Drawing on Location - York

 

What Went Well?

• I can see that when we were at the train museum, focusing on different elements in each image (i.e. tone, mark making etc.) wasn't just an exercise. The images where I was selective with what I put in and just worked with straight lines or block colour are much more visually exciting than my first drawing, where I just sketched what I saw. 
• I finally felt comfortable working with colour, which I didn't at all in the first observational drawing task at the beginning of this module. Before I just saw it as another element to control - like perspective and line quality, but now I can see that it can be used to aid or as a substitute for these other things. I.e. in image three I used colour to differentiate different objects from one another so that I didn't have to use tonality to separate the objects and create a sense of depth. Had this image been all one colour it would have been confusing.
• In the afternoon, I also started to play around with creating depth (image 4). I separated the landscape into three separate planes (as I did in the Depth task) and tried to reduce the level of detail in each as I went back. I found that pen was a good media to practice doing this in because I didn't have to consider tonality as much as I did when painting. - works well to add a clarity to my image 
• I also started to play around with mark making and trying to find simple ways of representing each of the serrate bushes through mark making. i think that these areas of image 4 are much clearer and more interesting than the areas where i have scribbled or tried to hatch.

What challenges did I face/ could I have done differently?

• I think that I could have spent less time on each image, so that I could have had time to complete more of the tasks. In the train museum I would have liked to start looking at how the trains were constructed and maybe have tried deconstructing them. I also wanted to do some sound maps - I could have looked at the differences between one in the museum and one in the park.
• I also don't think that I considered composition enough. I could have tried looking through something or up at something. A lot of my drawings are very cropped, as if drawn from a photograph because I just started drawing one thing then expanded it until it filled the page. I could have started to play around with rearranging objects. 

How am I going to move forward?

• Next time I drew from observation I am going to make sure  work in pen - so I can't rub anything out! And I am going to use a bigger sketchbook so that I can be more gestural and expand out of the frame. I found A5 confining. I would also like to continue to use colour in my observational drawing.