Assignment:
Create 10 mark making tools
3 wall-based paper installations which demonstrate form, value, texture, surface, and all the glorious variants thereof. Get close up. Ensure your composition is strong, taking in to consideration visual balance, weight, and interest. Use a viewfinder if necessary. Each of the below use a full sheet of supplied paper.
By next class you are to complete the following time-based exercises:
EXERCISES MUST BE COMPLETED IN ORDER and be present at critique.
A: 3 x 30 Minute Mark Making Drawings
1. Using gouache and your marking-making tools (no paint brushes, refer to your mark making research.)
2. Using charcoal only (focus on the shifts of color… translate to value)
3. Using colored pencil only, build up layers of detail, match colored pencil to light intensity as closely as possible.
B: 3 x 60 Minute Mark Making Drawings
1. Using charcoal and additive + subtractive methods (erasers / blending) and using a variety of relevant marks, as demonstrated in your Texture Book, express color as mark
2. Using gouache (no paint brushes), replicate composition B1
3. Using colored pencil only, consider blends and your mark making capabilities. Explore cross-hatching methods. Match colored pencil to light intensity as closely as possible.
C: 2 x 180 Minute Mark Making Drawings
1. Using black gouache and your mark making tools (no paint brushes), demonstrate your understanding of color through mark making. No shading, no blending, and no gradients. How can we perceive different values through mark making alone?
2. Using gouache (color!) and your made tools, make appropriate marks to most accurately and realistically portray your still life. No black.
Reflection:
While working on these I was very frustrated. I felt like I did not have enough time and that the work I was making was not up to my own expectations. I worked very fast and loose for most of these which I think is the only reason I managed it. I had a lot of trouble with my first 30 min colored pencil drawing because the pencil was so light. For the hour long one I was practically stabbing the page and most of the time held the pencils in a tight fist. I had to sharpen them every minute or so, but the final result was much more vibrant.
Gouache is an evil evil medium and I initially hated it. I tried to treat it like acrylic and it was so sticky and hard to get across the page using my homemade mark making tools. I used my fingers for most of the 30 min. I figured out that the best way was to layer the gouache thin (but not too much or it gets really gross and muddy). For my hour long gouache I had to replicate my charcoal one. I actually really enjoyed this because I didn’t have to work from life. I tacked my charcoal to the wall and knowing how I made the charcoal marks, tried to replicate every aspect of that drawing. Even the order in which the marks were made to that the layers would come out correctly.
During the struggle with gouache I slowly adapted. I think this is most clear in the three hour color gouache. I spent an hour and a half laying our a base layer of color and forms and then came back the next day and filled in shadow and intensity of light. This was probably my favorite one in the end.
Finishing this project was so satisfying. As with a lot of things while it was happening it was very stressful but now that its over I can look back and move on to the next step in the process.
Grace Dunham 