Drawing the Landscape (M3, chpt 7)

Introduction

I've never really examined Van Gogh's drawings before and I was a bit blown away by them. Some are fast and furious notes, whilst others are very considered. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time copying his style, but was not quite so successful in applying his style to my own drawing. Apropos lines and landscape, this was undoubtedly a very useful set of exercises to go through, drawing attention to composition and mark making.

Activity 3.7.1

Drawing 1

This first image I decided to use was strongly divided into fore, middle and far distance:

I worked with a selection of mark making tools, and used these throughout the chapter:

First I took the advice and divided the page in quarters and roughly drafted in the main lines of the landscape:

Normally I work in an organised way when drawing or painting, for example top to bottom, to allow for overlaps. However I went about this piece in a slightly more haphazard way, starting with the base and then moving right to left:

The two pictures together:

I made some final adjustments:

Drawing 2

I loved the vigour in this drawing:

Doing the prep:

And working top to bottom this time:

I was pleased with both of these drawings.

Activity 3.7.2

I had variable success applying Van Gogh's drawing style to my own. I worked three drawings in total, making a conscious effort to refer to his style and learn something from it.

Drawing 1:
I had been taken with Van Gogh's drawings of stones, inserted at top. I found a simple landscape to try out this idea:

Prep

On reflection the stones were not adequately defined and the cross hatching on the nearer stone wasn't in Van Gogh's style so I changed some details to make a final drawing:

Drawing 2

This drawing didn't go so well, it was more me than van Gogh. The view is of the gate from the herb garden into the woods at Castle Acre Priory. I chose it because I loved it's inviting quality and strong light. I think in the final analysis the picture didn't do it for me as it wasn't the kind of thing that Van Gogh would have done and maybe that explains whey I wasn;t successful in applying his style:

Making one or two final adjustments:

Drawing 3

This was a conscious effort to return to a much wilder subject. I forgot to save the orginal image, but it's somewhere in the south of france. I also omitted to photograph the early stages of the work.

Activity 3.7.3

Painting my own landscape

(...Possibly not in the style of Van Gogh.) I went for an alpine image with cool colours for this activity. The landscape was well divided and lent itself to a Van Gogh treatment without being anything he actually did. That was to avoid the likelihood of a clear copy. I was hoping to achieve a picture that was not over-worked and had a sense of vigour. Painting not being one of my strong points, you can image I started this with more than a few mis-givings. However I was actually quite pleased with the final painting.

I started off with a very quick sketch to get a feel for the way I would approach the painting:

Then getting underway:

Finally taking out the masking fluid for the occasional bit of snow:

I've learnt quite a lot about my own style doing this chapter. At one time I thought I might have a refined - sort of botanical drawing style- but actually I really like strong bold marks. I'll be sure to carry on drawing from now on.