Part 3 Final Assignment

Fig. 1. Detail of the wall surface of the porch.

Motivation for Subject:

Across the road from our apartment there is a desperately grimy and derelict porch (see fig.1.). It is the sort of structure that I would never sit under, even during the midday sun, as it stinks of urine and sweat, and its layers of muck are etched into the wall's surface. What I have found absolutely incredulous is that this porch rarely sits totally empty (fig. 2.). Throughout the day, it has a constant stream of people using it in various ways. It might become a temporary shelter for half-a-dozen snoozing gentlemen, lying out the hottest hours of the day on cardboard sheets in its shade. Or, the entire porch becomes covered in parked motorbikes. At other times stacks of brand new patterned mattresses stand to attention ready to be sold.

The most humbling occupants of this porch are the dear women that I have come to befriend, despite the fact that I speak only a smattering of French courtesies. At least three nights out of the week they come at around dusk to set up camp for the night. One woman is in her twenties. She is paralyzed from the waist down and has two withered arms - possibly as a result of polio, a common disease here due to the lack of inoculations.  The other woman is a mother of adorable twin girls. These little bundles with their cute dubious expressions and tentative totterings, are often seen exploring the edges of this porch. To my horror, the one was actually licking the wall the other day. This porch serves as their temporary home until dawn, when they pack up their mosquito nets and bedding, bathe the toddlers using cup-sized packets of water, and sweep the porch clean. Hard to believe that people can actually exist in this manner - and still have a smile of greeting for me every day, wishing me "Bon Journee".

It has been for a few months now that I have desired to draw this porch as it has come to have a strange nostalgic meaning to me. As ugly and inhospitable as it appears to me as a Westerner, it brings much needed shelter and respite for numerous travelers, and serves a multitude of purposes. Like George Shaw, I want to be able to find inspiration in the mundane. These words of his resonate with me:

"I get perturbed by people who have meaningful epiphanies in expensive places – who go to India, Goa, New Zealand, watch a glorious sunset to find themselves. If you can’t find yourself in your own back yard, you’re not going to find yourself in the Serengeti, are you? So for me, it was taking those clichés of epiphany and the sublime and putting them in a place where great thoughts aren’t rumoured to happen."

(Kellaway, 2015)

Due to the fact that my husband and I are international educators, I have travelled the world to places considered exotic, and yet, it is often in the grimy porches that I encounter the challenge to look within, and to allow God to help me to find the strength to turn the "grimy porches" into a haven. For this reason, I decided that I want to embark on capturing this porch in my assignment. In a manner inspired by George Shaw, I wish to capture this humble porch in a way which gives it a bit of credence and yet honest dignity. Capturing all of this in a two hour drawing session will be the ultimate challenge for me, as my style tends to be belabored and intense. Artworks which appeal to me at present are works which have many layers to them. The uppermost layer partially obscuring and, yet also, partially revealing the underlying layers. So, my goal is to depict the layers of grime and weathering, along with the rustic lines of the structure, within the short time frame allowed.

Fig. 3. Wall and roof surface sketchbook practice.

Preparation: I started out by trying to emulate the layers of the roof and wall surfaces in as little time as possible. After experimentation, I discovered that the streaky layers of the edge of the roof can be emulated using a palette knife with a mixture of greys and whites. By scraping the acrylic very flat, it remains workable for markers and other drawing media. Pink marker and white chalk worked particularly well on top of this panel of layers, creating the idea of water seepage (fig 3.). 

I also experimented with the wall surface using a variety of yellows and creams. I liked the effect that I created by drawing into a layer of wet acrylic, scratching away most of the color, and then applying chalk pastels on top of this. Charcoals and drawing pencils work well on top of these layers to create the shady shadows of the interior. The colors of the walls are not this acidic lemon yellow, but rather closer to a burnt amber. So I will need to work on my color palette.

When experimenting with the greens of the foliage in the background, I realized that I am going to have to do the background layer first as no matter how I tried I ended up in destroying the rough texture of the edge of the concrete when applying the background afterwards. I decided that as I have to work fast to fit within the two hour time-frame, I will lay down a layer of green and then work watercolor pencils and crayons on this layer to suggest foliage.

Fig.4. Study of random items shoved into the burglar bars.

One feature of this porch that amazes me is the fact that people leave items of clothing, pots and dishes stuffed into the burglar bars of the windows, or hanging from the air-conditioner casings. I spent sometime trying to figure out how I was going to approach this feature of this unusual porch (fig. 4). I experimented with one of these windows. Once again I laid down a layer of watercolor, in this case brown, and then worked on top of it with markers and watercolor crayons. I think this will create the effect I want.

On investigating the lines of the linear perspective on a print of the photograph I am basing my drawing on, I discovered that it has a number of vanishing points all around a similar position. The little lean-to has its own vanishing point. (See fig. 5.)

Fig.5. Print of porch showing

orthogonals leading to varying vanishing points.

