Working from drawings and photographs

The snow during this winter and Assignment 4 period created both an opportunity to find some dramatic views and restricted on site painting. The example I have chosen to use here would have been difficult to produce in situ due to the cold and snow storms at the time. A popular walk from Flamstead towards the next village of Markyate goes across some open fields climbing up an incline at the boundary of two fields passed a lone oak tree.

As I walked across this field one morning the sky darkened ahead of a snow fall creating a wonderful contrast between the darkening sky and snow covered fields. The snow was broken by foot marks, paw prints, crops and vegetation. I was able to make some quick sketches on site supplemented by some digital photographs.

 

I chose one of the photos I had taken in landscape orientation. From this I prepared a colour study initially using ultramarine, yellow ochre and titanium white but felt the blue was too warm/red. I, therefore, decided to change the ultramarine for phthalo blue (phthalocyanine) when I worked on the actual painting.

To aid enlarging and transferring the photo image to an acrylic paper support, I squared up a print of the selected photo which I had fixed into my sketchbook.

The chosen composition approximately complied with the rule of thirds. The horizon was set at about one third of the way down from the top of the support. Blocking out the sky and snow covered fields quickly established the visual contrast I had experienced as the snow storm approached.

Keeping to a very limited palette of colours and using the scaling grid I added the tree and scrub line directly to the support with brush strokes. I added a light blue/white wash to the fields to indicate areas of shadow. I then built up detail adding crop rows and tonal detail to the scrub line. I created an impression of the snow covered branches and added dark marks where foot prints etc had been formed in the snow. Both the crop lines and foot marks helped to define perspective and lead the viewer's eye into the picture.

In producing my impression of the photographic image, I modified the colours and strengthened the contrast between sky and the fields to recreate the feeling of drama I had experienced in situ. My painting shows less detail and emphasis on the marks in the snow in the foreground than the photo but has a greater emotional impact.

Painting outside

I started this exercise in the autumn, ahead of the earlier exercise on expressive landscape, during a break in the wet weather and before the snow. In preparation I spent a few days sketching views as I walked the footpaths that cross the fields around my home village of Flamstead.

I finally settled on a location adjacent to Friendless Wood where a bench had been placed for locals and passing walkers to stop and enjoy the views. From this bench I prepared a pencil study in my A4 sketchbook and a watercolour study. The view I had chosen had diagonal lines created by the fields' boundaries and hedge rows together with receding power lines in the distance. These features should help to lead the viewer's eye into the composition of my picture.

The composition I created was loosely based on the "rule of thirds" and comprised elements of aerial perspective looking down into the valley in the middle distance. I liked the different textures created by the way the fields had been ploughed and the crops or grass were growing contrasting with the hedge rows/tree lines and man made structures (power lines). I wanted to express these variations to help enhance the feeling of space and distance.

Unfortunately, prior to returning to commence my acrylic painting in situ the weather changed again bringing more rain for several days. In order to progress this exercise I retreated to my studio with the studies I had prepared on site and attempted to reproduce the view starting with a colour study in my sketchbook.

At the time of my initial sketches the sky been fairly clear leading to frosty mornings. The hue was pale receding to a cool lemon/white near the horizon. The distant trees and power lines appeared a blue grey with the distant fields loosing their colour intensity. The sun was positioned above the top right of my view placing the hedge row in the middle distance in shadow and highlighting the brow of the field at the edge of the foreground as it fell away out of view.

I worked with a palette limited to ultramarine, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium red (dark hue) and titanium white. My first layer of colour enabled me to block in the whole view but with limited tonal variation. To strengthen the illusion of perspective I proceeded to lighten the background and parts of the middle distance and darken the foreground. I also defined the hedge rows and tree lines in a deep blue grey and started to differentiate tones on the small wood to the right of the view where the sunlight was catching the tops of the trees.

I took breaks between applications of paint to allow for drying and colour settling as the acrylics darken as they dry. I gradually adjusted the hues to increase the contrast between the lighter tree lines and fields in the distance from those in the middle distance. Working across the picture I also increased the level of detail in the foreground creating greater definition of the rough grass and ploughed field. At this point I added the power lines and telegraph pole.

As my first attempt at a rural landscape using acrylic paint, I was satisfied that I had managed to achieve some feeling of distance by varying the lightness and intensity of hue from foreground to background. I was disappointed not to have managed to complete the painting in situ but am motivated to try again when the weather improves. The result is less spontaneous and free than my watercolour study. Also my choice of colours was too limiting for this subject and could have been improved by adding a warm cadmium yellow and possibly another blue to increase the variety of mixed greens particularly in the foreground and to enhance the earthy hues actually visible in the fields.

