I have now done a selection of still life sketches of the same group of objects from different angles.
Going back through them, I found I added more shading to most of them, in order to give a better 3D image. In the first drawing I had completely missed out the edge of the table, so all the objects and their shadows were floating in space. Though adding the table top did improve it, it still left that one maraca lifting upwards.
The second drawing I again added to the depth of shade. I did not add more shades of grey, I just darkened them down one by one. This one does really need paper added to the top, to put the rest of the head of the manikin in, however the drawing is in a spiral bound book, so this is a little impractical, and I do not feel it it is worth tearing it out for such a small addition.
The third and fourth drawings were particularly pale. These were done on a different day to the first two, and I remember it was rather a dull day. My natural light comes through a big 10’ patio door, a dull day always leaves me with a very flat lounge in terms of colour. Therefore I think these 2 drawings reflected the lack of bright light. I darkened some of the third drawing, but not the fourth. The fourth I did as a vertical rather than a horizontal piece, and I think the softer shading works.
The fifth drawing was done from behind, and I stopped after doing the bongoes and manikin. I felt that the amount of the maracas which was visible did not add anything, and overall, this particular drawing just did not work.
The sixth drawing I did from above. Up until now the objects had been quite a reasonable size on the paper, and sometimes too big. They had all been drawn from similar angles, either just slightly above, below or on a level with them. This was the only one I stood up to draw, and for some reason the objects are all very small, and almost lost on the page. They are so small that much of the table top is visible and two of the legs of the table ... which I have not got quite right.
I went on to experiment with masking off. I found most the sketches benefited from reducing in size, and even the most disappointing of them had possibilities if some of the objects were cut away. The upright one was the only one I felt did not really benefit from masking off, although I did find reducing the edges a little gave a slightly different look, but was not of any great benefit. I did not feel that adding to any of them would bring any improvement. This is the first time I have tried masking off sketches, and it has been interesting to see how something useable and workable can exist within a drawing which as a whole fails. In some cases I felt the improvement was simply that the drawing became less busy by masking off areas, and this alone made a much more pleasing image.
My final choice for painting was the only one that started as a vertical format. I drew this from below which resulted in a dynamic perspective, and made for a less busy composition. It was whilst doing this drawing that I realised where I been going wrong previous with the maracas - I had failed to observe that the handle of the maracas joins the oval section in the centre of the ball, and so my earlier ‘lifting’ maracas were caused by that meeting position being incorrect.
My first attempt at the painting resulted in something that just felt and looked wholly wrong. I allowed myself to be side tracked by the fact that the yellow ochre is a very similar colour to the light wood of the table. This result was an insipid painting which failed on every level. So I went for a second attempt, thinking in terms of shapes only. I felt the way it worked best was to consider the bongoes to be part of the negative shapes, in order to have more negative shapes to play with. The resulting painting is far better than the first attempt. Normally I would automatically put far more detail in, however I feel this picture actually works as a painting, without detail. My husband suggested that as it stands it would make a good poster for live music in a club.
For me this has been an exercise of all positives:
A disappointing drawing may have something to offer if masked off.
Though these drawings did not benefit from adding anything to, I can think of drawings I have done in the past that would benefit from this. So nothing is wasted.
Be open minded about whether something should be drawn as a vertical or horizontal, as well as the viewing angle. There can be no doubt that when I arranged these objects, they were in a horizontal format, to be viewed from the front. However the best drawing is a vertical format, and viewed from the side.
During drawing the objects, I did not think in terms of the number of tones I used, but just got on with representing the objects and trying to avoid adding too much detail. Looking back through, I have ended up with around four or five tones to each drawing.
I can draw directly in paint on to paper, and do not need to sketch with a pencil first.
And finally, that I can draw without putting in all the detail. Something I want to achieve is drawing and paint without including every last detail. I enjoy photography, and do take the view that if I want every last detail I can take a photograph. What I want to produce as an artist is an impression not a copy. Seeing the painting which resulted from leaving out the detail, has shown me that I can leave out detail and be happy with the result.
I have for a long time known what I want to produce in art, but had no idea how to get there. How to free myself of habits which I knew were holding me back. I feel like I have now taken my first steps in the right direction, and found there are ways of breaking habits which may not be bad, but are not always helpful.
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