I began my final piece by choosing the subjects that I wanted to incorporate. I took full advantage of being able to create on whatever scale I wanted to, and I’ve been dying to put one of the A4 canvas boards that I have had in stock for a long time now, so that’s what I chose to use for my final piece.
As always, I’m not the best at remembering to document my progress, so I was quite far into the piece before I actually realised that I hadn’t taken any pictures or made any notes! Whilst experimenting with different approaches for this piece, I really enjoyed working with watercolour, and I wanted to inject some colour into the piece. As I had made the decision to incorporate nature within my piece, I began by adding a green watercolour wash to the board. I really enjoyed building up the greens, however, I did find it a little annoying how whenever I felt that the green wash was bold enough, it seemed to fade when dry. But, after some time and a lot of layers of paint, I was able to achieve a background that I was happy with. Persistence and patience was key!
Then, using a charcoal pencil I began adding the human figure, who is a friend of mine. I knew from the start that I wanted to draw a female figure. I’ve loved learning how to draw the different parts of the body, and I’ve enjoyed sketching the female body the most. My friend is beautiful, wonderfully natural and very comfortable with her body which is exactly what I wanted to portray through my piece. It was at this point that I realised what exactly I wanted to show through this piece – Mother Nature, and the relationship between us and planet earth. I had planned for this to be the point of my final piece, but it was at this point (when I was actually creating the final piece!) that it truly hit me how important it was for me to depict this as powerfully as possible. We need each other to thrive, and I wanted to display this. The human race are slowly but surely killing planet earth, and are the only ones who can keep it alive and well.
As you can see above I began by pencilling her form onto the background with the charcoal pencil.
Slowly, I worked up the layers of line and tone and soon, there she was. I felt much more confident once I had something to work with. Beforehand I had been slightly unsure as to where the piece would head, but once I’d added the figure, things felt like they would just come from there. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to portray the connection between her and the environment around her, but, in my preliminary sketches I toyed with the idea of merging her limbs into trees and roots.
Once I’d combined these features, I felt absolutely confident that I’d made the right choice. From there I used a sponge to dab the colour and texture of foliage around the branches, and swept the paint across the roots of her ‘feet’ along the bottom. Again, I had to add many, many layers of watercolour as each time it dried, the colours and textures seemed to fade. I think building up these layers was really effective in my depiction of the leaves. The more layers added, the thicker the foliage seemed, and the more realistic. It was actually Paul Evans that inspired much of my technique for building up the landscape in this piece. He uses a combination of smudging and paint splattering to build up his landscapes, and I wanted to apply something similar in this piece as the effect he achieves is great.
From there, I just kept adding and adding to the foliage. I dabbed all the greens and browns that I could find into the leaves, branching out from watercolours to thicker mediums like acrylic and even a small amount of oil paint. It was not until I inspected the piece more closely that I was really able to see the full effect of this, and the true range of colours that builds up the trees.
For the ground/roots, I thickly applied paint to represent the earth and the blades of grass coming out of it. It was around this point that I felt my piece was strongest. I much preferred the appearance of it in the images before, however, it seemed weak. I liked how clear all the features I had added were, but it just seemed unfinished. On adding these additional colours and textures, the piece began to feel far bolder and I found it was more interesting. I asked my partner for his thoughts, and he agreed with me that with further work and added details, the piece seemed to ‘pop’ that bit more.
As you can see at the bottom of the piece, I have splashed a small amount of ‘rust’ coloured paint to break up the blocky brown. Also, as the additional colour covered much of the roots, I had to go over them. I used black oil pastel to try and bring the roots back out, but it didn’t seem like the right medium. I needed something stronger and thicker to stand out and stick against the layers of acrylic and oil.
Looking back, I think this is where I should have left the piece.
I thickened up the branches and roots with a thin brush and Chinese ink. I loved the movability of the Chinese ink, and really wanted to incorporate it into the piece. I think the effect of it here is subtle but strong, which is exactly what I was going for. However, that didn’t feel like enough, so I used a chalk pencil to add subtle highlights. I learnt before, when focusing on trees, that highlighting is a small but extremely effective technique to portray light hitting an area. It’s a small addition, but it really transforms a piece. I simply added a few white lines here and there along the edges of a few branches, and to accentuate the roots and blades of grass, which I found to be a really effective and transformative choice.
Like I said, I wish I had left the piece as it is here. It looks strong, and I feel that my message is portrayed clearly. The contrast in tone and colours is strong, and each feature is bold and clear, whilst remaining understated.
Final Outcome:
I made a bold decision to go on and add grass at the bottom of the piece. I wasn’t happy with the blend from the legs into the ground, so I wanted to have a go at rectifying that. I thought adding grass would be a good way to express my mark making and linear skills. With a very small, narrow brush I added the grass, which covers the bottom third of the board.
Something I haven’t consciously practiced in a long while is layering up a piece. The background of the piece is obviously the blend of the watercolours on the background, the model and her tree arms are the middle-ground and at the very foreground is the grass. I have found it difficult to establish the different grounds and layers of a drawing/painting in previous pieces, and I wanted to make a point of showing this in my final piece. I think I have achieved this quite well, especially with the grass. As you can see, the grass displayed in the foreground is clear and you can see the individual colours and shapes of each blade, however, the further into the distance the grass gets the more unfocused and merged they become. It gives the impression that the woman is walking towards the viewer through the long grasses around her.
