Exercise 1: Experimenting with texture
I wanted to gather some out-of-the-ordinary objects for this exercise, so as not to settle on the obvious (or maybe easy?) ones. As soon as I read the brief, my eyes were instantly switched on to the textures around me.
Perhaps the most unusual were the bulb and other unknown object that I collected from my garden; one flaky and fibrous, the other spiky and somewhat tacky/sticky (I am still yet to find out what it is…). As suggested in the course book, I used a combination of pen and pencil to investigate ways in which I could render the various textures, to convey not only how the looked but how they would feel to the touch. Pencil worked well for most objects, particularly in rendering light on the bubblewrap and the small stitches on the tea towel.
However, the pen was a little heavy in place; for example, it didn’t work well at all in depicting the small dimpling of the orange skin, or the softness pliability of the putty rubber. One thing I did find, though – when using the pen to draw areas where the light hit – was that spacing out the marks I made gave the illusion of highlights and generally lighter areas.
Looking at all of the textures drawn, I’d say my favourite in terms of successfully depicting the texture is the tea towel drawn in pencil; shading with the pencil helped to create the raised areas, and I could vary the pressure of the marks quite effortlessly to show more or less dense areas.
Frottage
I hadn’t tried frottage since school, so was quite excited at the prospect of seeking out interesting textures to attack with pencil and paper. I actually used a combination of materials – pencil, conte crayon and charcoal – so that the effects weren’t too limited or similar, and to introduce colour. Each time I approached a new texture, I tried to use my best judgement about what material would work best for each. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a great deal of interesting natural objects around my home – not that would take too kindly to being ‘frottaged’, anyway – so settled with a large leaf and concrete slab, both in pencil. The other objects I had chosen had simply jumped out at me as I wandered around my home; perhaps the most satisfying was the rubber mat with triangle detailing outside my back door, which the pencil glided over effortlessly, creating a striking impression.
Some objects I attempted with a certain medium (i.e. conte crayon over a leaf), but these simply didn’t work, leaving only a smudge of opaque colour, therefore I didn’t include them. The only texture that worked with charcoal, oddly enough, was the top of my art box where I store my drawing materials and a rough fabric door mat. The whole process made me feel young again – as I associated it with being at school – and I found myself making quite a mess with smudges and sticking pieces of paper into my sketchbook (I decided to use separate sheets for ease of use).
Research Point: Max Ernst and Frottage
Frottage – from the French ‘Frotter’ (fruh-tay), ‘to rub’
I find it amazing that Max Ernst (1891-1976) found an ageing floor in a hotel room such an inspiration that he took to it with paper and pencil, discovering ‘frottage’ in the process. There is a real presence of mind there, the ability to utilise the artist’s eye to cast about for unusual resources and material. I can’t imagine myself instantly chancing upon such a technique, but this has inspired me to be more aware in future; who knows, I may discover a new technique of my own if I pay enough attention…
It seems that rather than create a uniform pattern, Ernst regularly shifted his paper around while rubbing; I can only imagine this was intended to augment the already existing texture he had created by overlaying it several times, and to break up the consistency of the patterns. This process is evident in Forest and Sun (1931, graphite on paper); rather than place the trees apart, he has created depth and interest by overlaying the tree image several times.
One particularly interesting notion was that Ernst suffered from ‘artists block’ – he found it difficult to lay down the first mark on a plain white ground – and so developed the frottage technique in order to cover the white expanse quickly.
In Les Diamants Conjugaux (The Conjugal Diamonds – 1926, graphite on paper), I found it hard to determine just what Ernst had used to convey the texture of the walls/trees on either side of the bird figures. Maybe a wall or tree itself? There is a definite texture there – whether or not it came directly from the object he was trying to depict – and from a distance we can almost believe it has been entirely hand-drawn.
Looking at Ernst’s work has given me a few exploratory ideas that I hope to develop in my sketchbook very soon…
Henri Michaux (1899-1984) was an acquaintance of Ernst, and dabbled with frottage himself. However, his pieces just don’t instill me with any particular feeling, not as much as Ernst’s work; he had apparently experimented with hallucinatory drugs and used the experiences to inspire and inform his work, so maybe that why I find them a little strange and not representative of a particular theme or emotion. The fact the piece shown below is called Untitled again just doesn’t make me believe he was aiming for anything finished, or legible; as you can probably tell, I much prefer to look at more considered works, although I will say some of the marks made are quite intriguing!
