Project 2: Mark-making materials

This project has been challenging, I think I've spent too long on it and made some very poor images.
I made a variety of supports but found scratching the top layer off both challenging - my top surfaces adhered far too well, and  stressful - like scraping a blackboard with a fingernail. This made it hard to develop the drawing fully.

First sharpie on polystyrene scratched with a scalpel blade;

Sustained scratching on the left side pillar creates a nice texture.

original drawing - the arches at the entrance to St Pancras Station

Acrylic paint on board also required a scalpel blade to scrape;

Original drawing looking up from the basement of the Wallace Collection - I was interested in the way the curved windows reflected the supports of the glass roof.

Oil pastel over acrylic paint - this came off easier so I could use a penknife, screwdriver and the back if some tweezers to reveal the underlying colour;

Original drawing, a hyacinth and daffodils which have started to droop.

Orange household paint on silver card. Originally, because of the colours I wanted to draw sweets

 but the paint flaked off in big pieces although it looks bit better in the photo than in real life.

The flaky paint suggested the branches of a shrub or tree so I made a rough drawing,

 and had another go. 

It doesn't quite work because the first drawing wasn't properly worked out and the colours are wrong which doesn't make it easy to understand what you are looking at however the shapes of the lines are good and the technique could have potential if better considered. What also could have worked was to scratch into the silver card without applying paint. Sadly I don't seem to have any more card but I will look out for more.

I also tried oil pastel on the cover of a black drawing book, that won't come off with anything, and Jiff smeared thickly on my fridge door which doesn't show up well enough.

Left over icing on a chopping board which didn't want to dry

and acrylic ink on photo paper which is possible to remove but only just. I used a scalpel blade both the point and the flat edge.

The effect is very much like the work of John Virtue and looks much better scanned, cropped and considered.

This was the original sketchbook drawing

Inspired by the cropped image I worked into it a bit more using a pen knife, sandpaper and a scourer.

The effect varies where the ink wasn't applied evenly giving some ghostly effects and making a scraped line look uneven. I abandoned the original drawing to experiment with swirls and curves which means that the finished picture lacks coherence. I didn't paint the ink to the edges of the paper so that I could handle it whilst wet and I like the uneven shape.

This and the plants are the most successful of my experiments.

The course notes suggest study of paintings with particular reference to mark making specifically study of two pieces:

1 - Two Thatched Cottages with Figures at the Window, Rembrandt, 17th century (pen & brown ink) which is available online via the Bridgeman Education Library. This is a study in what can be achieved using a pen and ink. The ink is sepia/brown except for a couple of intriguing patches on the roof which are grey. Is this as a result of ageing or some sort of glitch with the ink? He uses thick bold lines, thin scratchy lines, scribbles and squiggles. The lines that describe the scene are so beautifully loose and expressive, the figures just a suggestion of lines. I love the way he has drawn a third roof on the far right hand side of the paper but not supported it with a building. Lack of time? Loss of interest? I enjoy sketches so much more than finished work.

2 - The Raising of Lazarus, Caravaggio, 16th century (also Bridgeman Education Library) This is a larger and more complicated drawing which makes it harder to appreciate the complexity of the lines online. Using dark and light on a medium coloured ground creates depth and interest in a picture, the accompanying text does not state what medium is used to create the white areas. The white on the folds of the clothing indicate strong sunlight but do they depict undergrowth or water in the body of the picture? In the distance the mountain appears snow covered and inhospitable. The dark lines expresses the stunted trees and distant buildings. Both colours are used to describe the distance (no arial perspective here)