I decided to complete an ink study to try to analyze the dark and lighter areas of this scene. I can't say that this sketch was satisfying, as it seemed clumsy and awkward (fig. 6.). (This sketch got cream paint on it when I used it to help me with my final artwork.) However, what I did discover from this study was the fact that I needed to hone my composition in more, allowing the attention to focus on the shrouded motorbike, and the 'dressed' windows. I also decided to take the attention off of the umbrella shop at the corner.

Fig.6. Sketchbook ink study of tonal values.

As a result of my dissatisfaction with my ink study, I went through a cycle of reconsidering my style and approach to this project. I reconsidered the words from Clare Wilson, my tutor, in her assessment of my previous assignment. The words that jumped out to me were the following:

"Very often less is more in a good drawing and the ability to know when to stop is a skill that increases with practice and with confidence."

"...you should consider ways of focusing on the aspect of a drawing that is most interesting and allow other areas to be less dominant without losing what you want to say about the subject."

"Also look at the variety of mark making in the abstract drawings by Julie Mehretu and the angular and expressive quality of line in the work of Egon Schiele. Claude Heath makes drawings that have an active, energetic quality that might inspire you to explore a more animated approach." (Wilson, 2015)

I still find it hard to focus on my main area of interest, allowing the rest of the drawing to lose focus. I looked at the work of Julie Mehretu to get a fresh breath of inspiration. What intrigues me about Julie Mehretu's work is the way that through abstract textural mark making with inks, acrylic and graphite she is able to suggest visual connections. Your imagination formulates a landscape, cityscape, or sense of time travel. Her images even have an area of focus, which though suggested, remains enigmatic. This is particular evident in Fever graph (algorithm of Serendipity), 2013. It is hard to comprehend the significance of her work when looking at a small photograph of her works on the computer. I do look forward to the day that I can studying her work as it is installed in a gallery.

I read up the description of her aims and style on Marian Goodman Gallery site. I wish I could say that I understood all that this write-up was saying, but what did resonate with me were these words: "It is in this space of the liminal – literally, threshold – the stage of standing on the verge between one’s previous way of structuring identity, time, or community and a new way-- that her new body of work has developed." (Marian Goodman Gallery, 2016) I so long to be able to work beyond my "previous way of structuring identity" in my artworks.  

Fig. 7.  Egon Schiele, The Bridge (1913).

One of my decisions regarding how I am going to draw this porch is how I am going to interpret the wall surfaces and layers of grime. In researching further works of Egon Schiele, I came across The Bridge, 1913. (See fig. 7.) His use of earthy beiges and grey tones contrast starkly with his primary colors in the hut and the boat in the distance. His layering of colors is what I want to aim for in this drawing of mine. The green of the distant hillside is a dark non-projecting green, unlike the green of my preliminary exploration. I also like the manner in which he works in a linear fashion on top of his fields of color.

My next step was to do a further mock up of the composition and to try to speed up my technique. This sketch can be seen in Figure 8. At this stage, I caught a glimmer of the potential that this composition could have. I had slowly tightened my focus from the original photograph my husband took, to the cropped in version. I even tried to move one of the pots hanging from the air-conditioner to see if it would add to the composition if it were moved closer in. In the end, I decided that although an intriguing detail, it was not necessary to the composition.

Fig. 8. Preliminary study. Dimensions: A4.

What I liked about the works of Claude Heath is his use of expressive exploratory lines to develop the contours of his 3-dimensional surfaces. In the study above, I tried to combine loose ink lines with the shading and blocks of smeared color fields.

Final Artwork:

I commenced this drawing with a light sketch placing the main lines of the building. I then blocked in the sky in a dusky blue watercolor wash. I then worked over it in an expressive manner to indicate the movement of palms using dark green watercolor mixed with black ink. The final area I blocked in initially was the creamy tone of the wall surfaces (fig.9.).

Fig.9. Washes of color blocked in place.

The rest of the work seemed like a dance. I would have bursts of activity and energy, interspersed by my needing to gulp down glasses full of liquid. I was amazed at how energetic the process was. I have never turned out an artwork of this size in so short a time period - but, it was quite exhilarating! I remember Clare Wilson writing to say that I should have fun with this assignment. Well, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the creative process. It took me a long time to gear up to this project, but I feel that I was able to free myself from my usual tight constraints in many areas. Obviously, I have a long way to go, and I will probably never reach the end of what is possible, but the process of this assignment has been encouraging.

Fig.10. Detail of roof and eaves.

To start with, I used the palette knife to smear in the greys and browns in the mold at the top of the cantilever (Fig.10.). I deliberately left some of the cream to peer through, to give it a layered look. I then used the palette knife with lighter greys to go under the eaves. This was more tricky to apply thinly and in the right shape. I used a palette knife to smear in the general shape of the bricked up doorway, windows and porch floor.

