Large scale, florals and doodles

Last week we had a 2tutor crit with Alex and Rihanna which was really useful because the main idea that I took from the tutorial was to be more experimental. I brought up the fact that I was feeling lost but I was reassured that at this point in the project experimenting and trying new techniques will make my work stronger in the end, which is what I aimed to do this week.

Large scale experiments: casting shadows of plants and represeting with different tools in 5 minutes

After the shadow drawings that I did last week, I wanted to continue this, as well as bringing in the data part of my project by making them a set of experiments. I therefore made myself do them in 5 minutes and experimented with different tools like a stick (left), a tool made out of scrap cardboard (middle) and a brush on a stick, a meter away from my body (right). I was really happy with the way they turned out as it loosened me up, and created effects that were out of my control such as the dripping paint.

I was also keen to try out different styles this week, and also creating an all over pattern. I therefore created an all over floral with gouache, and scanned it in to play around on photoshop to create the two versions below. I enjoyed creating more stylised work as I haven't done it before, however, on reflection, I dont believe that this does justice to my concept so I probably wont take it further, unless it's mixed with other more relevant elements.

 I also created more 'experiments' this week including creating 3 'doodle' style drawings in increasing time to link back the idea of creating my own data. I then produced the image below, mixing them together. Although I like the line qualities in this piece, I think that the large mix of elements might be too much. I feel I could solve this by either mixing it with painterly qualities or not using so many different elements. However, I feel that if I added colour I might like it more.

Combinations of 'doodle' experiments

Organising data and using shadows

In this weeks tutorial I realised that most of my drawings consist of various lines so I wanted to experiment with different styles of drawing. I tried to push myself by producing a loose watercolour painting of flowers rather than accurate ones, and produced the painting below.

Watercolour flower painting

As well as doing this I played around with the image by collaging it with a line drawing (below left). I also cut up a scan of the painting into shapes and tried to re-organise them based on their colour (linking to taxonomy, and data collection), and the way that the colour merged (below right). Although I wasn't that pleased with the results, I learnt that I like contrasting line and watercolour, as well as using the paper as a way of documenting data, even if its just sorting an image into colours.

Manipulating scans of my drawings and arranging into data 

I also wanted to try and do some looser drawings to add variety to my work so I drew from plant shadows, drawing quickly because the plants were moving in the wind which helped me to achieve a loose drawing. I felt that these drawings were slightly out of my control as I just drew as quickly as I could before the sun went in, rather than consciously choosing which bits of the plant to draw which I thought added a really nice quality to my drawings. I definitely intend to develop on the idea of working with shadows next week, possibly on a larger scale.

Quick shadow drawings of plants outdoors

I also went out to take photos of various natural environments that I liked the colour, texture or composition of. I then studied a few of my favourite photos closely and represented them as data. I started doing this using Pie charts, but also dividing up rectangles in a similar way. I think the rectangle experiment worked better because I don't feel that using traditional data representation such as pie charts will suit my context.

Representing my photos as data

I think this could give me some good ideas for composition and I think that taking more photos like these could help the rest of my work as well.

Anatomy and Time

This week I started off by looking at a book called 'The Anatomy of Flowers' by Arthur Harry Church. It is filled with intricate drawings of cross sections of flowers (such as the drawing below), some of which looked like expressive shapes rather than flowers.

Scan of drawing from 'The Anatomy of Flowers'

I began by painting accurately the drawings from the book, and also drawing the parts of the plant that interested me most. However the most successful part of this exercise was when I scanned in one of my drawings and cut it into the main shapes of the flower, rearranging it into another shape. This collage idea worked well for me as it created an imaginary shape that I wouldn't have drawn if I tried to draw normally: I will bare it in mind for other drawings that I complete. 

My Collage made up of my original drawing based on the anatomy of flowers.

This week I also collected seed heads from Hogweed and drew them at different stages in time, from being alive and flowering, to having seed pods, and being dead. Whilst drawing all of them in different styles, one drawing inspired me to create these drawings below. I illustrated how many flowers/buds/stems, each seed head had with a key, which I thought linked back to representing data very well. 

Data drawings from Hogweed seed heads

I also came across an artist called Marisa Redondo this week who creates lovely drawings for a similar context to what I want to make designs for. She has a brand called River Luna, and her work can be found at http://www.riverlunaart.com. 

River Luna Artwork -- https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RiverLuna

I love the way that she uses painterly effects and line, and creates tone (even through thin lines). I wanted to explore the way that she creates her designs, so I have been recreating the way she works so that I can be inspired by the techniques and methods she uses.

My response to artwork by River Luna

I tried creating the designs using various methods, but the most effective are the designs above, created digitally from a watercolour painting and a fine liner drawing. Although I didn't get quite the same effects as Marisa creates with her paintings, I have taken on board different ideas and techniques, including filling abstract shapes with loose watercolour, and experimenting with fine lines on top of this. I intend to develop these in my own way next week.

Botany and Data Collection

After my first tutorial on Tuesday with Alex, I have spent the last week looking into Botany as a way of representing nature scientifically.

Botanical Drawing of Oak branch - www.lizzieharper.co.uk

I looked at botany books from the library to study how botanists drew, including their use of composition, media, language and subject matter. I produced a few drawings in response, looking at plants that were beneficial to humans, such as he crocus which is thought to contain a cancer cure. I realised that most botanists drew tonal drawings in pencil and then painted over their drawing, and left some areas in black and white to emphasise the area in colour which I felt worked well. I felt that the Cone flower drawing below was the most successful, as loved experimenting with watercolour on top of pencil, and I also thought that leaving some areas without paint worked well. I used the paint to emphasise the bits of the flower that I thought were most important

Cone Flower drawing inspired by Botany illustrations

This drawing also lead me to think about the anatomy of flowers, due to the cross section at the bottom right. I have found an amazing book in the library called The anatomy of Flowers which has massively inspired me. I am looking forward to getting the chance to explore this next week.

Anna Gillespie Sculpture made of Acorns

This week I was also inspired by Anna Gilespie after seeing one of her sculptures at Artzu. She uses materials that nature discards which seem meaningless. I decided to draw some of her subject matter, as well as taking this as an opportunity to collect my own ' scientific data' on my walk into University. I passed 3 beech trees and collected seeds from each, drawing their different colours and mapping them as I went. Although this seemed like a small task at the time I think the idea of representing data naturally has a lot of potential and I intend to develop this further as a result.

Sketchbook page about collecting Beech Seeds.

As well as drawing beech seeds, I decided to collect other materials discarded by nature and draw them in a botanical way, linking both elements to my work this week. I used different media and paper to experiment, and I thought that the different sycamore seeds on the black (below) worked particularly well, as it's striking and the colours stand out. The drawings below also represent how nature changes over time, as the Hosta leaf has started to decompose and the top sycamore was dried out, linking to the idea of representing data mentioned in my learning agreement.

Sketchbook page: Decomposing Hosta leaf (left) and Sycamore seed collection drawing

This idea of using time as a way of collecting data could be developed next week, along with looking further into the anatomy of flowers.