I decided to produce an interior scene, something new for me but something I found enjoyable in the projects section of the course.
I chose a view of my living room looking diagonally from the right-hand side of my open-plan dining room. The room has a half-gallery above, very tall windows and glass double-doors leading into the garden, giving lots of natural light.
To take advantage of the light I worked on the assignment in the mornings, which involved several sessions, though the strength and position of the light and shadow varied with the time and the weather, adding to the challenge. My main challenge was however the perspective of the galleried ceiling, and I kept referring to the Drawing Complete Guide by G Civardi to try to understand the perspective. The room has many interesting lines and features, which I sketched initially in portrait format.
When doing the At Home projects I became aware of the sense of absence felt from an empty chair or an empty room, which I found quite sad. And when researching contemporary artists who work with interior scenes I saw a painting I liked very much called ‘Dora, Venice Interior’ by Ken Howard OBE RA. On further research of his work I noted that he always placed a person in the background, which I feel personalised his work (see research points). I therefore included an image of my husband sitting in the living room reading his Ipad,
I experimented with the format and decided on square 40cm x 40cm with medium texture cartridge paper as my support. I used pencils and stick pastels as my medium so I could build up the colours more easily, which I think worked well, though really I think the best medium for this subject would be oils, which is not of course allowed on the course.
Thing that went well
I think the composition is interesting, giving the sense of a TV or movie scene, a sense of a calm and relaxing morning with a person reading, though in this case on an Ipad rather than a book or newspaper. I like the chair and the figure especially, and think they look accurate, and that the angle of the ceiling and position of the big central light add interest. My intention was however to make the figure in the background my focal point and I think I achieved that.
Things that went badly
I think the angles of the small side window are wrong and I need more practise with this. And some of the plants are not very believable; I couldn’t quite get the leaves dark enough to convey depth, and didn’t want to use black pastel because I was concerned that black would spoil the drawing.
Reflection and Self Assessment
Demonstration of technical and visual skills – materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills
It’s difficult to assess my own work, as rightly or wrongly I always feel that I could have done better with more time. Perhaps the best way to assess my work is to compare my work with previous work, and on that basis I believe the work I did for part two shows that my technical skills are progressing, showing better use of colour, line and tone.
In the past, when trying to work on a very detailed subject, especially using colour, I very often ended up with an image which lacked sharpness, but I think I’ve now learned to make better use of lines to improve this.
In terms of observation, I think my recent work shows that I am improving rapidly, and though a subject with lots of detail is still a challenge, I am able to see and depict most detail, whereas previously I tended to become confused and overwhelmed with a detailed subject.
I feel that my technical skills are also improving, especially in observation and visual awareness working from life, which I didn’t do much before starting the course. And I’m also improving my compositional skill and becoming more aware of what make a work more interesting, using a viewfinder regularly, which I find very useful.
• Quality of outcome – content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas
I believe my work in Part Two and in my assignments shows a good standard and that my learning log is coherent and the content of my work is accurate. I’m not sure what conceptualisation of thoughts means so I cannot comment, and in terms of communicating ideas, I am not very articulate in English (my first language is Spanish) so you my find my reflection rather short (though my husband helps with grammar and punctuation). I think my best work in Part two is in Still Life in tone using colour.
• Demonstration of creativity – imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice
I think my work shows some creativity. I experimented with format, unusual shapes and subjects, and I think my work at the moment shows a mixture of traditional and unusual styles, though I don’t think I have developed my personal voice yet.
• Context reflection – research, critical thinking (learning logs and, at second and third level, critical reviews and essays)
I am trying to be as thorough as possible in my learning log, however I get so involved in the process that I have sometimes forgotten to take pictures of the developing work. During this part of the course I went to the Encounter – from Leonardo to Rembrandt Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and to the National Gallery. I used to look around galleries quite quickly, spending no more than a few minutes looking at paintings I liked. Now however, I make an effort to stay longer at paintings, trying to identify what I like about them, how they make me feel, and what techniques the artists have used to achieved their results.