I found myself constantly evaluating which media would work best on the varying surfaces. I started to define the pillars of the porch, using white crayon, graphite, watercolor pencils, etc., to shade them in and give them definition. I then worked on the shading under the eaves using charcoals, graphite and watercolor crayons. For the lip of the roof of the lean-to, I tried to use expressive ink lines to indicate the crisp edges of this roofing material. I also used ink pen to define the edges and shading of the wooden poles that support the roof of the lean-to. I added some shading to these wooden posts using graphite, white watercolor crayon and a thin layer of white acrylic paint.

Fig.11. Barred windows with clothing.

I commenced filling in the porch by starting at the motorbike end and working towards the right. To get the black of the motorbike tyres and the details of the foot pedals etc., I used a black Sharpie, which I then integrated into the rest of the surface using graphite pencils and watercolor crayons on top of the surface.

To try to depict the manufactured nature of the burglar bars above the bricked in door and the metal shutters, I used Sharpie black marker and a fine point permanent marker (fig. 11.). What I particularly enjoyed was working with the rust-brown and black smear I had applied to the area of the two windows, which have the clothing stuck into the bars. The smear was already very expressive in that it had a worn rusted look to it. So, I merely added some suggestions of rectangular shapes, defining the bars, along with a few strokes of thin brown acrylic paint. I then used a combination of grey acrylic paint and watercolor crayons to depict the draped clothing.

After drawing in these detailed areas, I set about changing the tones of the wall surfaces to replicate the grime and grunge which has built up over the years. I used varying graphite pencils, watercolor markers, and water color pencils for this purpose, with the odd wash of thinned down white acrylic. I decided to add in the little stool under the window as a reminder that people come to sit in the shade of this porch.

Fig. 12. Distant corner and foliage.

For the background, I worked very roughly in graphite to indicate two people at the corner opposite the porch. Initially the umbrella was a bright blue, but I realized that is was grabbing too much attention, so I softened it to a muted blue-green. I wanted to show the people in order to contextualize the porch, but did not want them to be the focus, which they are in the photographs (fig.12.). I added some suggestions of leafy fronds on to the dark green background using watercolor pencils. In order to not detract from the building, I did not add any fronds to the greenery above the porch.

Lastly, I reworked the shadows on the porch floor, trying to show the variations in the tones of the grey. I added a few suggestive strokes to the edge of the porch and to the dirt road in front. I eventually erased some of the pencil strokes, as they were too definitive. As the lines of the composition all lead towards the motorbike, I decided that it needed a bit more work. I enhanced the shadows of the cover and emphasized the highlights on the folds by applying light strokes of light green acrylic paint (fig. 13.).

Fig.13. Detail of shrouded motorbike.

By this stage, I was over the two hour limit by about twenty minutes, so I decided that it was time to quit. As I stated before, I have never churned out an A2-sized drawing in such a short period of time. Our examinations at school and during my teacher training were all in the region of eight hour long sessions. So, this has been a stretch for me. But, I can truly say that I feel that I have met my goal - the porch with its suggestion of human occupancy and layers of time, has been captured in my drawing (fig.14.).

Fig. 14. Final Artwork.

Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills

I know that my awareness of linear and aerial perspective has developed during the course of this unit of study. In the past I would have treated the background with equal clarity, much like I can see in many photographs, but here, I have deliberately tried to throw the background out of the spotlight, by making it lighter and less defined. 

I have played with the composition of this piece quite a bit. Originally I fancied drawing the porch flat on, as can be seen in the first photograph. However, as I was required to include foliage, I decided to rather take a more oblique approach. In retrospect, I realized that I have a hint of three-point perspective going, judging by the angles of the columns.

An area where I do see a weakness is the area under the eaves. This shading is rather generalized and at times a bit confusing. Where is the light that lights the underside of the porch roof coming from? I also feel that this area became a bit overworked and muddy.

Quality of Outcome 

As I explained previously, my normal style of drawing is rather tight and illustrative, so this is an attempt to loosen up my narrative style and allow for a bit more expression. I spent a great deal of time in reflection, trying to ascertain my approach and seeking inspiration from other artists. I feel that I am satisfied with the outcome. I feel that it captures some of the intrigue and mystery of this nasty back alley porch.

Demonstration of Creativity

I think to some extent the creativity of this piece is in the nature of the porch. It is not your typical picturesque building. I have experimented with how to portray its grimy layers using the two hour time limit as my constraint. I think my using of a palette knife to smear in blocks of color served to provide interesting surfaces which appeared irregular and peeling, although flat enough to further develop with mixed media.

I think that a bit of my personal voice comes through. Part of this is in the subject matter. I find shabby peeling surfaces very intriguing. It is as if they contain a history. Who made that smudge? When did they paint the various layers of paint that can be seen through the broken surfaces?

Context Reflection

My one regret throughout this unit on study has been the fact that I am not living in an area conducive to outdoor meaderings and plein aire sketching. I know that when in South Africa, I loved being able to curl up under a tree and sketch the scene before me. This climate and the fact that I am a White female in a very different culture has put limitations on my exploration. However, fortunately, I have large windows looking out from my apartment, the scenes of which feature throughout this unit, and I have a supportive husband who helps me by documenting our trips with his amazing photographs. Given a different environment, my work might well have been quite different, but then...I would not have made a connection with this well-worn porch. So, in the end, I am grateful for what I have been able to work with.