I spoke with my partner about the middle are of the piece, as I felt it seemed empty. I wanted to add something more, to fill it up and to make it a bit more interesting, but he advised me to leave it as it is and simply discuss in my log what I would do going forward. I was anxious that if I added to the piece any more, it would spoil it. I wasn’t sure (and I’m still not) what I wanted to add to this area, but just felt that it needed something. Maybe a meadow fading into the distance, or a wall/fence to break the area up.
Regarding the woman, I am feeling really pleased with how she has turned out. If I were to alter any areas, I would perhaps put a bit more work into the breasts. They seem a little too big, and don’t look very natural. Other than that, I’m pretty chuffed with her. I think I have done a really good job with the tone and shading. Instead of simply relying on outline, I’ve made a conscious effort to build her up using tone and highlights, directing them in line with the curvature of her body, instead of just ‘colouring in’ the area I’m shading and, due to small features such as this that I’ve worked on repeatedly over the unit, I am confident in saying that this is my best attempt at the human form yet.
Altogether, I think this is a really powerful piece. I took the time to show a range of people this piece and ask them what it said to them, and/or what their interpretation of it was. Many people advised me that it reminded them of Mother Nature, and others thought it was a portrayal of the power of women. I am so happy with the response I’ve had, as it just goes to show that I’ve achieved my goal. I wanted to create something with a message behind it, something that spoke to people, and, judging by the response I’ve received, I think I have.
I think this could be bigger and bolder and even more striking but, for now, I am happy to leave it as it is. I don’t want to spoil it and I don’t want to get to a point where I’m totally unhappy with it, so I’m going to stop here. I’m fine with that though, because I think I’ve achieved what I wanted to, I’ve displayed many of the skills that I’ve spent so much time working on over the past few months (such as mark making, working in tone, working in colour, layering, etc.), and I’ve achieved something that I definitely don’t think I would have been able to this time last year.
Re-work
After discussing my final piece with my course tutor, we made a decision that I would re-visit this final piece and I would re-work it a bit, to see what else I could produce. At first, I was a little apprehensive to do this as the extra work would eat into the time I had to work towards my new course, but I am so glad that I did. Working on it with a fresh mind and a new pair of eyes was what helped me transform my idea into a work of art that was far better than the original, and more along the lines of what I intended it to be.
Originally, this started as a pencil sketch and I wasn’t sure where else to go with it. I decided to photocopy it a few times, so that I could use the photocopies to work on something more solid and map out some ideas.
This is the original pencil sketch:
It was just a simple sketch, however, I had the idea to draw an oval around it, to sort of contain the piece a little, and see what that looked like. I was sort of winging it, thinking of things that could make it more interesting, and this idea popped into my head to ‘frame’ it.
After photocopying this exact sketch, I started to think of ways in which I could make it more interesting, and what approaches would fit with my theme of ‘mother nature’. I’d discussed with my tutor my passion for line, and how working in pencil and pen was something I enjoyed and felt I could do confidently and well. I wanted to stick with the natural theme, but branch away from paints and the thick, heavy style I adopted in my first attempt of this. I think I went slightly over the top, wanting to display every single skill that I learnt within this part of the course, and ended up going a bit wild with material and content. I am far more comfortable working with line, and over the past year or so, I have grown fond of the quick, sketchy approach to drawing, so this is how I chose to work in my re-work of my final piece.
For the body of the woman, I used an assortment of finer liners. I have a new pack of coloured pens, and decided to test them out and I am incredibly pleased with the outcome. The smooth movability of the pens was perfect for building up the layers and marking lines along the shape and contours of the body. I was worried that the pens would be a little scratchy, but they were the opposite. It was like drawing with a stick of butter. It was unusual drawing in bold colours, as I am used to sketching in pencil and black pen, but, having now created an entire sketch with green and brown ball-point pens, I can say I am an enormous fan.
It was really enjoyable forming an entire sketch with just a small handful of pens, and I wasn’t expecting such success. I created shape, tone, structure and body features using three pens, scrawling them speedily around the page, and I couldn’t be happier with what I’ve achieved. I think I prefer the shading of the body in the original final piece, however, as an overall piece, I prefer this one. I think work is needed on my process of drawing in pen, however, that will only come with practice (which I will be doing a lot of).
For the foliage, I used watercolour paints and a few paint brushes and just jabbed and smudged some paint around the upper branches. It was really enjoyable watching the piece becoming something bigger as I layered paint shades, thickening and smudging it across the top. This was the simplest and most enjoyable part of the process.
I wasn’t sure whether to add something to the bottom of the sketch, as it felt a bit empty, but after asking a few friend’s and fellow student’s advice, I was convinced that the emptiness of the bottom accentuated the piece, as though the woman was bringing beauty and nature into a dull and blank world (which is what I was going for). I think I’ve achieved a more powerful piece here. It tells a story, and it’s un-cluttered and simple, therefore, you notice it more. My original attempt was very “full” and, looking at it now, feels very childlike and simple, in a completely different way – and not a good one.
To conclude, I am really happy with the outcome of this and I’m pleased with myself for having re-visited it. I was capable of far more, and my tutor convinced me to give it another whirl, which I’m extremely grateful to her for. As mentioned above, I definitely have some work to do and I can see area for improvement and development, but I’ve come along greatly, and in comparison to the work I was creating at the beginning of the course, my work looks as though it’s been created by another person. I’m keen to see what else I produce in the future, and what skills I can carry forward into the next areas of the course.
Thank you Drawing 1!
Jesy Gilkes 