Exercise: Warm-up - temporary drawings
With the hot weather we have been outside a lot, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to start thinking about the first exercise for Drawing 1: temporary drawings. I filled a variety of different containers with water - two different water bottles, a coffee cup, and a spray bottle - with water and started to drip and spill the water onto the hot pavement outside our house.
I found it really disconcerting that I couldn't control the 'marks' in the way I would have liked - there was so much randomness based not only on the container and the method of dispensing the water, but the individual paving stones and how hot they were and how much they sloped (if at all). I did a few experiments on the wall and on our shed as well.
The most exciting thing, paradoxically, was noticing the different sounds that a squirt container made on different objects (the table, the ground, the fence, the shed).
With the hot weather we have been outside a lot, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to start thinking about the first exercise for Drawing 1: temporary drawings. I filled a variety of different containers with water - two different water bottles, a coffee cup, and a spray bottle - with water and started to drip and spill the water onto the hot pavement outside our house.
I found it really disconcerting that I couldn't control the 'marks' in the way I would have liked - there was so much randomness based not only on the container and the method of dispensing the water, but the individual paving stones and how hot they were and how much they sloped (if at all). I did a few experiments on the wall and on our shed as well.
The most exciting thing, paradoxically, was noticing the different sounds that a squirt container made on different objects (the table, the ground, the fence, the shed).
After this, my daughter (6) and I loosely choreographed a 'performance' based on some of the 'temporary drawings' we had been doing.
Project: Feeling and expression
Exercise: Experimenting with expressive lines and marks
Pitt pencil
Caran D'Arche crayon
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Ink and stick
Charcoal
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Calm
I just could not be or get calm. Calm to me does not feel soothing or soft but sad and resigned. I have probably never been properly clam and I certainly have never felt calm as an artist, nor tried to draw or paint anything 'calm' on purpose. I do not think I have ever even projected calm. I got really caught up in the circle, which I think was my conscious brain just not letting go. I certainly dislike the drawings in charcoal, crayon, and ink, and feel but better about the drawing in pitt - a medium I just like anyway. I am going to leave this and probably never come back to calm.
I just could not be or get calm. Calm to me does not feel soothing or soft but sad and resigned. I have probably never been properly clam and I certainly have never felt calm as an artist, nor tried to draw or paint anything 'calm' on purpose. I do not think I have ever even projected calm. I got really caught up in the circle, which I think was my conscious brain just not letting go. I certainly dislike the drawings in charcoal, crayon, and ink, and feel but better about the drawing in pitt - a medium I just like anyway. I am going to leave this and probably never come back to calm.
Pitt pencil
Caran D'Arche crayon
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Ink and stick
Charcoal
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Joy
I struggled here too. It does not feel like each of these represent the same emotion (let alone any single one representing joy!). I am struggling to not 'fall back' on the mark making techniques I am used to and regret choosing charcoal, which I hate drawing with. I found the ink and stick interesting, and though I'm not sure it says 'joy' the straight lines shown here have never been a feature of my drawing or painting, so that is interesting at least.
I struggled here too. It does not feel like each of these represent the same emotion (let alone any single one representing joy!). I am struggling to not 'fall back' on the mark making techniques I am used to and regret choosing charcoal, which I hate drawing with. I found the ink and stick interesting, and though I'm not sure it says 'joy' the straight lines shown here have never been a feature of my drawing or painting, so that is interesting at least.
After doing the Joy drawings I had a short period of mild disassociation, and for that reason I decided not to continue on and do the other two emotions. I have type 1 bipolar and BPD, so feeling and expressing emotion is not something I struggle with, but I do struggle to feel and express it appropriately sometimes. This is something that I continue to explore in my painting.
Exercise: Experimenting with texture
Frottage
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Project: Basic shapes and fundamental form
Exercise: Groups of objects
Exercise: Observing shadow using blocks of tone
Exercise: Creating shadow using lines and marks
Research Point: Odilon Redon
Exercise: Shadows and Reflected light