Illustrations

Fig. 7.  Egon Schiele, The Bridge (1913). Available at: http://www.egon-schiele.com[Accessed 31 March, 2016]

Works Cited

Goodman, M., n.d. Marian Goodman Work. [Online]
Available at: http://mariangoodman.com/artist/julie-mehretu

[Accessed 31 March 2016].

Kellaway, K., 2015. George Shaw, 49: ‘Every second, every ounce of time has to be accounted for’. [Online]
Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/nov/15/george-shaw-interview-every-second-every-ounce-of-time-has-to-be-accounted-for

[Accessed 30 March 2016].

Marian Goodman Gallery, 2016. Julie Mehretu. [Online]
Available at: http://archive.mariangoodman.com/exhibitions/2013-05-11_julie-mehretu/

[Accessed 31 March 2016].

Wilson, C., 2015. Formative Feedback, s.l.: Open College of Arts.

Part 3 Project 5 Townscapes Exercise 1

This drawing is out of sequence as it has taken me a long time to be able to come up with a place where I could sit comfortably to draw. In Cotonou, it is probably extremely unwise as a White female to sit on the street and sketch. Not only do you stick out like a sore thumb due to the tone of your skin, but people just don't sit around sketching. I know I would draw a crowd of onlookers. It is also swelteringly hot outside with a high humidity level that makes it draining to sit outside. So, instead, I opted to sit in an air-conditioned foyer in one of the buildings at our school. There are only two windows which don't have nasty burglar bars, and this was one of the ones that I sat at.

This foyer is normally a hubbub of activity as classes come and go to the French, Intensive English class and my husband's classroom, but as today is Easter Monday, it is quiet and reposed. Although I love the relative neatness of this particular school campus, I can't say that I have any particular emotional connection to it, other than it is my place of work.

The scene through the window is a contrast between the very stark boring buildings of the office block, and the bright cheerful colors of the flowering shrubs and pot plants, which line the pathways and the edges of the buildings. It is also a contrast between the attempts at neat clean lines and the fact that there are air-conditioners attached at random intervals to the walls. You have this tension between the desire to pull off a neat office block, but the reality that nothing is built particularly straight around here.

During my initial studies, the sky was cloudy, so I had periods of stark sunshine when the walls simply radiated heat and then periods where it was muted in tones. When the sun did break through the clouds it shone directly on the façade, creating a definite patterned shadow of the roof on the white walls.

Detail studies of burglar bars and air-conditioning unit.

As the walls are well plastered and painted in stark white, there is no evidence of the brick work below. The details which are particularly evident are the air-conditioning units and the patterns of the burglar bars over the windows. For this reason I did my 10cm square studies of these two elements.

Preliminary sketch 1: As I was drawing the Director's doorway, I chose to stick down as my underlying layer a page from the QSI newspaper which has all of the names of the various QSI schools and the directors of each. If you look carefully, you can make out some of the names, I then layered a thin wash of yellow, green and cream in the areas where these would be appropriate.

Sketchbook study 1

I commenced working this sketch from the foreground and then worked backwards. I used a mixture of media from differing grades of pencil, markers and watercolor crayons. I don't think that I was able to achieve a sense of depth very successfully as the detail of the foreground gets lost in the greys of the pencil work in the middle ground. Using the newspaper as the base also meant that it was hard to get a clean white wall surface without actually painting white acrylic paint in a fairly concentrated form. I think that the shading around the doorway worked fairly well, it is worked a little less tightly than I normally employ. I do not like the placement of the lamppost directly in front of the hibiscus plant. So, I will try to tweak the positioning of this lamp. I like it, but it just doesn't work here.

Working from the foreground backwards meant that it was difficult to work washes in the background without working over the foreground layer. For this reason, when embarking on the second sketch, I reversed the order and worked the background first.

Preliminary sketch 2: For this sketch, I also did not put down a sketch of the main shapes. Instead, I washed patches of washes in the general position of where I thought the color would be necessary. I then worked from the background first. I worked on the two windows in between the two building blocks. The angle of the windows were slightly slanted downwards, which in the end created a very strange warped perspective. I then worked on the left-hand side building with the air-conditioning unit. I particularly liked the way the charcoal and watercolor washes worked in delineating the roof area and its shadow. I then worked on the Director's office area. I think the door area worked well in that it is not incredibly detailed and helps to create a slight sense of space. I also like the way the plants turned out. I used watercolor markers and charcoal for this area.

It was at this stage that I realized that the building block was horribly out of proportion and I could not fit in the three windows that the façade has. So, I resorted to including only two. As I had to add to the building, the wash of this section was not the same tonality. So lacks the warm radiance of the rest of the building.

I worked the pathway with a mixture of watercolor markers and watercolor crayons. I think the path on the right worked out well, mimicking the surface of the pathway. However, my perspective is really off, as this section of the path should meet up with the path on the left-hand side of the row of bushes on the left. If you know this area, you would feel that I had done an Escher on my perspective. This is an area that I will need to work on for my final sketch. 

