Tuesday 24 November 2015

Chapter 3. Drawing Texture

I had been down into the woods nearby and collected some leaves for a piece of work I was doing so the first wax rubbing I did was of some of those leaves.
These are all done with oil pastels and number 1 is on soft packaging paper, number 2 on a soft fabric type of paper and number three is tissue paper.
Then I started looking round the house for different textures.
This one is a wallpaper all done with oil pastels. Number 1 is tissue paper, number 2 is soft fabric paper overwashed with Koh-i-Noor and number three is packing paper also overwashed with Koh-i-Noor.


All the overwashes I have done have been with Koh-i-Noor.  1 and 2 on this page are a different wallpaper using tissue paper and the soft fabric paper.  The three small rubbings are from a wood type material I found in the pot-pourri bowl.  The two blue ones are on tissue paper using the top and the bottom of the wood and the third piece is on the soft fabric paper.
Top of the page is a rubbing from the corrugated card that is in the oil pastel box, done on packaging paper which was already creased.  Left to right on the bottom three is lace with oil pastel on soft fabric paper and tissue paper.  The third piece is wax crayon on soft fabric paper which doesn't give as clear a rubbing.

The top one is a rubbing of a piece of embroidery using oil pastel on soft fabric paper.  The bottom one is a metal grid in Brompton church using oil pastel and soft fabric paper.
I had found myself stewarding a textile exhibition in the church and to pass the time I took advantage of having different surfaces to take rubbings from.
This is a rubbing of the bark of one of the trees in the churchyard.  Oil pastel and soft paper.

The top rubbing is from the side of my pencil pot on my desk.  I love this wood pot and these elephants are on all four sides.  The other rubbing is from the end of a pew in the church. On both of these I have used markel stick and the bottom one has a wash of Koh-i-Noor over it.  I am more pleased with this one now as it  was very pale and had no definition until I put the wash over it.

These two are both stonework at the church.  the bottom one is oil pastel on tissue paper and you can see there was a carving in the stonework.  The top coloured one is markel stick on packaging paper.

The top one is a piece of paving stone and the bottom one is stonework both from the church..  The top is again markel stick on packaging paper but with a different coloured wash which is a bit more subtle.  The bottom one is oil pastel on newspaper.  I quite like the effect on this one.

This is my favourite rubbing.  It is the same piece of paving stone outside the church door as the rubbing above but it has come out so much better on tissue paper. I have used Markel stick  with no added wash.
I will have to keep this carefully so as not to tear or crease it as I think I have an idea for a piece of work from it.
Activity 4.3.3
I also used this image of the paving stone to make a drawing of the texture patterns.

This was a drawing of the bark of a redwood tree in California. I took one of the simple shapes and made a stamp to finish off the page.

This was round the base of the font in my local church.  I imagine it is centuries of feet kicking against it that has worn these marks and patterns.

This stonework is amazing and is from Whitby Abbey.  At first I thought it was old gargoyles that had fallen down and been stacked together but it isn't.  The wind and weather has worn the stone to look like lots of faces.


This is a photograph my sister sent me of funghi growing in a tree.  It has some amazing shapes and patterns although I don't feel I have captured them well.  The dark spots are because I closed the book before the paint on the other page was dry.

Activity 4.3.2

Sorry this is out of order but I wanted the paving to all follow on.  I could fill this blog with all the photographs of texture and pattern I have taken over the years.  My daughter says it is embarrassing when everyone else is photographing the view but I have my back to it taking pictures of rocks and tree bark.  Here are just a few.

Ripley Castle
 The village pinfold.
 Leaves in Raincliffe Woods.
 Sulphur springs in Iceland
 Nets and ropes on Scarborough sea front.

I've enjoyed this chapter.  I love texture and always look for ways of including it in my work.  Usually I just look at pictures or photographs and try to memorise what I have seen.  I never thought to draw the texture which I found quite difficult on some things but even if it is not accurate it gives a good impression.