Project 1 - Stage 4

Working From Your Sketchbook
Having looked back through the work I had done so far, I chose four images to work from.  The underside of the funghi and the turkey tail from Stage 3: Exercise 3, the paper collage from Stage 2: Exercise 4 and a photograph from my sketchbook, of some unusual tree bark and plant growth.

Have you thought of working in this way before?

I have worked in this way before, not quite to this extent though.  I have never really made the connection between applying the marks to the drawings.  It wasn’t until my friend, having looked through the marks, said you shouldn’t have any problems drawing if you can make all these different marks.  The marks are easy though – they don’t have to look like anything, or be in perspective.

Were you able to be inventive about the range of marks you made?

At first a lot of the marks I made were very similar, but towards the end of the exercise I found it easier to be more inventive and discovered some surprising results.  I really like the wavy line using the three different media and the vortex in the tone exercise.

Did you explore a wide range of media?

I did explore a wide range of media – over the years I have acquired all sorts of different media and I am glad that I can now use them.

Are you pleased with what you’ve done?  Will it help you to approach drawing more confidently?

I am pleased with what I have done.  I am trying now to see my drawing as more of a mark making exercise, hoping that this will help me draw more confidently.  I am still not all that happy about my drawings.  I would like to be more relaxed - in attitude and style.  I find it very difficult to make myself do the work in my sketchbook, but have decided to just get on with it; if it doesn’t look like I expected it to look I am just going to carry on until it does.

Which exercise did you most enjoy?  Why?

I enjoyed the crayon rubbings, this was more successful than I expected it to be and very easy to get some interesting results.  But the exercise I enjoyed the most was block printing.  I really enjoy printing of all kinds – the results are so unexpected – you never quite know what you are going to get.  I would like to do more printing, especially on to fabric.

Which media did you most enjoy working with?  Why?

I enjoyed working with the charcoal and the graphite stick, although these are both really messy afterwards which puts me off a bit.  The marks made by the charcoal are very satisfying and varied, both in style, weight and tone.  The graphite stick was really smooth to use and I love the colour of graphite on the page.  Again the marks it makes are very satisfying.  The block paints (that I bought at school) are also lovely to work with, they can be used thickly or watered down and used as a wash, and once dry can be over painted.

What other forms of mark-making could you try?

I would defiantly like to try more types of printing – screen / mono / collagraph.  I have also seen “How to make a cola pen” on the internet; so I am going to try making one and using it with ink.  I haven’t tried using oils, applied with a knife or spatula.

How will these exercises enrich your textile work in the future?

I have found it a lot easier to relate the marks to different stitches, so I think it will make it easier to create specific textures by first drawing them – using the mark making techniques - then relating these to stitch.