The lamppost in this sketch does have a sense of being in the foreground, but I still think that somehow I need to move its position so that it is not central to the picture. The "Director" signage is also more dominant than I think it needs to be. I also eliminated some of the pot plants that I thought were not necessarily adding to the picture.

Sketchbook study 2

Final Sketch: For this final sketch I drew on A3 size paper. I tweaked the composition slightly to have the lantern a bit further over to the right, allowing the director's door to be a little more obvious. I also reintroduced some of the pot plants in the foreground. 

This time around I did a more careful study of the linear perspective to try to counteract the optical distortions of my previous picture. What I found so interesting was that despite my attention to angles and linear perspective, the building still appears warped. On discussing this with my husband, he pointed out that the building really does look warped. The lines of the windows between the two building blocks do slant downwards at a disproportionate angle.

For this drawing, I started with the sky, and decided to include the ugly power pole with its scrappy wiring, in order to give a better sense of place to the building. I noticed that the sunlight on the building was giving the shadows a slight warm yellowy glow, so included this in my initial washes of diluted acrylic paint.

I keep endeavoring to work in a looser more dynamic manner, but as I am so interested in detail, my pictures tend to become controlled by detail. To counteract that I tried to loosen up my interpretation of the foliage. After applying a wash of color, I would work in a fairly loose fashion with black watercolor pencil and watercolor fine markers. I would then wash over portions of the drawing to blend the colors in a more organic fashion. I think this approach helps to counteract the tight lines of the building and its air-conditioners.

Final study for this exercise.

It is interesting to me that you can create three different drawings, with slightly different emphases and different feelings, from exactly the same spot. My first drawing was more claustrophobic due to the fact that I zoomed in to the area between the two buildings and cluttered the space with details of the pot plants and air-conditioners. Whereas, my last drawing has a greater sense of space, but the space is constricted due to the placement of the pot plants in almost a line, breaking up ones imagined travel down the path. So, they form a barrier to the approach of the Director's door. The composition seems to teeter on the axis created by the lamppost. The main features form an inverted triangle, tottering around the point of the base of the lamppost.  

Part 3 Project 5 Townscapes Research for Exercise 1

Fig. 1. Twombly, Cy.

Coronation of Sesostris, panel 10, 2000.

[acrylic, crayon and pencil]

My research leading up to this next section of my course lead me to artists who delight in working in layers, which enigmatically provide an intricate surface woven with intriguing shape, forms and motifs.

Cy Twombly seems to specialize in using a monochromatic color scheme with numerous layers. His favored medium in the works I studied was crayon and pencil details on wall paint. As someone who loves playing with writing in combination with ink work, I particularly enjoy his work Coronation of Sesostris, panel 10, 2000. The medium he chose for this work was acrylic, crayon, and pencil on canvas. (See Fig. 1) (Cy Twombly, 2016) I love the somber palette of Untitled 1951. The subtle nuances of tonal changes in some areas contrast with the rugged, abrasive strokes of creamy white on dense black in the vertical strokes of his mark-making. These marks in turn allude to letter formations.

I continued to research contemporary artists and OCA tutors, Clare Wilson and Doris Rohr. What I found appealing in both of their works is the way that they work with layers. They lay down a layer and then rework or work over it.

In the case of Doris Rohr’s, her promotional drawing for her exhibition Jetsam, comprises of an initial layer, which seems to be the lightest suggestion of a waterfall worked in a pale layering of inks, followed by detailed pencil work of the foreground tree branches and twigs. (Rohr, 2016) It was interesting to see how she combined successfully combined the achromatic graphic pencil sketching with ink washes.

Clare Wilson’s work has an ethereal magnificence to it, like a shrouded misty dawn or sunset. The shapes and forms of previous layers lie intangibly buried beneath the misty layers of subsequent images. The soft warmth of her limited palette provides a soothing absorption to the shapes and forms which suggest vegetation or landscape. It is hard for me to pinpoint a particular image that inspires me as her work in general is truly absorbing. (Wilson, 2016)



List of Illustrations

Twombly, Cy (2000) Coronation of Sesostris, panel 10 [acrylic, crayon and pencil] 207 X 156 cm. Cy Twombly Gallery 1. [online] Available at: http://www.cytwombly.info/

Works Cited

Cy Twombly, 2016. Cy Twombly Gallery 1. [Online]
Available at: http://www.cytwombly.info/ [Accessed 11 March 2016].

Rohr, D., 2016. Exhibition - Jetsam - Doris Rohr. [Online]
Available at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1565658170428032
[Accessed 12 March 2016].

Wilson, C., 2016. Clare Wilson. [Online]
Available at: http://www.clare-wilson.com/gallery_552243.html
[Accessed 12 March 2016].

Part 3 Project 5 Townscapes Exercise 2 Study of a townscape using line

Johnston, Craig. Ganvie Outskirts, 2015.

