4 october
Returned from Ukraine. I was really ill all of the past week and was not able to draw as I was so ill - it was pay back for visiting Ukraine.
I just wanted pass on some comments that surprised me. When I went on the bus to Barcelona, first I noticed, after weeks of drawing, I have started to notice some things that I never noticed before; sort of as when you go to new places where everything is interesting, fresh and new. I made some thumbnail sketches on the bus, even though it was very shaky and also in the airport. After I did not do anything: firstly, I am not very good at exposing to people what I do; and secondly, after two days travel without sleep, it is hard to analyze or see anything; too much trying to concentrate so as not to miss the next train or bus or airplane.
In Ukraine, I did not have much of a chance to draw; again, too many visits to solicitors, police and other offices; but I did keep my eyes open and made some photos of what attracted my attention. Interestingly enough, what I see in real life, the camera cannot see, so I try keeping this feeling about objects but, as time goes by, the memories fade. It would be interesting for me go another time and with more experience as an artist and draw the town. It is an absolutely beautiful town and I am not surprised I fell in love with it from my first visit, many years ago.
Not much to say, unpleasant and pleasant visit at the same time. So I am happy when I finally go home .
One week of pain - as though an illnesses was walking through your body when you do not know what is wrong with you; seems as though everything is wrong with you, nothing right, but finally I tried to do some drawing and, as always, drawing makes me very happy .
I did not do anything special, just stuck to the OCA programme. I did some study about how to work with coloured pencils, pastels, charcoal and chalk.
There are no short cuts to become an artist - it is hard work, discipline and the ability to learn.
Composition. One needs to trust intuition, no matter if all the composition is against all of the rules of art; if it is right for you and you are happy to produce it as a picture - do it. If I like it, somebody else will like it. Composition for me is easy, maybe because I intuitively know where to put objects and how to trick so that a boring composition works. Photos are not a bad way to get ideas, but better to draw from real life, because a camera cannot see what you can see. For me, personally, it is not much different to draw from a photo or from real life. As from photo, same as in real life, I remove unnecessary objects or background or even slightly change position.
In composition, need to draw what you really see, not what you imagine. I found this experience interesting when I drew in coloured pencils glass objects from left to right; I noticed myself that I started to draw what I sew, not what I imagined I saw.
Horizontal and vertical lines and shapes bring atmosphere, stability, calmness and power.
Diagonal lines and shapes suggest movement, excitement.
Curves and curving shapes create movement and energy too, but bee careful because this lines depress the drawing and bring, not energy, but passivity to the drawing.
Harmony of composition
Repetition. You can repeat shading and shapes as well, direction, textures and angles .
Variety. Same object but in different positions, different shapes and angles .
Contrast.
About negative and positive space. When you do sketches you it like a puzzle; you draw bit by bit exactly what you see - cast of shadows and lights. There really does not exist negative or positive space - it is a classification for some people to make them notice something that is always under their noses, but becomes invisible, like a waitress in a restaurant or a butler who becomes an invisible man in certain circumstances.
Center of interest in composition. It is a tricky bit. You can pick up a very boring composition and make it exciting by changing the center of interest and by adding colour or contrast or even completely change the background - make the center of interest negative space. Even a change of texture can make a drawing more interesting.
Mood. If you manage to put your mood into drawing and some people can see it, you have done a great job.
Of course technique - learning how to draw helps make composition look great ;o)
Here are various ways to measure angles:
• Hold your brush or a pencil up vertically then judge the angle by thinking of the small hand on a clock. Does the edge go out from the vertical at four o’clock or five o’clock? Or, even more accurately, by thinking of the large hand on a clock – does the edge go out at five minutes past twelve or three minutes past?
• Line a pencil or brush up with the angle then, holding it at the same angle, move it down to your painting to check the angle you’ve got.
• If you find that you move the brush when doing this, try using two pencils. Line them up against two edges in the object so that they overlap. Now grasp them firmly where they overlap and bring them down to your painting to check the angle.
• Open a pair of compasses until the arms match the angle, then move the compass across to your painting to compare. The advantage of a compass is that it’ll probably be stiff enough not to close up as you move it.
• Make yourself a plumbline from a piece of string with a weight such as a large bead or small fishing weight at the end. Hold the end of the string in your fingers and gravity will provide you with a vertical line against which you can judge angles.
• Get a school protractor and drill a hole through the ‘centre’ spot. Attach a plumb line to this and use it to measure angles from the vertical.
• One that’s not for youngsters: Open a pair of scissors until the blades match the angle. (Let’s face it, most adult artists are more likely to have a pair of scissors lying around than a pair of compasses.)
Tips:
• As you become more experienced, so you’ll be able to rely more and more on your ‘eye’ and have to measure less.
• When something in a painting just isn’t working, go back and systematically check all the angles.
http://painting.about.com/cs/paintingknowhow/a/angles.htm
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