light to dark in the etching “Christ at Emmaus”. I found this interesting, because they did not disturb the visual impression. From my own hatching attempts I had come to the conclusion that hatching should follow the object contours, because otherwise it would not support three-dimensionality of objects. This etching showed that parallel hatching works as well. Maybe this is due to the very disciplined approach – the lines are fine and their density is increased in areas of shadow.
By contrast, Albrecht Dürer used hatching lines which followed the spacial orientation of objects, and this results in much less “criss-cross” and a cleaner overall impression in his etchings. He arrives at creating very varied shades of gray through very fine lines in different densities.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1654), Christ at Emmaus, etching
Albrecht Dürer, Melancolia
Albrecht Dürer, St. Jerome in his study
Dürer’s woodcuts are bolder than the etchings due to the different medium, but even here is much differentiation in tone in addition to much pictorial detail. The sense of space is supported by depicting the objects in the foreground very large, and becoming incresingly smaller and less detailed in the background. I recognize the principles suggested in the drawing course materials on landscape drawing.
Albrecht Dürer, Visitation (Life of the virgin), woodcut
Albrecht Dürer, Christ taking leave of his mother (Life of the virgin), woodcut
Norwegian landscape painting
The exhibition presented works of Johan Christian Dahl (1788 – 1857), who is seen as the founder of Norwegian landscape painting. One of his pupils was Thomas Fearnley (1802 – 1842), whose oil painting “The Labro Falls at Kongsberg” was presented. I very much liked how Fearnley had painted the clouds, their foggy nature which plays around the contour lines of the mountains in the background.
Looking inside the drawers of that room, I found beautiful watercolours and drawings of landscapes by Dahl and Fearnley. Dahl’s watercolour looks very pure, nothing superfluous in it. It reminds me of the very classical style of Claude Lorrain around 200 years earlier. The two landscape drawings by Fearnley impressed me by their freshness. They are almost 200 years old but to me, they could have been drawn by an artist living today.
Thomas Fearnley (1837) The Labro Falls at Kongsberg
Johan Christian Dahl (1820), View of the bay of Naples
Thomas Fearnley (1835), Kleine Scheideck (Landscape in the Alps)
Thomas Fearnley (1834), Landscape Olevano
I noted the name Lars Hertervig (1830 – 1902) but unfortunately made no picture so I’m not quite sure what I had in mind. I’ll include him here just as a reminder for future research.
Another Watercolour which I liked very much was the “Decaying forest” (1852) by August Cappelen (1827 – 1852). It depicts a topic which fascinates me – when I’m walking through a forest, I’ll always be attracted by fallen trees, broken branches etc. And then I like how the various tonal shades have been built up. To the middle right there are tiny light leaves on a dark background. They seem to have been painted with a light, but opaque colour. I’ve encountered the problem in my own landscape drawings, and here’s the painterly solution to the problem of constant changes between dark figure on light ground, and vice versa.
Then I passed by a large oil painting which fascinated me. It was made by Gustav Adolf Fjaestad (1868 – 1948), entitled “Spring Flood” (1909). I hadn’t expected such a degree of photorealism in how the movement and light reflections on the water surface were depicted. The painting seems to show a lake or pond with its banks. The banks are painted much less detailed or accurate than a photo would be. I spent quite a bit of time in front of the painting, looking from very close to understand how the water was made.
It is the date of the painting which makes for much of the surprise, because I wouldn’t have expected a painting from the beginning of the 20th century to look as if it had been made after a photograph. If the painter had not used a photograph, he must have had an enormous observational talent.
Norwegian Mood Painting (1890s)
Following the explanatory board on the wall, I understood the paintings in this room as reflecting a return of the artists to romantic ideals, with increasing interest in the emotional content of what was around them. This departure from realism may reflect a rebound from the great emphasis on scientific, naturalistic and sober approaches of the Renaissance.