For this drawing, I looked around the area where we live and found that I was totally uninspired by the haptic, concrete jumble of buildings surrounding our apartment. So, I decided to once again return to my husband's photographs of Ganvie, the Venice of Africa. The photo I chose was of a settlement of stilt houses on the outskirts of the main stilt city. What I particularly liked about this photograph was the rhythmic pattern set up by the uprights of the wooden "scaffolding". Throughout the village these structures could be seen. They weren't piers that one could walk along, so I am not sure what the structure was for, unless purely for tying up their hollowed out log boats.

On the day of our trip to Ganvie, the sky was overcast with a slight drizzle. The day seemed so dismal, that we even wondered whether our trip would end up being cancelled. We set out in the drizzle, but, fortunately, the clouds soon parted highlighting the landscape with a fresh glow. It truly was a lovely day. After months with the harmatan dust cloaking the sky, causing it to lose all definition of clouds, this clear, sunlight was welcome.

Benin is a land of contrasts, which is evidenced in the landscape of Ganvie. As a result, when considering drawing this study, I wanted to emphasize contrast and linear rhythm. I wanted the roofs of the buildings to stand out against the backdrop of the sky.

After doing the preliminary pencil sketch, I realized that I wanted to increase the contrast of the buildings on the right even further so that the dark areas created more of a rhythm across the page, connecting this area with the deep shadow of the doorway on the left.

Double spread sketch.

Photoshop enhanced photo.

I also thought that the composition would benefit from being a bit tighter and I liked the elongated format dictated by the double spread of my sketchbook. For this reason I drew this as an elongated format, 15 X 46 cm. I took the original photograph and adjusted the hue levels of some of the hues until I had created a photo with more contrast and emphasis on linear elements upon which to base my sketch.

I did a mock-up of the left-hand side house in inks to see how it would turn out. I decided to use Bombay black India ink for the majority of the picture as it has a warm brown tinge to the greys and blacks.

When embarking on the final drawing, I did an extremely light preliminary sketch, before I washed a light layer of ink into the background using a broad chisel brush. I wanted the whites of the picture to stand out against this light grey sky. What I didn't realize was that the ink would absorb much quicker on this Canton paper than it did in my sketchbook, so I did not get the even application I was seeking. However, in retrospect, this was to my benefit as it helped to add interest into the sky, suggesting variations in the tones of the light cloud formation.

I then worked the house on the left-hand side. I discovered that my slightly damaged medium sized chisel-headed paintbrush creates parallel streaks when moistened with a slight dip of diluted ink. I used these marks in the roof and where ever I had corrugated iron walls. I added definition to details with a 0.7mm uni-ball ink pen. I tried to emphasize the person hunkered down in the doorway, to create a sense of intrigue. I tried to do this by emphasizing the horizontal dark strip of the shadow of the roof and the rectangular form of the doorway. This person is also emphasized by the sweep of the boat tied up under the doorway, as well as the pattern created by the black plastic hanging from the side of the house. The pattern of the slits creates a vertical rhythm under the house that visually links to the vertical struts of the houses across the water gap.

Next, I tried to establish my furthest background layer. I left two sides of the roofs of the houses white, as well as some of the grassy patch of the embankment. A soft wash of ink sets this area off from the middle ground, with a few tufts of the fish traps sticking out of the water for visual interest.

My next task was to draw in the houses on the right. Once again I used my damaged brush to draw in the parallel marks of the roofs and corrugated walls. I tried to emphasize the variations in the wall textures and tones, ensuring that I had a full range from the dark house in the middle to the lightest house in middle ground, which is towards the centre of the picture.

What I enjoyed painting the most was the vertical struts of the stilts and the scaffolding. I tried to allow the organic nature of brushed ink strokes to add to the interest of this drawing. Trying to create different strokes to represent each post, was quite challenging and diverting. A challenge I faced was to create shorter strokes to convey the posts in the distance which support to houses, in such a way that you knew the house were set off at an angle to the posts of the scaffold structure. I left a smidgen of white under the posts before indicating the water level to hint at the idea that there is a bit of turf under these posts.

At this stage, my weekend had run out and I was once again faced with a busy week of teaching. So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I once again tried to work on this drawing, almost a week later.

I decided to make a bold move and to change the ink I was using to a slightly darker bluer tone for the foreground. For this purpose, I used Pelikan 4001 Black ink. When I tested it, it was quite a bit bluer, and I was nervous that it would not suite the drawing. However, I did want to provide a visual contrast between this layer and the rest of the picture, as I feared it would be easy for this layer to appear on the same level as the others.

I started by working on the figures in the main boat. As this is a line drawing, I tried to emphasize the contours of the figures and only suggest the tones of the faces. I left the net purposely white to increase the contrast between it and the posts behind it.

For the boat, I applied a number of sweeping strokes to describe its hull. As the area became wet, these eventually blurred into each other helping to suggest its form. The smaller boat on the right was also created with a few overlapping strokes, which eventually blended.

Mark-making practice.