I believe I could have improved the composition by adding more detail to the rough grass/wild flower area in the foreground and being more controlled with my rendering of the telegraph pole in the middle distance. Had I worked in situ the southerly aspect of the view may have caused problems as the sun moved across the sky changing both shadow/tones and the intensity of hues. The location was otherwise quite good being sheltered by the wood behind the view and because there was a bench available to sit on and lay out my materials. It is situated less than half a mile from my home in easy walking distance for carrying materials and supports up to about A2 in size.

Project Perspective - The Three Blackbirds

Using my village as inspiration for the linear perspective exercise, I prepared some sketches of a local pub, The Three Blackbirds, and took some reference photos so that I could continue working in my studio as the weather was not conducive to painting outside.

From my architectural training early in my career and subsequent years of sketching, I am comfortable drawing linear perspectives of buildings. Previously I have produced painted works in watercolour or pen and ink with colour washes. For this exercise I was keen to stay with acrylics to develop my skills with that medium. I, therefore, added an acrylic colour study in my sketchbook prior to setting out the composition on paper. Following feedback from my tutor, I continued to experiment with a limited palette of colours mixing as necessary.

Working in my studio, I sketched out the composition scaling up the drawing from my sketches and photo references. I chose to use the natural white base of the acrylic paper support onto which I blocked in areas of colour using light washes.

Once I was satisfied with the proportions and overall composition, I built up the image working across the whole painting. I took regular breaks as I added colour allowing the acrylics to dry and reach their natural hue and give me opportunity to step back and check the overall impact of the part I had been working on.

Reflecting on previous feedback from my tutor regarding the visual impact of backgrounds and foregrounds to the overall picture, I concentrated particularly on the visual quality of hues in the sky and road surfaces.

As the work progressed I increased contrast between light and dark areas to enhance the feel of depth and perspective. I also used the diminishing scale of some figures walking away into the distance to emphasise the the illusion of perspective.

I was reasonably satisfied technically with the outcome although I felt I had over worked the pub's left. However, the composition was fairly typical of the views I have illustrated in the past and did not stretch me conceptually as much I would like. If I paint this or a similar subject again I intend to experiement more with distorted/bent perspective, play with a nieve aproach and create an abtract or dream like illusion. 

Having painted St.Paul's Cathedral, in the last exercise, in aerial perspective I chose not to practise this approach again here.

From inside looking out

Exercise:  View from a doorway

After some experimentation and reflection with views from different windows in my home, I settled on looking out from my utility room. I thought this location would be easier to work from in terms of making a mess and it produced some interesting shapes and perspective challenges.



From initial studies in my sketchbook, I discovered that the light changed dramatically as the sun moved into view and surface colour modifications became significant following rain (a common occurrence during this exercise!). Working on acrylic paper support, I sketched out the view in situ then added washes to block out main areas of colour. I found that despite initial assumptions that I could paint directly from the view, I was too cramped so completed the study in my studio. Due to the strong sunlight and reflective effect of wet surfaces following showers, I discovered that I needed to add high percentages of white to the pigments used to illustrate outside surfaces. Similarly the framing created by the back door frame was cast in shadow and needed to be sufficiently dark to create sufficient contrast. I continued this exercise until I felt I had understood the impact of sun and rain on colour representation then stopped before producing a final picture.

Exercise: Hard landscape

A view I have often sketched is from the members room at Tate Modern looking across to St. Paul's Cathedral. This view has many challenges from a partially looking down aspect, to a complex bridge and reflective effects from the Thames.

I prepared some new sketches in situ whilst at Tate Modern for this exercise. Working from these sketches and photographs, I started by using a composition comprising a full view from Tate Modern.

The view was almost an elevational image of the north bank of the Thames with the Millennium Bridge bring the viewer's eye into the picture. This study gave me the opportunity to try out colour mixing using a palette limited to titanium white, ultramarine, yellow ochre, lemon yellow and cadmium red. Brush control to create vertical lines and fussing over small details were my biggest challenges.

Having played with this composition, I decided to experiment with a study of a part of the overall view. Going back to my sketchbook, I tried out a composition that focused in on the drum of St Paul's. I used pages in my sketchbook that already contained colour I had spread from the ends of paint on a previous palette.

I was happier with this composition so enlarged it onto an acrylic paper support. I started by trying to reproduce the effect of randomly spread colour as a base layer. This was not as spontaneous as in my sketchbook and looked a bit manufactured. As I built up my composition over the prepared support, I started to loose the earlier marks due to the application of thicker paint layers than the glazes used in my sketchbook study.

I worked with a limited palette of ultramarine, yellow ochre, cadmium red (dark hue) and titanium white. In order to bring the composition back to my earlier concept, I added yellow ochre and cadmium red to the sky. I found that I needed to add a relatively high percentage of white to the yellow ochre to achieve the whiteness of the stone which was reflecting sunlight. I also had to darken the sky adjacent to the cathedral drum in order to create sufficient contrast and a feeling of depth.