I took notes on three oil paintings. The first was painted by August Eiebakke (1867 – 1938), entitled “Laying the table”. I don’t know whether the artist intended this, but to me the painting conveys an atmoshphere of tension and scrutiny – by the way the people sitting close to the window are observing the woman laying the table. Somehow it revives childhood memories of family disputes at the table, so it may well be a personal thing!
Then there was a painting called “Summer night” (1886) painted by Kitty Kielland (1843 – 1914). I had another lightbulb moment. The Norwegian painter depicted a night in summer – and Norwegian summer nights are characterized by light, not darkness! So what the painting shows is a landscape with a pond, trees and a background mountain line in the light of what I’d expect to be late afternoon. The topic of nights that are not dark should be quite common for northern artists, but I had never come across it before. This may be the result of my tendency to study German, British or French artists. I missed out something interesting!
Another summer night painting was presented, by Harad Sohlberg (1869 – 1935). It shows a balcony with a view over a lake, and an impressive sky in blue and green to white colours. I do not really like the way it is painted. Maybe there’s too much emphasis on detail for my taste, for example in the way the laid table is depicted. But the intense colouring of the sky was very impressive in the original work, and the actual view must have been breathtaking.
Early 20th century
An entire room was devoted to paintings by Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944). I like some of his paintings, but overall he’s not a painter whose work warms my heart. I feel too much misery, depression and symbolism. When I prepared my journey to Oslo, I read about the Munch Museum there. Unfortunately it was closed to the public for two weeks until November. If I return to Oslo one day, I’ll certainly go there to study Munch’s works.
I liked the paintings of Ludvig Karsten (1876 – 1926), “At the mirror” (1914) and “The blue kitchen” (1913). In the strong colouring and bold approach I recognize the upcoming European Expressionism, showing that Norwegian painters were integrated in a broader context and exchange between artists across countries.
In the painting by Axel Revold (1887 – 1962) entitled “Atelier Paris” (1919/20) the influence of Cubism is apparent. Then there was the painting “Railway Station” (1932) by Alf Rolfsen (1895 – 1979). Somehow this painting evoked a feeling of “Zeitgeist” of the times before World War II. There seems to be some mysterious commonality in the paintings dating from the 1920 to 1930s which makes them localizable in time for me. It’s a feeling of unrest, irritation, search and departure. The railway station as a motive perfectly captures this atmosphere.
From the other works I made notes on two paitings by French artists: The “Nature morte” (1910-14) by Maurice de Vlaminck (1876 – 1958), and “Bronze Figure” (1908) by Henry Matisse (1869 – 1954). The painting by de Vlaminck also looks like influenced by Cubism, and I like it a lot for its choice of colours. The painting by Matisse impressed me because my perception of Matisse had been dominated by his drawings and mastery of line, like those I presented in my blog post about this artist. It surprised me to see a painting that conveyed such a massiveness – a strong contrast to the lightness and reductionism of his drawings. Actually I don’t find this painting very successful because of the dark vase in the foreground, which I find too dark and disturbing the view on the figure.
20th century woodcuts and other prints
Again wonderful discoveries in the drawer of that room… A large woodcut by German painter and printmaker Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884 – 1976) entitled “Russian Landscape with Water Carrier” (1919). I was very impressed to see such a work as an original. The strong black and white contrasts are very powerful. Despite depicting very massive objects like houses, trees and a mill or press, the entire scene seems to be moving and dancing wildly. I think this is the result of the many changes in baseline orientation of the objects, which break of classical perspective rules.
Another woodcut I liked a lot was the “Cellist” (1918) by German painter and printmaker Max Pechstein (1881 – 1955), also member of the Expressionist group “Die Brücke”. In the woodcut there’s a very successful distribution of black and white areas, and I especially like the play with black lines on white ground vs white lines on black ground.
Finally, there were prints by Emil Nolde and Pablo Picasso. I have no background information beyond their creation years. Emil Nolde’s “Man and young woman” (1918) is a print, but I found it very painterly and sensitive in its lines. What a contrast to the almost brutal visual effects of the woodcuts. There were prints by Picasso from several different periods. The oldest I took notes about was “Femme nue devant une statue” (1931), an etching. I found the similarity to Matisse’s drawings quite striking.
