For this exercise I was asked to collect a range of different objects with different surface textures. I chose a selection of fabrics, bubble wrap, children’s toys, work tops, foods and place matts.
I then drew these textures in rectangles in my sketchbook. I experimented with different media’s, marks and materials to try to recreate these textures. Below are my results.
I am pleased with my results, I hope that I can incorporate this sort of texture into my future drawings.
The next stage in this exercise was to experiment with frontage. This involved placing paper over rough surfaces and rubbing the back with my graphite stick in order to create an impression of the surface quality of the objects. Below are my results,
Leaf x3
Wicker on bed
Camera case
Spikey stick
Plastic toy dinosaur surface
Coins
Wall
Outdoor Matt
Back of pencil sharpener
Plant pot
I really enjoyed this exercise, I used to do ‘rubbings’ as a small child and this work brought me right back to that moment in time. I loved the results I achieved and I am excited about using this technique in my future work.
The point of this exercise is to help me to begin to understand how to make my marks express a feeling using a single word as a starting point.
I started of by gathering my materials: a1 paper, charcoal, ink, water colour paint, acrylic paint, found sticks and twigs, graphite sticks and sharpie pens.
I folded my a1 sheets into 4, so each section was a3 size. I then wrote one word on each of my 4 sheets. The words were as follows,
Calm
Anger
Joy
Sadness
I then drew 4 images on each a1 page relating to the word using 4 different materials.
For the word calm, I put on some relaxing music by Jack Johnson that I consider to be calming. I positioned myself on my balcony facing the sea (I am currently in a beach town called Scarborough in Western Australia.) for my first material I chose charcoal. I worked slowly and tried to move my charcoal to the rhythm of the music. I felt calm and content and happy whilst I worked. Below is my result.
I then continued onto the other three sections of my paper using my other materials, (Charcoal, watercolour paint, graphite stick, black and grey sharpie pens.) below are my results.
I am happy with my work, not necessarily because of their aesthetic qualities but more because of the feelings they allowed me to feel and the new feelings of calm they evoke when re looking at them. The words I think of when looking at my work are,
Water, flowing, crashing waves, peacefulness
Subconsciously my work all looks like the sea? I was looking at the sea whilst drawing but I wasn’t actually meaning to draw it? But somehow subconsciously that is what I seem to have done?
My next word was anger. To prepare for this work I tried to inhabit this emotion by remembering an event that made me angry. The event in question was about a child I taught 8 years ago who had spent his first twelve years in and out of foster care. This
Memory of mine makes me very angry that this poor child had such a terrible start in life. I am angry that this child was so grossly let down by his parents and all of the authorities put in place to help him.
Whilst working on my drawing I allowed my anger to consume me, I drew quickly and aggressively I didn’t think about my drawing, just my anger. For these drawings I used, acrylic paint, charcoal, biro and a graphite stick. Below are my results.
My drawings are all quite similar as was the process I used whilst making them. I pressed down firmly with my tool and expressed my anger into my paper, even ripping my paper at one stage. I am happy with my results, again like my calm work, I am not happy with my results because of their visual qualities but because of the feeling of anger they invoke in me.
The words that come to mind when I re look at my drawings are,
Fast, quick, erratic, cross, hot headed, loud, mad.
My next word was joy. To prepare for this work I surrounded myself with photographs of my children. I was tempted to work in the same room as my children but ultimately this may not evoke my feelings of joy!
Whilst working, I thought of happy memories of my children and I day dreamed about future adventures with them.
I used light quick marks whilst drawing and thought of my children the entire time. Below are my results.
My drawings are all quite different this time and they do make me think of the word joy. I wonder if maybe adding colour would convey this emotion clearer though? The words I think of whilst looking at my drawings are, light, free, happy and joyful.
My last word I picked myself and I picked sadness. Mostly because it was different to the other three words, I was hoping I could achieve very different Images.
In order to prepare for these drawings I tried to inhibit this emotion so I thought of things that made me feel sad, namely past relatives and regrets that I have.
I worked slowly and heavy. My first drawing I just filled the page with black acrylic paint, I wanted to show that sadness can just take over everything good, almost like a big black cloud. I did the same with the charcoal, I just filled the page by sweeping my charcoal stick across the page. It felt like a heavy fog of sadness across the page. My next drawing turned out to be almost head shaped and as I worked I felt quite angry, and looking back my graphite marks do look similar to my anger marks. However on reflection I think the emotions sadness and anger can and do cross over at times. For my final drawing I used black watercolour paint and I dripped it from the top of my page. I felt like the slow drip of each drop of paint felt sad and really captured the emotion.
The words that I think of when looking at my work are, pain, fog, heavy and depression.
I really enjoyed this exercise, it really made me think about the importance of drawing from a subjective point of view. That drawing just like any other art form can be used to evoke feelings and emotions.
Caitriona 