Jerrye working on a monument with a landscape setting.
Shawn working on a landscape with with lake. 
Connie also working on a landscape with lake and fountainIt was good seeing everyone fired up about our excursion into Cave Hill for the first of a three days drawing session. I managed to catch up with a few just as they were wrapping up and the above images show their works in progress. See you in the morning: same time, same place.
Okay I know we were supposed to do land scape but what if leaves are really hard to draw for a background and the picture can stand aone without it. Is it needed?
ReplyDeleteIm not going to lie, as beautiful as Cave Hill is I was a bit overwhelmed. I am also used to drawing tight detailed drawings and we were supposed to make them loose I felt like it looked incomplete, like my tree was a big blob of green. Is that what this type of media is supposed to look like? Loose and not sharp edges? I also started by drawing a statue...bad idea, It looked awful and I wasted an hour. I really wish I had time this past weekend to follow your advice and drive around before this morning so I knew what I was getting myself into. I am looking forward to starting tomorrow fresh.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong at all with big blobs of green. Just add lots of other little blobs of green and every color in your tray. If you are using oil pastels want a little bit of detail try laying down a dark color and rub it into the paper nicely. Then cover it with the lighter colors and you can actually scratch away the top layer with your fingernail to get nice lines and edges. Don't worry about leaves. Draw the whole tree by grouping leaves into big bunches like clouds. Here is a good link that might help. Just imagine they were all done with pastels. http://www.morozov-shchukin.com/html/la_collection_anglais.html
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I watched the video of how to and it helped. I feel like I did okay with this assignment and I will finish the details tomorrow. I am looking forward to it. I liked being at Cave Hill and found it very peaceful and full of wonderful things to draw. I hope the weather holds out for us the rest of the week.
ReplyDeleteTiffany, don't draw the leaves, draw the texture the leaves create. A light an dark pattern with a variety of colors. Leaves are hard to draw if you're trying to draw each one, look at the overall textures and try to mimic that cluster of marks, values ,and colors.
ReplyDeleteJessica, You can do tight detailed drawings at Cave Hill if you want, but the fact that landscapes change light so quickly, it's better to go with something more spontaneous. Look a the two videos that were posted and see if they strike a chord in your aesthetic.
Shawn, thanks for the link, it makes all kinds of sense and you don't even have to imagine that they're oil pastels. They're about shape, texture, color, line, and value, all of the art elements that everyone has some background exploring.
I really wanted to go back to the cemetery today (during our regular class time) so that I could capture the same lighting, but it was pouring here so I figured it was doing the same there. I am in hopes that tomorrow morning the rain will hold off until afternoon!!! ;) I'm really excited about this drawing because the process is going so much faster.
ReplyDeletei really enjoyed exploring the cemetery. I spent at least an hour each session driving and walking around. If you look really hard you can find some interesting hidden areas off the roads. I brought my camera the second day and got a lot of good pictures. I have found it beneficial to photograph my subject shortly after i begin my drawing. Since we are arriving early in the am, the directional lighting is at its strongest and most interesting. by the time noon rolls around everything is engulfed in ambient light that does not lend well to sculpting forms. if you can refer back to the picture taken early on, you have the opportunity to recreate the more interesting shadows and highlights.
ReplyDeleteI had trouble focusing my first day at Cave Hill because I wanted to see everything, had trouble picking what to draw, and got lost in the cemetary for a little bit. My second day,however,was much better. I decided to work on different perspectives of the fountain and its background dedicated to the Tingley Bros. For Jessica, if you want tighter detail with pastels you should try Faber-Castells pastel pencils. I just got them and they are great for working tight or loose, but they are expensive so if you short on funds try colored pencils, they are pretty good for detail as well.
ReplyDelete