Part three, Project 3- reflections

Having completed part three, project 3 here are some reflections on my progress so far.

• How did you simplify and select? Were you able to focus on simple shapes and patterns amid all the visual information available to you?

In the Exercise 1,  I managed to simplify the main shapes of the church, stonework and trees.  Even the detailed pen sketch includes only the details I considered relevant to the subject, as given the detailed nature of the drawing, I could have included a lot more.  There was a lot of detail in the church brickwork which I simplified into small areas to suggest the bricks.  In the dam drawing, the main patterns were the distant trees, the railings and the reeds in the foreground.  I left out fussy details of wooden walkways, and foreground vegetation.  It was hard not to add too much detail in both of these exercises and I tried to include just enough foliage to create a sense of the vegetation.

• How did you create a sense of distance and form?

In exercise 2 the background trees are smaller, hazy and less defined to put them at a distance.  I did include shading and lighter areas to try to give these trees 3D form however,  In exercise 1 the stonework has clear highlights where light hits them from the side to give a sense of 3D form.  There are also some very deep dark shadows as contrast and to bring the foreground forward.  I might have reduced the intensity of tone in the background shadows – would that have pushed them further into the background?

• Were you able to use light and shade successfully?

I think the pastel picture of the dam could have been more exaggerated in its sense of distance, by using lighter and more pastel colours in the background, to contrast more with the darker, detailed foreground.  In the church drawings, the large foreground headstones are dark monoliths which dominate the drawing, while background trees create dark contrast for the lighter mid-ground stonework to emerge from.

• What additional preliminary work would have been helpful towards the larger study?

More sketches in colour would have helped and more experimentation  and studies using different media.  That seems to be my bug-bear at the moment- mastering pastels and colours!  I think I should do more work in my sketchbooks of elements of the subject, rather than always focusing on the whole composition.