Exercise 2: A drawing with textures
For some reason, as soon as I had read what was required for the exercise, I had already decided that I’d like a large, textural object to serve as a background, in front of which smaller objects would be places. I chose a viscose, somewhat satiny polyester cushion that had an interesting stitched pattern over one side, a mini trophy (I figured a highly reflective surface was still a texture), and a few unusual pieces from my pot pourri dish. An added bonus was that the table I arranged my objects on had a texture of its own. I decided on A4 sketchbook format – as no size was specified – so that the drawing wouldn’t get too out of control, eliminating the risk of rendering different parts of the same object inconsistently.
Once I’d propped the objects up, I arranged a suitable composition that showed all of the objects clearly with interesting angles and reflections/shadows (the light source came in from the left). I then had to decide which medium to use; since I had objects that possessed quite striking details, with deep tonal areas, I settled on a 3B pencil for the entire drawing, and used this to draw the composition in, after using my ‘viewfinder’ (in this case, my fingers forming a rectangle) to decide where to place the objects in relation to the paper size and shape.
I began with the trophy, drawing in the shadows and reflected light, but soon realised I was being too fiddly and ‘precious’, so tried to loosen my hand a little more as I worked towards the base. Next, I approached the smaller piece of pot pourri in a completely different manner; rather than draw the detail exactly as it appeared, I instead used rounded, squiggly marks to suggest the rough, bumpy texture. I thought this would make them appear rushed, but once I’d shaded them appropriately, I was happy with the result. The large piece of pot pourri that resembles a ball of string didn’t appear to have any defined areas of light or shade, so I used the eyes half-closed technique to help distinguish between them a little more. Again, I found I was trying too hard to draw the individual strands realistically, so I began to use thin, soft lines laid down next to eachother to depict its straw-like texture. At this point, I was amazed at how quickly I had rendered the remainder of the drawing after taking so much time over the trophy alone.
Finally, I had to tackle the expanse of pillow in the background. I knew from the outset that I needed to adopt a loose approach or risk taking too long over it. So, rather than use the tip of the pencil, I turned it on its side and used the edge to make sweeping, smudgy marks in various tines, to suggest the detail and thickness of the material. When completed, I went back over it with a putty rubber to add back in highlights that I had inadvertently smudged over, and then continued with it over the rest of the drawing to achieve the correct balance or light and dark tones.
Looking at the drawing as a whole, I’d say the range of textures that feature are varied enough considering just one grade of pencil was used. However, if I were to approach this again, I’d probably try and choose a object that was lighter in tone rather than the trophy, as I feel the composition is more on the darker side of the spectrum and having a lighter central object would break this up and add more solidity to the forms. I am pleased I managed to use the pencil in a variety of ways so that there is a combination of shiny, bumpy, coarse and thick objects that produced an interesting textural composition.
Conclusion
For someone who gets so caught up in realistic rendering, I was certainly apprehensive in abandoning this approach in favour of a looser style and more rapid mark-making. I admit to starting this project with my tighter style intact, but by the end of the second exercise, I was feeling somewhat liberated by just how quickly I could render a drawing to convey texture without having to draw every single tiny detail I saw. It was certainly a revelation!!
I’m not sure if I found any new ways of using my materials here, but I certainly rediscovered techniques I haven’t used in years. For example, turning the pencil on its side and firmly ‘pushing’ the marks into the paper; I used this on the pillow in Exercise 2 and was amazed at how well it worked to depict the texture. It was certainly an intuitive decision! I did discover that lines can be used other than simply drawing outlines of objects, as illustrated in Exercise 2 when drawing the large piece of pot pourri; this technique actually makes me feel I can reach into the drawing and start peeling layers away from the strands!
As far as frottage is concerned, I have been inspired to try out some more techniques in my sketchbook when I can find the time. I can see how it can add instant texture to a drawing, and can be used in conjunction with hand-drawn pieces (as seen in Max Ernst’s work).
At this point in the course, my mind is boggling (in a good way) with the sheer amount of information on different ways to make a drawing; I am going to be taking advantage of my drawing materials much more now, exploiting them so that each of their own unique properties has a chance to contribute towards more textural drawings.
My BA (Hons) Creative Arts Journey with the OCA 