5/5/15 India ink, dip pen, Bristol board |
While I found last week’s ink drawing class exercise of copying Van Gogh more liberating than previous masters we copied, I would certainly
not say it was easy. Today’s class exercise kicked it up yet another notch:
using Van Gogh’s hatching techniques to draw a subject of our choosing. Instructor
Eric Elliott gave us the option of drawing from a photo, a still life or
through the window. Of course you know which I chose.
Our second-floor classroom windows look out on the
neighboring elementary school’s playground and some of the many large trees
that the Capitol Hill neighborhood is known for (see below). If I had been
wearing MiataGrrl’s normal urban sketcher’s hat, I probably would have focused
more closely on the playground and the kids, and I might have included part of the
tree to the left for context, but I definitely would have left out that mass of
trees in the background. Today, however, I had to channel my inner Vincent and
ask, What would he have sketched? Based on the drawings I’ve been studying, he
most certainly would have included all the trees, and what’s more, he would
have found a way to distinguish one tree from another by differentiating the
types of hatch marks used.
I hatched and hatched and hatched some more, and nearly
three hours later, I probably wasn’t done, but the class was over, and I was
tired, so I called it good. In addition to marveling at Van Gogh’s remarkable
and beautiful work, the other thought in my mind is this: Why the heck did I
use the entire sheet of 11-by-14-inch paper to make this sketch? (Sorry about the
dark image; it wouldn’t fit on my scanner so I had to use my phone to
photograph it.)
I'm amazed by all your super hatching!!! You go, girl! I think you have channelled Van Gogh.
ReplyDeleteYou have certainly channeled Van Gogh, your use of the dip pen extremely good. (I find them difficult to control).
ReplyDelete