Drawing Plants and Flowers

Negative Space

I chose quite a complicated plant for this drawing - well, when I looked at it before drawing it, I thought it was going to be very complicated but actually, once I got going it was quite easy. I concentrated hard on the negative space, drawing the shapes between the flowers and stalks to ensure the spacing between was correct and that the shapes and sizes were all right. It took a long, long, looong time, but I really enjoyed completing this exercise and I am pleased with the outcome.

Plants and flowers in coloured pencil

I spent quite a while preparing for this drawing. I practiced layering different colours, different pencils, using different paper, applying watercolour washes etc. I decided I liked the watercolour wash so tried that on A3 paper. I didn't stretch my paper though, and ended up with a crinkly mess. So I gave up on that idea - but I am glad it went wrong as I don't think it would've looked right anyway. I'm pleased with my drawing - the photo I took of it is a little too dark. For the first time my background does not look too awful! Yippee! It is not perfect though (the background isn't completely right, particularly the window and curtains) I am mostly pleased with how the leaves and the flowers turned out. I struggled at first when layering up the coloured pencils as I didn't think it was going to work, but somehow it all came together quite nicely. I am pleased with my composition too.

Drawing with other colour media

There is no image to follow for this piece as it came out terribly. I didn't even finish it because it looked like a child had drawn it, or like I had drawn it using my feet instead of my hands. I used oil pastel, and I just couldn't get enough detail with it, so it just looked like a scribbly mess. I will come back to this drawing though and start over another day- at the moment though I just want to continue onto the next project. I am disappointed as I really enjoy experimenting with other media.

Drawing with other colour media round 2

This is my second attempt at the exercise. I am much happier with this compared to my first attempt. I sketched out the outline of the plant, then with a white wax crayon I scribbled around the edges and highlighted areas of the drawing. Then with watercolour, I washed over areas, selecting similar colours but not being too precious about it. I then added some extra colour with oil pastel using loose scribbles just to highlight parts of the drawing. I quite like this style and will definitely experiment with wax crayons and watercolour this way again.

Check and Log

How will your experiments with negative space help your observational drawing in the future?

Experimenting with negative space has helped me greatly already. It made me concentrate on drawing what I could see - not what I thought I could see, it helped me to look really closely at the shapes I was drawing.

What techniques did you use to ensure you drew your plants in proportion?
I lightly sketched the outline of the objects to make sure they would all fit on the page. I then used my hand to 'measure' the objects to ensure they were all in correct proportion to eachother. I also looked at the negative shapes around the objects.

How did you achieve an effect of three-dimensional space in your drawings?
I found it easier to create three-dimensional space in my coloured pencil drawing, as I made sure I added in light and dark tones. I found it difficult to achieve this with the oil pastel - I tried, but it all came out far too dark. I also made sure the perspective of the windowsill was correct, I think this really helped to add a three-dimenstional feel to it.

Research Point - Ben Nicholson

Ben Nicholson was strongly influenced by his father, William Nicholson, he began by painting his still lifes in a style similar to that of his fathers.

This changed in 1920 and for the next few years his work altered rapidly as he experimented with different modes of working.

Throughout his career, Nicholson frequently travelled and painted inspirational locations, from the Scottish borders to Cornwall. He particularly liked locations that were remote and a sense of distance.
In the 1930s, Nicholson became Britains leading expodent of Modernism. Influenced by Mondrian, Picasso and Braque - Nicholsons wor was still ever changing, from his white reliefs to a series of blocks of colour, however Nicholson would still return to still life, incorporating compositions of cups and jugs like his earlier work.

One of Nicholsons great influences was his wife Barbara Hepworth, his work changed significantly during the time they met. Before the war broke out, they left London and returned to an area of great significance to Nicholson - the St Ives area in Cornwall, it was here that he created some of his most recognised pierces of art. Nicholson stayed committed to his love of abstration and reinforced the constructivist side of his approach. He seemed to pull together many aspects of his previous work, creating abstract - still life - landscape paintings.

Nicholson included windowsills and tables in his paintings, leaving the viewer feeling like they are involved in the image and can place themselves there. The idea then evolved to the objects becoming simple lines and shapes on the landscape which bear a similar resemblance to his earlier reliefs. The objects look as though they could almost be part of the landscape.