Emil Nolde (1918) Man and young woman
Pablo Picasso (1931) Femme nue devant une statue
Then I remarked two aquatinta prints dating from 1968 which showed erotic motives. While I first thought this was mainly attribuable to Picasso’s personality, I later realized that they were created in the years of the swinging sixties and the sexual revolution, so they too may represent some sort of Zeitgeist.
I found these works very interesting by their technique. Picasso seemed to have employed a mixed method approach, with water-repellent as well as water-soluble materials. I conclude this from the irregular distribution of paint on the support.
Pablo Picasso (1968) Celestine, Maja et deux gentilhommes
Pablo Picasso (1968) Veux peintre rembranesque peignant des bacchantes
For the final one I selected I can’t guess the technique. It is probably an etching, since the lines are quite fine. The sexualized motive captures the viewers attention, but beyond this there’s also great mastery in how Picasso created contrasting areas of pure black and white, and played with white lines on black ground vs black lines on white ground.
Pablo Picasso (1968) Peintre peignant la nuque de son jeune modèle
Contemporary art
The last room of the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition was devoted to contemporary art. My favourite was a three-dimensional mixed-material picture by Rolf Nesch (1893 – 1975) entitled “On the beach” (1940). It had been a discovery at second sight – I barely noticed it when I initially walked by, but then looking for a second time, I found it very interesting due to the strong spatial effects and the unusual materials employed. It had a very modern and experimental appeal to me. It is only now that I realize that this work was almost 30 years older than Picasso’s aquatinta prints.
That was the end of my visit to the Oslo National Gallery. I was exhausted, but also very inspired by the great variety of works I had seen. I briefly returned to the Nolde exhibition on the first floor for a last look, and then went outside to take a walk, direction Akershus Fortress.
Akershus Fortress
Akershus fortress is the ancient Wiking fortress at the Oslo harbour. I had taken some materials with me to draw there. It’s quite an impressive place. The last picture shows the view I had selected for my drawing presented in the “Plotting space” blog post.
Concluding reflections
The trip to Oslo was very exciting and I have seen much more than actually digestible in a single day. So I see this post as an introduction to the many artists whose works I have included. I hope to study at least some of them in greater depth later on. From what I have seen lately, I feel very attracted and close to Expressionism, another topic I’d like to get back to more thoroughly.
I liked Oslo a lot, too!
References
Emil Nolde Exhibition “In search of the authentic”, Oslo 2012-13, Norway
http://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/?module=EventCalendar;action=Event.publicOpen;ID=778;template=exhibitionView_en
Nolde Stiftung Seebüll
http://www.nolde-stiftung.de/en/24/startseite-portal.html
National Gallery, Oslo, Norway (part of the National Museum)
http://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/
My Watercolour 1 blog post about the Emil Nolde exhibition in Oslo
http://ocawatercolour1.patricia-karsten.de/?p=295
My Drawing 1 blog post: Landscape drawing. Plotting space through composition and structure
http://ocadrawing1.patricia-karsten.de/?p=1861
My Drawing 1 blog post about drawings by Henry Matisse
http://ocadrawing1.patricia-karsten.de/?p=1694
Research point: Landscape series
Look at artists who worked in series with the landscape, such as Monet, Pissarro or Cézanne. Make notes in your learning log about the challenges they faced and how they tackled them.
I began my search as usual with Google, starting with Claude Monet whose paintings I admire intensely. The Wikipedia article on Claude Monet gave me a first pointer on what to look out for:
“Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s through the end of his life in 1926, Monet worked on “series” paintings, in which a subject was depicted in varying light and weather conditions. His first series exhibited as such was of Haystacks, painted from different points of view and at different times of the day… He later produced several series of paintings including: Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies that were painted on his property at Giverny.”
