Assignment One.

(A Personal Still Life.)

I confess, at first I was somewhat baffled when it came to doing a personal still life,but looking round my room I found a few things belonging to my grandfather, that I was deeply attached to. I collected together some of his art materials. not only were these things "personal" to me,but I thought they also made an aesthetically and geometrically pleasing set up for a still life.

My first attempt was a still life of the large wooden lay figure  and a big box of pastels, I liked the was the light fell on the pastels in the top tray, picking out each one clearly. But ultimately (after a several endeavours) I reached the conclusion that the composition wasn't satisfactory (not having enough detail or separate parts to in) and I was having difficulty with getting the angles of the box right, somehow with the tray on top it seamed to make it much harder.

For my second attempt, I substituted the pastels box for a smaller box, a glass jar with brushes in and some pens in the foreground. This was a better composition but not quite right. I came to realize by having the figure facing and sort of pointing out of the page was making the eye drift off the image.

Seeing this problem, I thought I couldn't do much better  than  look at the old masters for inspiration. And so, when putting together this still life, my approach was to turn my thoughts to Michelangelo's painting of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 

I couldn't get the lay figure into the exact position, and I did it for fun as well as a good thing to think about, I enjoy putting in references and paying homage to some of my favourite artists.

The figure, taking up most of the composition now, and there being no room for my box, I filled in the corners with a ink pot some pens and a stack of six small boxes, and the jam jar with fewer brushes than the  piece before.

I chose a white support and graphite stick as a medium, (I wonder now if it would have looked better with a light cream colour support, and to have put highlights on with a white pencil or something). I had my light source coming from the left and slightly tilted up, I liked the shape of the shadow it cast. I chose not to indicate the background very much, I thought the picture was quite busy enough. I am glad I chose graphite, I like it very much, it is (when in big sticks) more interesting then pencil but not as difficult to use as something like charcoal or conte, and I like the tonal range you can get with it. 

I was told, or read somewhere that the triangle was good to use for a underlying geometrical shape in any drawing, and pleasing to the eye. So I filled this piece with them.

On the whole, I don't think its a bad picture, just not very interesting, there are a few parts that I am pleased with more then the rest. But really I think its rather boring. This may be because of the thin and boring lines although trying hard with my "mark making" it was all over too similar, and a bit to neat and  finicky, I should have had more variation in the line, and tried to be a bit bolder and more sweeping.which  would have suited the somewhat dramatic set up.