Creating the ripples in the water was nerve-racking as I wanted them to be calligraphic and yet it is easy for marks of this nature to spoil the flow of the white space. I think I was able to maintain enough white in the majority of the water. After looking at how different the underlying blue tone of the black was to the middle ground tones I decided to add some strokes to the reflections of the left-hand house in the brown-toned black. For these reflection ripples, I once again used the damaged brush to create parallel strokes. I don't know if I completely like these strokes. They do convey the idea of water lapping in a patterned configuration, but as they are some of the only horizontal strokes, they might draw too much attention.

On discussing this drawing with my husband, we agreed that the focal point of the picture is the dark house with the patterned window shutter. This is caused by the fact that all of the figures are looking in that direction and the reflections of the water tend to point in that direction too. It is also the only house which is dark. There is, however, a tension between the detail of the boats and the figure with the white net in the foreground, and this dark house with it corrugated outhouse.

Ink drawing.

I think that I have been able to add to the subtle intrigue of this stilted village scene, through my play between light and dark, and the rhythmic quality of the verticals of the posts.

Did your preliminary sketches give you enough information for your final piece of work?
No, however, it did serve to highlight what my main focus would be in this piece: the contrast between dark and light, and the rhythmic pattern set up by the horizontal posts. My sketch did also help me to explore the forms of the scene and to figure out how to simplify them. In many ways, I think my final piece has maintained some of the essence of my first preliminary sketch. What would be interesting is to take this scene I have drawn in ink, along with my pencil sketch, and to create a new drawing purely based on these. Not allowing myself the luxury of the photograph as reference. I suspect that this might lead to a more expressive, but less technical drawing. However, as time is pressing, I feel I need to move on to what should have been the first project in this sequence of lessons, exercise 1.

Part 3 Project 5 Townscapes Exercise 4 Statues

In preparation for this drawing I studied the description of how to get Gestural Tone as explained in Drawing Projects. (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014) I took particular note of these sentences:

“Remember that when you make drawings, you must not only depict these ‘measure’ tones, but you are also drawing quantities of light. Light is invisible energy. And the marks you make should express this energy and make it visible.” (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014)

Johnston, Craig [photograph]  Jambul, 2004.

As it is difficult for me to get to study statues within Cotonou, due to our not having a car, and my not being willing to risk my life on one of the readily available motorcycle taxis, I decided to base my study on a statue of Jambul, a Kazakh hero. My husband took this photo when we visited one of the squares in Almaty, whilst living there.

Due to my fascination with layering and the fact that I find statues in general dark and oppressive, I decided to start my drawing off by laying down a layer of Cadium Yellow Pale Hue mixed with Black acrylic. What I hoped to do by laying down a slightly textural layer of acrylic, I would create a sense of the rough surface of a bronze statue which has been corroded by the extreme weather conditions it faces. I then experimented with various media on top of this dark background layer. I found that graphic pencils of a complete range from HB to 8B worked well, but left a silvery sheen. Charcoals, oil pastels, chalk pastels and watercolor crayons all worked well on top of this layer. Metallic Rub-Ons worked really well, but would need to be applied sparingly as they tend to float above the other layers, claiming dominance. Construction paper crayons created a finer, smoother texture than oil pastels. Chalk pastels worked well, but had to be applied as a final layer. They do not allow other media to be worked on top when they are applied to acrylic paint. What did not work were watercolor pencils.

Sketchbook experimentation

The angle of this statue is extremely difficult to get right as the foreshortening and wide-angle lens created a very warped perspective. So I completed three studies in order to get the perspective and Jambul’s expression right.

Layering experiments

Sketchbook practice

Refining features

I chose to crop the image to a square format to provide a slightly different format from my usual A3 and A4 drawings. I covered the majority of the 42 x 42 cm drawing paper with a Cadium Yellow and Black acrylic mix. I experimented and applied this paint with a palette knife. The effect was quite pleasing as it spread the paint more evenly than I could have done with a paintbrush. I let the black thin out towards the top of the paper to try to ensure that this area would be lighter when worked.

I then sketched in the proportions of Jambul using pencil and started working the background with blue crayon and white construction paper crayon, and watercolor crayons. Once I had covered the entire background, I applied a thin layer of white acrylic. I ensured that the white was a bit thicker towards the top of the paper.

What was interesting was that as I worked the figure I had to keep adjusting the silhouette of Jambul, resulting in my needing to alter the painted background. This had the effect of adding a slightly different tonal quality to these areas of the background. I know that I could have worked the background enough to minimize this difference, but I actually found that this variance in the statues outline seemed to enhance the drawing, so I left the evidence of my reworking of the boundaries as a feature.

