For this weeks task we had to do a still life study of a model using charcoal. I don't have much experience using charcoal so this was quite challenging for me as I was quite unsure of how the medium would be best utilised to create a piece of portraiture. I wanted to make this piece as contrast as I could in order to utilise the charcoal as much as possible. it was also important to capture a sense of resemblance within the piece so I spent a lot of time in the initial stages measuring out the features of the face in relation to each other.
I found building up the values challenging for this as the charcoal was very pigmented and I wasn't good at controlling the tonal values. I'm worried my piece was looking a little too monotone and I wasn't getting enough variations in tone. I kept trying to build up darker values in some areas and using a putty rubber to knock back some of the values I was progressing with the piece. I still think the outcome could have had a better tonal variation if I had started building the tones better and more accurately. I find drawing from life a lot more challenging as we were given a very limited time frame in which to complete the task. I like spending a long-time on things.
I think I was able to capture a lot of good resemblance within the outcome of the drawing however I need to focus more on the tonal variation with the us of charcoal. I did enjoy using the medium as I really liked how easily I was able to build up black tones and create a highly contrast effect. I think it would be interesting to experiment with the use of use with very dynamic lighting set ups where there are strong differences between areas of light and shadow. The construction of the face is not perfect but since I measured the model using my pencil and constructed a thumbnail before completing the task I think it helped considerably with the outcome of the drawing.
Contextual task
For my contextual task this week I have chosen to look at a very famous painting by Johannes Vermeer as it is a piece of work that I have liked for years. The painting 'Girl with a pearl earring' was done in 1665 and is not actually a portrait it is a 'tronie' which is a painting from the imagination. I chose this piece in particular because this concept was really fascinating to me. The painter himself was a master at lighting and it is clearly showcased in this famous piece the lighting coming from the left hand side of the piece shines onto the girls face highlighting areas such as her face and the bold large pearl earring that the painting is known for. By adding just a few simple strong highlights the piece turns into a dynamic and interesting paining of the girl. The colour pallet that has been used my vermeer is also eye-catching and features 2 opposing colours on the colour wheel being yellow and blue. the blue is eye-catching and draws your attention in and the yellow of the fabric creates a calm and peaceful setting. I think the piece itself looks almost peal like as a whole. The slight glimmers in the features and the blue and yellow colour pallet along with the hazy glow of the skin remind me of peals found in the sea. The artist has chosen to do an all black background which was not as unusual thing for him to do. The figure really pops forwards and the lighting on the face is very much accentuated because of this. The actual paintbrush stokes also really help with the direction and flow of the piece particularly on the fabric and the angle of the face.
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