ONLINE ART COURSE – MODULE B – CHARCOAL – COMPLETING THE SUNFLOWER DRAWING
Today I completed the sunflower drawing in charcoal. I had left it having done the background, and there were three remaining lessons to complete the picture – the flower head, the leaves and stems, and the final pencil work to produce more detail.
In the end I wasn’t entirely happy with my drawing, because I haven’t got the main flower centre quite right.
Here is a photo of the initial work done on the flower head.
At this stage it doesn’t look too bad.
After completing the leaves and stems, still just using the willow charcoal:
Finally, after adding the detail with the charcoal pencil.
The main flower centre looks too small, and not flat enough.
I didn’t really enjoy doing this drawing. It is unlikely that charcoal is going to be a favourite medium for me, but I shall persevere with the rest of the module and see how the remaining projects turn out – after all, this is a first attempt and it’s a very unfamiliar medium. I don’t reallly like the messy, rather undefined nature of charcoal, although it blends really well with the blending stump, and you can get really good dark areas. The whole thing just seems a bit gloomy! I loved working with the graphite, and shall return to that again and again, I am sure. There is something very appealing about working in monochrome.
Another sketch in my everyday sketch book
“Everyday sketchbook” is a bit of a misnomer! So far I haven’t managed to draw in it every day. I was very busy with other things over Christmas, and also, I don’t really feel inclined to draw in it if I have had a long session working on the art course. The main aim is to try to do some drawing every day, however little, but this is clearly not going to be achievable. I don’t want to turn this into a duty and a chore, and I shan’t stress over it if I don’t manage to put pencil to paper every single day!
From my vantage point on the recliner, I sketched the corner of the room with the clock and part of our magnificent original Art Deco fireplace. I drew the whole thing using my HB propelling pencil, so I didn’t get the shadows really dark. It’s just a sketch, to help train my observational skills, and it was good to try drawing from life rather than from a photograph.
Not brilliant, but all good practice! As always, I found it most difficult getting the proportions right. I am hoping this skill will improve with practice. I did a fair bit of erasing before I was happy!