I am happier with both the composition and colour choices in this painting than in the two earlier examples. Despite being almost elevational in view and simplified in detail, I feel I have captured the atmoshere and scale of St. Paul's Cathedral compared to the buildings in the foreground whist expressing the feeling of warmth and depth I observed in the prevailing sunlight.

Assignment 3 - Rebirth

My enrolment in the OCA Painting 1 model followed the early stages of treatment of my wife's breast cancer. This period produced some very powerful images as my wife overcame the affects of chemotherapy and associated treatment. I felt that this assignment provided me with the ideal opportunity to express one of those key stages, my wife's rebirth from loosing her hair to gaining a new lease of life through wigs in styles she had never been able to achieve with her natural hair then onto the growth of new hair!

Time has moved on so I have used photo reference material of the main period, prior to the new hair, supplemented by life comparison for skin colour and expressions. I also drew on the many studies of my wife I had made during the projects and associated exercises leading up to this assignment 3 final piece.

Prior to commencing the assignment I had visited an exhibition of Jenny Saunder's work in Oxford. I was impressed by the scale and mark making. In particular, I was inspired by her drawings with several images overlaying each other. I had already experimented with this approach in sketches for my figure in an interior exercise and thought this would help me express the changing image of my wife as she grew from no hair to a new exciting identity.

The approach I wanted to take was also influenced by surrealist work particularly that of Magritte as all three portraits were to be blended into one image.

After playing around with the sequence of images I was interested in, I decided to select the three most positive phases i.e no hair, new wig and new hair. However, although my wife is trying to get her hair straightened, I felt her natural wavy hair created a more interesting contrast for my painting so modified the image in my work as I progressed.

Using tracing paper and a home made light table I extracted the key features of the three phases from selected photos working initially in pencil. I then went over the pencil marks with a drawing pen selecting parts I wanted to emphasise. In order to transfer this study onto my painting support I needed to increase the size of the image. This I did by using a grid in the form of graph paper under the tracing paper study. I darkened some of the graph paper lines to aid the scaling up process. I ruled an equivalent large grid on my support which guided my new marks. This worked fairly well leaving only a few adjustments to the painted portraits when I reached the later stages of the painting.

Working over the enlarged image, I blocked out the background then added tones to the over-lapping portraits. My wife's eyes are blue and it is also one of her favourite colours. This association and the fact that it is a cooler hue than the skin tones led to my choosing a blue background. Black and white prints of my reference photos provided some guidance to light and tone. Care needed to be taken, however, as the direction of the light source in the photos varied and tonal variations had to be adjusted as I wanted to create the illusion of a common light source in the painting. From earlier exercises I had discovered that greens and cool blues laid down as tonal guides provided a good basis on which to build skin tones. After I had applied skin coloured hues to the combined portraits I noted the need for adjustments to the chins, mouths and necks. The central face and left hand semi-profile shared an eye position which initially I thought should be part of the central face. On reflection I felt that to link this eye's view to align with the left hand portrait was more dramatic.

Adding hues for wig and hair followed leading to further reflection on the lack of contrast between wig and new hair. Despite my wife liking the images as they stood, I was still keen to increase the contrast between the three faces. First I depended the tones of the left face using cool greens and blues ending up with hues reminiscent of Gauguin's work. Then I sculptured hair that aligned to my wife's natural hair characteristics. The effect produced appears to make the new hair come towards the viewer.

I believe I managed to capture my wife's essence in this work particularly in the eyes and pose of the larger image on the right.

Reflecting on the whole section on portrait and figure, I recognise that this has taken me out of my comfort zone. It has encouraged me to work to a larger scale and stretched my knowledge skill and experience of life studies developing sketches and studies into complete works. I have been pleased with my experiments with other acrylic mediums (e.g. acrylic gloss medium and acrylic paste), with adding tissue paper to create greater texture depth and using painting knives to place thicker layers of paint. I have found ways to introduce a feeling of movement into my figure work beyond more traditional static portrait poses; an area I want to explore further. I have realised that movement is not just about posture changes as illustrated in my painting of Mo Farah in the Olympics (almost like time motion photography) but can also be represented by changes in place and/or time as illustrated in this final assignment 3 piece. This concept opens new doors to me and offers food for thought.

Telling a story

Recognising the time it is taking me to progress each exercise whilst allowing for drying time and reflection , I have experimented with progressing several pieces together. This exercise and the final assignment 3 work were therefore commenced at the same time as working on the "figure in an interior" exercise.

With the 2012 Olympics in the UK this year, I was inspired by the many images of the athletes across all forms of media. The individual stories of these people who had committed themselves to years of training became exposed as they competed in their chosen events. Although my daughter was not participating in the Olympics she is a judo coach and received funding from LOCOG for coaching certification as part of the legacy arrangements so she could continue to help local people develop their own skills. With this family connection, I felt for the participating athletes as their emotional highs and lows were laid bare for all to see.

