For this task I picked out eight images from the full course that I considered ‘composed’ or ‘organised’ and then also analyse them and assign other terms from a list provided. I screen grabbed the pictures including the reference underneath them for ease:
I find this drawing very organised since its a simple line up of different types of glasses or sunglasses. It’s somewhat loosely symmetrical given the four rows of five columns of glasses but not strictly so. It has a repetition in the fact that all the subjects are the same object with small differences. I would also say there is a pattern, again in the rows and numbers used.
I think that this image is flat on purpose, composed in a way that the elements go off page and out of view so you feel like you are looking through a viewfinder or just getting a snapshot. Thus it is also cropped since we don’t see the full subject matter. I find the thinner branches quite delicate, and almost appearing like cracks in a tile and even the thicker parts seem delicate in their rigid manner of being painted, compared to expecting plants to be round and smooth. It’s not quite a silhouette but the fact that the background is all off-white and the trees are quite dark in colour gives it somewhat that effect. Thus I also find it quite hard and immediate with lots of contrast and very clear shape.
This image feels unfinished since some elements have only been insinuated or not given any colour. It has a quick feeling to it where the mark making seems rapid and suggested rather than finished and careful. For example the simple line and hatch of some books in the background or the line around some of the fruit in the foreground. The table only has some parts of it coloured. The style also seems soft and light and colours remind me of weak autumn sunshine.
This is very composed and poised piece though I also find it blocky in colour and style. It has a lot more depth compared to the others so far and the colour is dense. I like the textured look to it given the mark making which gives it a softness despite its very hard and clear subject matter. It also therefore feels very laboured and worked up with lots of tone and overlapping colour.
This piece has so much detail in the foreground, mid ground and background (actually a reflection) and is extremed poised with the main subject matter looking out at the viewer from behind a bar and even people and the barmaid reflected in the mirror behind her. It’s a very careful piece therefore with precision from the tiniest marks of light hitting the clementines to the buttons on her dress and the chandeliers. I find this piece also very deep with essentially four layers to it: the immediate foreground (counter and objectis) the foreground as the main subject matter: the barmaid. The background reflecting the foreground in the mirror of the barmaid and man standing at the bar and then the furthest background with the reflection of the room beyond back into the crowd. I find the style of painting very soft and the colours quite intense, as if reflecting that very yellow and hard light you get inside such bars and places.
I find this piece quite flat more because there is a definite lack of tone as well as some elements being cropped, like the woman-s feet, the table in the foreground, the curtains in the top right etc. The only depth I observe comes from the fact that the woman is reflected in the painting, which doesn’t hit you straight away as you really need to study the painting to see it. The overall feeling I get is that this is very chaotic but rhythmic at the same time which allows the entire piece to come together. Although I find the colours a tad garish and the whole thing quite intense to look at.
This piece is very neat and exact, precise. It is clearly more of a diagrammatic approach designed to explain things to the viewer, accompanied with little notes, so gives a feeling of being quiet, contemplative, scientific. Yet while it is neat the mark making has a lot of movement and character to the hatching and tone given which makes you want to explore the different objects around the room. This is applied holistically across the entire piece so I find it quite uniform and a tad boring.
While I love colour, I think this is quite garish but in a charming way. I could see this in a bright BnB in the Med somewhere. It seems a little flat as the mark making doesn’t showcase the shapes of the peppers. I like how the colours of the peppers bleed into the table though I wouldn’t have chosen the blue purple colours to reflect red and yellow peppers as it seems very at odds with the vegetables. If find the style and mark making quite rough and chaotic as it goes off in all directions. The colours are harsh and the piece so immediate that is shocks you ever so slightly. It’s quite ‘loud’!
This is very detailed and composed with a clear main subject matter in the left foreground and taking your eyes off to the distant observers and country side. There is a lot of tone and depths to the two figures in front but the background becomes a bit flat and loses depth as it contains mainly outline and hatching but I think this is perhaps I good way to keep the focus on the main subjects. I find the style also quite quick and insinuating movement which goes well with the idea of artists hectically trying to capture something on their sketchpads while fighting off and surviving the cloud of midges that surround them. The drawing style is quite tight and laboured for the figures and less so when getting into the background.
Now comparing and contracting between groups of the images. I find that all these three are quite rhythmic but for very different reasons. On the top left the rhythm and movement of people I find suggested more by the softness of the mark making and blurriness of the people and how it is packed with so many details and objects so you really feel the business of the bar. Bottom left feels more rhythmic due to the many colours dotted around and since there is not much tone, it feels very patterned and chaotic. Bottom right feels rhythmic to me more because of the quick mark making and hatching effect and the title and subjects evoke a frantic sketching.
I find these three images very tailored, poised and static. The composition feels like the focus in all these images – whether neat glasses or a zoom in onto a tree or the specs of a room in a given time period. They all feel descriptive, careful and laboured.
I find these two images to have the most depth. In the first left the depth is given more from the tone and shadow so you really get the 3d effect. In the right, the depth comes from the layers of foreground and background and the use of the mirror to give that effect.
I find these images the quietest and more contemplative. On the top left there is nothing bold going on, just a careful hatching of a room to give information. On the top right, the unfinished look and soft colours and mark making also evokes a sense of calm and stillness. On the bottom right, I also find this image quite still but more because of the flatness and the idea of a snapshot of something that could also almost be abstract.
Clearly all of these also don’t have any animate objects in them which probably already helps to give a quietness.
These two images I find the boldest and most immediate, an all at once splash of colour that takes you time to stop and focus on any detail to see what is going on. They both are also relatively flat with not much tone either but so much colour and things going on that they are both quite unfocused and chaotic.
Further thoughts
This was quite useful as I have never engaged with drawings in a way to describe them to an extent that it also helps you realise how so many techniques can be used to evoke feelings or give styles. What I found most striking was the comparison between flatness and depth. Of all of these images my favourite is the Schiele tree and being able to understand better why, through a descriptive analyse and comparing to other drawings was really useful. I think that before I do a drawing I start thinking more about what I want it to evoke and how it would be described, this will add to my thinking around what mark making I want to use and the composition and how much tone or not etc.
What is perhaps aligned to how I tend to draw (precise, exact or at least I try!) is that I also think I am drawn to this Schiele drawing also because it is so neat and exact, even if it comes off a bit abstract and has a very specific style to it, I still prefer it over the colourful peppers or the woman in her bed. Which I didn’t expect because I usually am also attracted very much to colour and movement, my favourite types of paintings usually tending to be impressionist!
Note to self to try out flatness versus depth and tone at some point. This is definitely an area I could explore to help me break out of my very classic way of drawing while still allowing for my precise style.
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