Part 2 Project 1 Composition Exercise 1 Compositional Studies of Man-made Objects

When considering my still-life arrangement, I must admit that before this course, I had never given serious contemplation on the significance of the light source on the overall ‘drama’ of the composition. According to Drawing Projects this drama is “made visually richer by the creative and considered use of lighting, and the same objects will appear significantly different when lit in different ways.” (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014)

For this exercise, I chose a selection of tools from my dad’s work cupboard and an old unpolished silver bucket. I remember that last year my children, who were university students at the time, and their Korean friend, spent a delightful afternoon at the Bathurst Agricultural Museum studying and having hands-on interaction with old "engines, tractors, wagons, buggies, agricultural machinery and tools, some dating back to the British settlers."
(Bathursian, n.d.) So, I decided to pick out a few rustic looking tools from my dad's tool cupboard.  


Sketchbook study of tools 1
 

Sketchbook study of the foreshortening of a hammer - Sketchbook 2

 





Sketchbook Tools 3
 

This composition is totally different from any composition I would have normally organized. Ordinarily, I would have filled the picture plane with far more objects to allure the eye. However, I feel that I have been influenced by Patrick Caulfield and Mary Fedden who have helped me to view negative space differently. Instead of cluttering up the bottom left-hand corner of the sketch, I decided to leave it open with only the diagonal of the table cloth to intersect the space. This meant that this composition is far more restful and poised than the previous sketches.

 

I used a 2B and 4B pencil to execute this drawing. However, the quality of this paper is so poor that it is very difficult to create a decent variety of tones. I will need to seek out a new sketchbook that caters to my needs better.

 

Although I know I have a long way to go in being able to analyze positive and negative spaces, I think my spaces are better proportioned. My foreshortening skills are slowly improving. The light source and its direction radically influences the reflections and the shadows. In this sketch the light source was a ceiling fitting with four bulbs at 45 degrees above and behind the objects. This cast a slightly blurred shadow, unlike that of the previous sketches.

 

Learning Points

• Shadows influence the negative space of the objects in a composition, helping to emphasize the shape of the articles and drawing attention to or from objects, providing "linked routes of discovery, and moments of focused interest." (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014)
• The source of the light and its direction in relation to the objects also change the subjective feeling of the composition.

I have had major issues with the quality of the paper in the sketchbook I bought, so it is evident in the scan above that the shading from the previous page has left an impression on this page. I will buy a different sketchbook for the rest of my course work.

Works Cited

Bathurstian, n.d. Heart of Settler Country. [Online]
Available at: http://www.bathurst.co.za/bathurst/museum/
[Accessed 15 July 2015].

Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014. Drawing Projects - an exploration of the language of drawing. In: London: Black Dog Publishing , p. 40.

Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014. Drawing Projects - an exploration of the language of drawing. In: London: Black Dog Publishing , p. 46.