This points to the central aspect of the challenge: the changing light and weather conditions. At first thought, landscape may be seen as „easy“ to draw or paint because it is not moving, so one can take all the time needed to quietly finish the work. But light and weather conditions are a factor which can completely change the character of the scene within minutes. This may be less of a problem with quick pencil or charcoal drawings which focus on line, but it may become more difficult as soon as tonal values are included, and all the more when coloured media are used. Depending on the degree of detail in the artist’s style and working speed, an afternoon may not suffice to complete an oil painting „plein air“. Spending a whole day at the location may be possible, but the light and weather conditions are almost certain to change over the day, and of course from one day to the next.
I see several strategies to cope with this: In our modern times, the easiest would be to take a digital photograph and complete the painting from the photograph later in the studio. Another is to put the painting on hold and return to the scene when the weather is at least somewhat similar. Or the artist must learn to work quickly, maybe doing only a colour study at the location and technical drawings to record details and then complete the painting in his study. Or maybe it is possible to work so fast that the entire painting can be finished in one go, on the place.
Monet’s haystack series
– A series of 25 paintings of haystacks completed 1890-91
– Monet painted still more thematic variations, the paintings are distributed across museums all over the world
– Variations also in the seasons of the year
– They captured different atmospheres and mood
“Monet noticed this subject [the haystacks] on a casual walk. He requested that his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé bring him two canvases. He believed that one canvas for overcast weather and one for sunny weather would be sufficient. However, he realized he could not demonstrate the several distinct impressions on one or two canvases. As a result, his willing helper was quickly carting as many canvases as a wheelbarrow could hold. His daily routine involved carting paints, easels, and many unfinished canvases and working on whichever canvas most closely resembled the scene of the moment as conditions fluctuated. Although he began painting realistic depictions en plein air, he eventually revised initial effects in a studio to both generate contrast and preserve the harmony within the series.”
This quote from the Wikipedia article nicely illustrates the artist’s challenge and the practical solution he found of working on several paintings in parallel. The article points out that Monet intended to „show nuances of perception as seasons, time of day, and weather“ changed a scene, which to me summarizes the core of the challenge lying in painting landscapes in series. Monet was reported to sometimes work only minutes on a single painting – just as long as the particular light effect he was interested in was visible in the scene.
From the series of 25 haystacks, I selected three which all depict a winter scene of haystacks, but in different light conditions.
The first and the second depict the same scene, once in the morning, once at sunset. The third one is a slightly different view on the haystack in the morning.
I hadn’t been aware about the degree to which the choice of colour nuances affects the overall atmosphere of a painting. Monet’s approach is impressively scientific and reminds me of a typical precondition in experiments termed „all else being equal“, i.e. only one aspect of the setting is changed to study its effects on the overall system. Monet held constant his topic and conducted sort of a ‘natural experiment’ to capture the effect of different light conditions.
Other series by Monet
The Wikipedia article mentions „Rouen Cathedral, Poplars, the Parliament, Mornings on the Seine, and the Water Lilies“. The ‚Mornings of the Seine‘ seems to fit the idea of landscape quite well, so I chose to research these further. The series was painted 1896-97, roughly 5 years after the Wheatstacks, and Monet seems to have been persevering and inventive in how he approached the task of capturing different light and weather conditions in his paintings. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, showing one of the paintings of the Seine series:
„The series “Morning on the Seine” was begun in 1896 but not completed until 1897 because of inclement weather. First, Monet patiently scouted out particular views along the river; then he painted the pictures from a boat that he had converted into a floating studio. For an extended period, he arose before dawn and reached his boat before sunrise in order to paint the changing effects of light as the sun came up. He then lined up the canvases on easels in his studio to complete them together. Eighteen of the pictures were shown at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1898. One was dated 1896, the others 1897.“
I found paintings from this series at Bridgeman Education Library. Monet created different atmospheres through the use of different colours which captured the light situation of the particular setting. For the inexperienced eye (like mine) it can be difficult to distinguish the images when they are not presented side by side… I had the impression that Monet often produced more than one painting of each type, eg in grey weather or in the morning. He may have done this to perfectionize his technique.
Of the many that were available, I selected two pairs of paintings which show almost identical scenes in different colour and lighting. All are morning views on the Seine, painted 1896-97.