I started with the Kazakh hat and Jambul’s face as I wanted this to be detailed enough to feature as the focus. What I enjoyed about my choice of media was that I could rework the surface repeatedly, until I was satisfied with Jambul’s expression, without it becoming muddy and spoilt. I then sought to treat the rest of the body a little looser with less detail. I used a peach colored construction paper crayon for most of the shading, with occasional touches of grey and yellow. I discovered that by dipping my finger in white acrylic, I could smear the white highlights onto the paper in such a way that they lost definition and petered out. I think that these highlights help to provide contrast to the otherwise tonally dark sculpture. As I quoted previously, I was trying to find a way to "express this energy (light) and make it visible." (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014)

Once I had completed the foreground, I decided to add touches of Rub-On Metallic. The picture was looking rather dead and needed something to give it a bit more energy. I think the touches of sheeny metallic help to give it a bit more vibrancy.

Final drawing.

On completion, my husband - after looking long and hard at my drawing - decided that it has a dreamy quality to it. He said that it appears to be swirling slightly. I think that this might be because of the reworked background areas to the right of the statue and the smears of white highlights which tend to emphasize a slight clock-wise circular spiral. I know that I have far to go, but I think that this piece was influenced by the dark forms and layers of John Virtue's cityscapes. The surface of the painting is fairly layered and has a rough texture to it, which was the effect that I desired.

What I noticed when posting this blog was the my head of Jambul is actually a little too large for the steep foreshortened angle of the photograph. I was not aware of this until now.

Works Cited

Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014. In: Drawing Projects - an exploration of the language of drawing. London: Black Dog Publishing, pp. 166 - 169.

Part 3 Project 5 Exercise 3 Limited Palette Study

Due to the fact that my husband had left his camera at school, and I do not feel safe or comfortable drawing on the street, I decided to work with what was available to me, the view from my lounge window. I am particularly fond of this view from my lounge window. I decided to use the sketch I did during my aerial perspective study to develop a limited palette interpretation of it. This scene is very typical of this region of Cotonou, with its haphazard mix of buildings and vibrant palm trees of all sorts and shades.

Initial sketchbook study.

I started with a watercolor study in my sketchbook, which I think caught the essence of the scene using only greys and greens.  I enjoyed practicing using layers in my foliage sections.

Due to the fact that the scene from my lounge window is a predominantly grey scene, on my second attempt at capturing this scene, I decided to use a warm-grey toned paper as my base color, instead of pristine white. I tried to use this tone as one of my lighter mid-range tones, instead of the white as highlights.

For this study I used a mixture of watercolor pencils, water color crayons, inks, and acrylic white. I often found myself sitting with a fist full of varying crayons and pencils in my hand which I used intermittently.

This study did gradually evolve. I started with a light sketch of the various buildings drawing in the main verticals and horizontals, as well as all of the diagonals. The buildings in the background were the hardest as their angles were so subtle due to the distance between them and my viewpoint. I started working with this background zone first, trying to be as light in my touch as possible. It tried to only imply detail where ever possible, without totally losing all definition. As this is a hot climate, things in the distance do still have quite a bit of definition.

I developed an approach of laying down broad strokes of watercolor washes and then working details in on top using watercolor pencils and crayons. For the sky, I created grey washes to imply the hazy bleak sky that greets us daily.

My next area of focus was the middle ground, with its buildings, and their surrounding vegetation. I found a satisfying technique of laying down the darker tones within the vegetation, and then working in a textural manner on top, with water color pencils and crayons. I debated whether to have the roof in the middle ground red, or not. In my preliminary sketch, I stuck completely to green tones, but I felt that the warmth of the drawing was lacking. So, in this sketch, I decided to include the warm rusty, red tones of the middle ground roof to add some vibrancy and warmth to the otherwise fairly muted green tones.

My extreme foreground area includes the top slice of the roof directly infront of our apartment, and the side of the nextdoor office block. Together they form a partial frame to the right hand side and bottom of the picture plane. I think this works as it tends to focus your eye towards the busier left handside of the picture, where the two taller palm trees form the left-hand portion of the picture.

The last area I worked on was these two palm trees. As they are my focal point, I tried to give them more detail and lots of textural and tonal variance. I do enjoy the chalkboard effect of drawing a lighter color on top of a darker ground color. It provides quite a contrast between the shadows and the highlights.

I do feel that I was able to create a sense of depth, although not quite as convincingly as my achromatic ink study of the Spanish village. I find using just black and whites to portray aerial perspective far easier to control. However, color is more descriptive of the actual scene from my window and lends a tropical warmth which can only be implied in an achromatic color scheme.

In this second study, I used a splash of muted red in the roof in the middles ground to add some interest.

On completion of this drawing I decided to see what it would have looked like with the far right-hand side building reduced somewhat. In Photoshop, I cropped the side a bit and I think it helps to tighten the image, focusing your attention on the middle ground and less on the boring building to the right - which is a very boring building. I also noticed that I had inadvertently left out some windows in the grey building just behind the foreground right building.

Photoshop cropped version

Although I prefer the rich colors of my second painting and the intricacy of the details in the foliage, I think I enjoy the spontaneity of the sketchbook approach more. They are very different studies. I am undecided as to whether my building which is missing some windows needs them or not. I think it would draw more focus with the windows, whereas at the moment the palm trees are getting the attention.