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| 11/23/24 Hi-Uni H and Tombow Mono 6B graphite in Field Notes Streetscapes sketchbook |
Although I’ve certainly known of DaVinci’s remarkable
artistic abilities (perhaps one could call them “discoveries” in terms of how viewers
perceive art), his scientific explorations tend to get more attention. That’s
why it was especially delightful and rewarding to view the new Ken Burns’
documentary, Leonardo DaVinci. The Renaissance genius’s
contributions to art received an appropriately significant portion of coverage
in the two-part series.
A small mention in Part 1 captivated me immediately: Shown was a study DaVinci had made of draped fabric which demonstrated his keen knowledge of and interest in how light and shadow are used to describe a three-dimensional form. We all take this concept for granted now in terms of understanding a two-dimensional depiction of a three-dimensional form, but back then, it was innovative thinking. The study not only showed his complete understanding of this concept; it was also indescribably beautiful. I wanted to learn to appreciate the motion of light and shadow as he so obviously did.
The next morning after seeing Part 1, I grabbed a large scarf and hung it messily from a door knob. Rendering a couple of small folds, I realized this is what I should have been doing all month for Pencilvember. It’s not too late, though; I’m going to finish off the month with more like this. Although DaVinci probably used charcoal for his studies, graphite is a natural for any study requiring subtle modulations of tone.
Bonus: While any still life is useful for studying light and
form, I often feel too lazy to set up an elaborate or even a simple still life,
carefully light it from one direction, block out other distracting light
sources, blah-blah-blah. (Can you tell I’ve read a few drawing books?) This
still life, however, took no setup at all! Hanging from my studio’s door knob, the
scarf was lighted on one side by a window – good enough for me.
I had the same reaction when watching this. As things progressed I was surprised at how many commissions he accepted and never completed, at least one never started. Had to laugh that he finally got a patron who gave him a place to live and paid him to just do whatever he wanted to do. That's my kind of patron - lol. I've tried sketching a black sweatshirt jacket hung on a doorknob using a Pitt Brush Pens and it was a totally engrossing and educational experience working with that draping! It came out ok but graphite pencil would have made it easier for sure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we should all have patrons like that one! ;-) Wow, I think black would be really hard! The scarf I'm using is a solid, pale blue pashmina, so it has no shiny surfaces, and it's easy to see the light and shadows. I didn't plan it -- it was just the first thing at hand -- but I think it's probably one of the easiest fabrics for this exercise.
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