I became aware of a problem in the presentation of paintings in image libraries like Bridgeman Education. The pictures are not presented in thematic coherence, but sorted by sometimes arbitrary characteristics like „relevance“ (which changes according to search criteria and is rather obscure to me). Although I had done a bit of research on Monet earlier, it hadn’t occurred to me that he approached some subjects as series – the only thing I had noticed was that he had made many paintings in his garden in Giverny, and very often the pond with water lilies. So I’m quite glad about this research point and the insights I gained!
Am I influenced?
Later that day I realized that I seem to be following a similar idea with a project outside coursework which I’m currently developing. I live in Berlin and on my way to work, I pass by the Holocaust Monument which is close to Tiergarten and Brandenburger Tor. After a while I became fascinated by how differently the monument looked at different times of the day and in different weather conditions and thought it would be nice to capture this in a series of images. Some days ago I did a first brief photography session in the morning before work. It was a rainy and dull day but I made lots of pictures because it was the first time I was there and I discovered many new views on the monument.
This morning I made another session because it had snowed and I wanted to include this in the domumentary. I think it was a bit earlier in the morning than the first time, and the light was very dim. The photos show a marked difference in colour tendency – the first has a brown, the second a blue tone in the grey concrete and overall. I’m not sure whether this is simply a camera effect, but I think there was indeed a difference in the colour of the lighting. I’ll certainly have more pronounced differences between a dim and a sunny day and morning light vs midday or afternoon light, but this was just to make a start.
The session was really very brief… I stayed outside for about 5 minutes because it was minus 6 degrees and I was freezing. Thinking about Monet painting the haystacks in winter and imagining he worked on several paintings simultaneously, I’m full of admiration for his endurance to stay outside in the cold for extended periods and I wonder whether the oil paint was difficult to use at low temperatures. The modern approach of taking photographs is so much easier… but the camera is a filter and I think it is better to paint on the place rather than relying on the colour translation of a camera. Maybe a learned photograph is capable to achieve truthful colour representation, but my photographs will probably be more of a chance result.
I had indeed planned to also do drawings and colour sketches directly at the monument, but I will wait for spring to come, it’s simply too cold at the moment. I was just somewhat perplexed today when I realized that I had embarked on a project which is essentially about the same topic as Monet’s landscape series – the differences of the subject under different lighting and weather conditions.
What is a landscape series?
But while researching the topic, I realized that the idea of a landscape series could be conceived differently. One example would be a series which captures the character of a region from its different aspects, for example hills, meadows, houses, small towns. The artist might deliberately chose weather conditions to remain stable, to support coherence across the different views he paints. What also comes to mind are painted landscapes of the mediterranean which seem to be recognizable even across different painters from the special characteristics of the glaring sunlight.
References
Wikipedia Article on Claude Monet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet
Wikipedia: Monet’s haystack series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystacks_%28Monet%29
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, presenting Monet’s painting ‚Morning on the Seine near Giverny‘
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/110001573
Bridgeman Education Library
http://www.bridgemaneducation.com/
Landscape drawing: 360° studies
The task was to make four 15-minute drawings of landscapes from a location with open view in all directions, looking to the north, west, south and east without changing position. Instructions also advised to use a viewfinder to find a focal point for the drawing.
Thursday 11 October – Schillerpark
I did this exercise today although I haven’t yet completed the two research points that appear before the exercise in the course materials. This was because I wanted to benefit from the nice weather – it’s October and it will soon be quite cold in Berlin, so I’m eager to get out when the weather is nice.
The first problem was to find a place with an open view on “landscape” to all sides, in Berlin. It would have been less of a problem to search for an open view on “townscape”! One idea was to make a trip to the countryside, but I’m not very familiar with the region and would first need to do some research, then go on excursion and count on my luck to find a place which would fit the task instructions. But I wanted to do the exercise this evening, so I tried to find a place which would work right away.