For this exercise I gathered images seeking out strong emotional stories as well as interesting images. I quickly focused onto the stories of Mo Farah and the graphic images in the press as he reached the final metres of his battle for gold.

I am interested in capturing movement in its many forms and decided to experiment with telling the story of the final stages of Mo Farah's race. Mo was very expressive with changing gestures as he took gold whilst his opponents challenged for silver and bronze positions.

I created a composition by building images inspired by press photos taken in the Olympic stadium with 80,000 spectators. I wanted to show Mo's changing emotions which I decided to illustrate by including 3 phases of Mo within my group of figures. After roughly sketching out a composition I moved straight onto a prepared acrylic paper support marking out the respective positions of the group of runners with a burnt umber hue which I watered down as the individual figures disappeared into the distance. As the paint dried I was quite pleased with the monochrome image and was tempted to stop there.

I quickly discovered that working on a group of figures in motion was fun and I was more motivated to complete this exercise than the "figure in an interior". However, due to the smaller scale of this work overall and particularly the individual elements, I was drawn to using finer brushes and more compressed mark making. When stepping back for reflection and checking the overall composition these small marks became lost in the automatic blending of marks and hues within my eyes. I also decided that the group of 5 figures I had started with didn't create the atmosphere of the race I wanted.

I, therefore, modified the composition by indicating more figures in the background of the group. To achieve a feeling of space, depth and the capacity of the stadium, I kept the background to cooler colours and very limited detail.

I was very pleased with the outcome of this exercise. This was reinforced when my son on seeing the picture wanted to point out where he had sat in the stadium demonstrating I had achieved a feeling of being there. What I would try and do differently next time is avoid putting detail onto faces when working at this scale and focus more on the relative proportions of the figures; I appear to have created a taller version of Mo Farah in the distant figure for example. Also the coloured version of my composition does not have as much depth in the group of figures as I created in the initial monochrome draft.

A figure in an interior

Is the figure or the internal space the starting point? Does the figure determine the activity of the space or does the space require compliance from the figure? What are the dominant features of the image? When previously I have produced architectural perspectives for conceptual ideas, I have placed figues to enhance the architectural design by indicating scale and to help to tell the story of the place. In this exercise I have total freedom to determine the story...HELP!

After trying out some test sketches of different options, I decided to challenge myself with a scene including reflected images. I have wanted to capture my wife engulfed in her creative activity of stitching so have used that as the theme for this exercise. The room becomes a stage set for the activity the figure is engaged in.

Whilst observing the stitching process I recognised the additional potential movement of the figure creates. I explored capturing this through over-laying three different poses and was quite pleased with the outcome. A key feature of the scene was the sowing machine, a man-made object which would add contrast between the figure and room - should this be more dominant than the figure?

Achieving a satisfying composition whilst caputring the reflected image ment I needed to work in landscape for this exercise. Once satisfyed with the concept, I sketched out the composition and took some reference photos as the complexity of the scene and its location (my wife's work room) would prevent me from painting in situ. The reference photos distored the scene bending the verticals due to the nature of the camera lense. As I did not want to replicate the photo image, I corrected the distortions based on my sketches.


Wanting to work at a scale larger than A3, I chose to work on a mount board support (700mm X 500mm) which I primed with yellow orchre mixed with white household emulsion paint. I started by drawing in the key features with a light wash then began to block in the main hues. I found working on a larger support created new challenges, forcing me to stand back more often to see the impact of my marks on the whole and work with longer brush stroaks. Paint drying issues and mix quantities added to the learning process which resulted in my use of wetter mixes to begin with that were more transparent allowing underlying marks to show through.

As I had started by drawing out the composition with brush marks, I found I needed to adjust the porportions of both figures and correct perspective lines that did not flow through properly into the refelcted image. I slowly began to build up layers working from the reflected image and backgound feeling my way into the foreground. When previously attempting a composition of this nature I would have used mechanical drawing equipment, worked in pen and added colour washes. Working directly with brush and acrylic paint was creating a completly different outcome. I was particulalrly aware that the larger and longer brushes I chose to work with added to the frustration of fuzzier and fatter marks than my prior pen work. It felt like learning to walk again. New effects and limitations throuh up new opportunities and closed down others.

Having chosen a faily complex composition and at a larger scale, I realised I was spending longer on this exercise than I had planned. I had already started to work on the next exercise and the final piece for assignment 3 at the same time to make better use of my time overall. Despite improved time management, I have now put this piece of work to one side for the time beeing so I can move on with the module as a whole. This has been a very good learning experience and I intend to come back to this exercise as time allows to close out unresolved areas of the painting.