INDIA INK: Large Scale Wash Drawings

Joe Mulcaire

Last night the class continued working with ink wash. The large still life was rendered on full sheets of paper (18 x 24 in.). Joe's drawing above is very well composed. Bold rectangles and vertical stripes divide the top of the composition in the negative areas while smaller groupings of rectangles divide the lower portion. Although the drawing primarily exhibits a high key value range, it is still very complete.

INDIA INK: wash drawings

Erin Deacon

Last night the class made wash drawings. The approach was to work in layers allowing the ink to dry between applications. Erin's drawing above exhibits rich, distinctive values within a well balanced composition. Rather than having one object dominate the center, she has opted for a grouping of three. The variations in the background are achieved by working wet into wet.

INDIA INK: Still Life

Erin Currie

Last night the class applied the various techniques introduced on Monday to still life arrangements. Erin's drawing above has a uniform and consistent application of mark-making across the composition. Her observations fall between addressing the light, volumes and textures of the objects and the space. The cropped composition emphasizes the role of the gourd adding a hint of narrative which is complemented by the expressive yet illustrative rendering of the image.

MIDTERM DRAWINGS

Erin Currie

Erin Deacon

Kayla Brown

Meghann Lyon

Above are four excellent examples of the Midterm Drawing Exam. Each composition is well balanced with strong attention to the negative and positive relationships. Notice how each composition has engaged with the edges of the paper. The objects are well proportioned and rendered with attention to the volumes and light. When contour lines are present, they are complementary to the values strengthening the structure, texture and character of the objects and space. In addition, each student has successfully achieved a strong and individual mood in their use of value ranging from the calm to the dramatic.

WET MEDIA: India Ink and "The Exquisite Corpse"

Last night students experimented with various pen and ink techniques while playing the Dadaist/ Surrealist game "The Exquisite Corpse". The drawing above illustrates brush lines in the head, parallel hatch and cross-hatch lines in the torso and short-hatch and stippling in the legs.

MIDTERM and PORTFOLIO REVIEW

This week the class is working on midterm drawings while I review portfolios one on one. Pix will follow.

VALUE: Diebenkorn Studies (cont.)

Jim Foley

Last night the class made another drawing addressing the compositional balance of positive and negative areas on a small scale. Jim's drawing above is arranged so the objects engage with all four sides of the paper. His values are rich and contrasting and the mark-making is expressing and lively.

VALUE: Diebenkorn Studies

Last night students were introduced to the paintings and drawings of Richard Diebenkorn. The discussion examined the ways in which he would divide and address the negative space. Each student arranged their own still life of three objects. Meghann's drawing is rich in value and textural variety. Similar to Diebenkorn's work, her composition is divided into a large square area (spoon and knob), a vertical rectangle extending from top to bottom on the right and a horizontal rectangle reaching from side to side. In addition, she has controlled the lighting with a darkened and directed light surrounding the objects.

VALUE: Dramatic Effect

Last night the class made value drawings with the objective of exaggerating the lighting conditions for a more dramatic impact. Kayla's drawing exhibits very dramatic contrasts in value. Rich, dark values have been used to increase the strength of the negative areas between the objects as well as push the background. In addition, she has very effectively used atmospheric perspective which sharpens the objects in the foreground and merges the distant objects with the background.