I first went to a different entrance point of the park where I had made the sketchbook walk because I know that there is a small area which is a bit elevated and I wanted to check whether there was an open view which would work for the exercise. I walked for a while and saw that there was indeed some elevation, but high trees everywhere and no free view. Luckily I remembered another park nearby which had an elevated stone terrace, and I decided to go there.
So this second park was where I made my four drawings. The time and location wasn’t perfect, because the north view was on the same level as the terrace and not very extended, and the west view was impossible to do because of the blinding late afternoon sun. But I adapted the direction a bit, doing the first drawing in south-west direction to avoid looking directly into the sun.
I chose biro this time because I wanted to have a darker black that what I had done earlier with pencil. While drawing, I felt very unskilled. It’s difficult to develop mark making that conveys something about the thing that I’m illustrating. It would be easier for me to concentrate on broad shapes and outlines and tonal values, but this would mean to miss a lot about the trees, grass, and other textures. So I just accept the drawings as “first attempts”. Maybe I should do all the exercise twice or even three times, just to permit some learning and development, rather than quickly proceeding to the next task. I just know that I need much more drawing practice.
With hindsight, I do like the drawings, although I struggled to be patient and take the time to work on them until they look like something more than just scribbling illegibly. They are not particularly “landscapy” because the location didn’t fit requirements very well. I’d really like to repeat the exercise in a place which permits open view in all directions. There’s just the problem that I don’t know of such a place, and it would be a matter of good luck when I make a trip outside Berlin, whether I find one.
After my four sketches I made a wax pastel drawing of the evening sky. There were clouds in rose and violet tones, this looked quite nice. Oil pastels didn’t work very well, I think watercolours would have been the medium with which to work. The drawing isn’t very realistic. I’d like to do more and in different media.
One thing I realize is that I’m not good at “briefly sketching”. I think my way to go would be to focus on one aspect or detail, and then try to depict this and nothing else. This would be my way to learn something and improve my skills. For me, the tasks in the course materials are much too complex. I can have a go and just try, and I like the inspiration they provide, but I don’t think that they help me to develop my skills, because they are too difficult. I’m trying to do something which doesn’t work for me because I lack very basic skills. It’s good to know, only difficult to develop a strategy how to improve the situation.
Sunday 14 October 2012 – Another attempt
Yesterday I repeated the 360° Exercise at a location which gave me an (almost) open view in all directions. I made a trip to Kremmen, about 60 km north of Berlin. The problem was that it was already very late afternoon when I finally had found a nice place to draw, and so I felt stressed again. Somehow I managed to draw four sketches in an hour, with the few light remaining. I don’t know what to think about my drawings. I like them as drawings but I don’t like them for their low level of drawing skill.
Again problems with following instructions and feeling that I’m missing the most important point, that is to draw something which has meaning to me personally and to engage deeply. For example, on my trip I first headed to a little lake with a café, to rest after driving before beginning the drawing session. I went on a brief walk to see whether there was some open space nearby. It was a beautiful landscape, and I walked next to a canal. On the other side there was a man sitting and fishing, there were very high trees and interesting views with water and trees in every direction. Only that the view was not open, so it didn’t fit instructions and I didn’t draw because it was already late and I wanted to find a place for the exercise.
I walked back to the café, got onto the car and searched in the area for a good place with an open view, and after about half an hour I stopped somewhere on a small road in the middle some fields. The view was at least somewhat open in all directions, and I knew that if I wouldn’t draw there and then I’d have made the trip for nothing. Following instructions, I started the northern view with some trees and a path and some fields in the background. Instead, I would have liked to draw the cows which were quite close to me, but in south-west direction. I was looking forward to drawing them on the west view, but bad luck. After I had finished the north view drawing, the cows had all disappeared and were a hundred meters further down the field.
So the unfortunate conclusion is that I missed two personally relevant drawing opportunities in favour of doing four sketches as an exercise which doesn’t mean very much to me. I know that the exercises are designed to help me improving my drawing skills, but somehow I’m never there where the exercise wants me to be, somehow I’d always prefer to do something else or do things differently. And on top of it comes the frustration that I’m not even good at doing what I’m told to do.