Reflected light

I found the reflected light exercise hard to get into as i find it harder to draw man-made objects and prefer natural forms. But once i began a few drawing i began to get more confident with what i was drawing and decided to try a pencil study of two aftershave bottles before i move on to the larger charcoal drawing. One bottle was more of a simple rectangle shape while the other had a curved back. I thought as they were both glass and also had different shapes it would make an interesting and challenging drawing.

I think this one turned out much better than what i thought it was going to when i started the drawing and i managed to get a reasonable 3-D effect and also the 'look' of glass and a shiny reflective surface.

Dolly Mixtures

I saw a postcard with a bag of dolly mixtures on it and thought it would make an interesting and unusual drawing. I decided to use it for the tone and form exercise as i thought doing it in black and white would make it even more unusual as dolly mixtures are so colourful.
I drew it with a dip pen and ink (again!) it took forever, especially the sugar covered ones, but i think the ink gives a nice effect.

'sweeties' by Howard Shooter 2009

Tone and form

The tonal studies in this exercise has been one of my favorite parts of the course so far. I love working in black and white and since i began the course dipping pen and ink has become one of my favorite mediums to work in.

The first tonal study i did was of an orange cut in half, i think it turned out ok but not as well as what i had hoped.

The second tonal study i did was of three peppers, i think this one turned out much better than my first drawing. I decided to take photos of each stage of the drawing, i like that idea as it can give other people and myself a chance to see how the drawing progressed at different stages. Again i did this study in pen and ink.

Stage one:

Stage two :

The finished drawing :

Assignment one: Markmaking and tone

The first exercise in this assignment is markmaking, i first heard of markmaking when i began to study art at A-level. At first i wasn't sure what i was meant to be doing exactly, it was never fully explained and everyone else in the class seemed to know what they were doing. Looking back of course i find it funny that i felt so lost as markmaking was simply making marks.

While back then i really didn't enjoy markmaking at all i have found that doing the exercise with the OCA course was actually very enjoyable. I like the freedom it brings when you are not concentrating on creating any particular picture but are just experimenting with different materials and mediums to see how many different marks can be made and in how many different ways.

Using a pen and ink to doodle ended up producing a sort of landscape drawing although i was not consciously planning on drawing anything in particular. The two ink sketches mounted on purple paper were created by applying ink on some paper then blowing through a straw over it, the second drawing also had some ink applied with a small piece of card, it also reminded me on a landscape drawing - the card producing mountains, hills and some grass coming up and the inkand straw making what looks like branches of tress coming across.

The next part of this exercise was to continue doodling but to allow a subject to influence the marks that were being made without trying particularly hard to produce any clear image.

The first picture was done in oil pastel and i used flowers as my subject, the main focous became an opening bud of a flower and the background became the grass surrounding it. The second picture was done using a cotton bud to apply ink, and i used water as my subject. It started out as being something like droplets of water falling down the page but when i finished i thought it also looked like unopened buds of a plant.

OCA

I finally began working towards a BA Hons Degree with the OCA. I have enrolled on the Drawing course and hope to continue and study the art history and painting courses that are available to gain the credits i need for the degree.
Part of the course is to keep a learning log and that is what i am using this blog for, as a record of my own creative development and journey as i progress through the course.
I have studied art at GCSE and A-level and also started a diploma in foundation studies in art and design but had to leave due to illness. I hope to become a better artist while studying with OCA and to have a better understanding of art. I hope to become a professional artist some day and be able to make a living from my art.