3.0 Observation - topography where to draw. What to draw

Veronica Lawler

Energy and life, a real buzz. The atmosphere in Lawler's drawings fill the page in a much greater way than the detail in her drawings. 

Areas of colour add interest and vibrancy. 


George Butler

Wonderful shapes, carefully mapped out boxes and lines, thoughtfully positioned onto the page. Colour is used in areas to draw the viewer into where the action is, with just a subtle use of colour in the background. A good use of negative space as the positive looks so intense, even though the colours are subdued. 


Lucinda Rogers 

A similar approach to Lawler. A black line, detailed scenes. Washes of colour are enough to add energy, but don't saturate the page. The colour brings the clothes of the market stall to life, as well as the fruit and veg. 



Paul Hogarth 

Intense areas of bright colour bring these drawings to life. They are exciting lithographs. The colour of the landscapes really bring the buildings to life. 


Oliver Kuglar 

A German cartoonist, a busy cartoon style. Word and people, places and buildings. Active reporting on a scene but in a comic strip format. The drawings appear new and exciting. I also like the way he uses colour to add to the strips. Sometimes a block, such as the yellow below and sometimes just key figures are highlighted, to draw the viewer into the scene. 

David Gentleman

Meticulous detail. The lines are perfectly positioned in carefully considered drawings, a much slower pace that perhaps Lawler or Rogers. 


A take a trip from my house through my village. My village is rural, I don't decide on my route, I just wonder. 

I decided to draw a series of boxes in my sketchbook before I started, boxes that I can fill with detail. This is purposeful for two reasons, it feels less daunting to fill a box than it does a page. It also feels like a series of drawings this way. 

I have a pencil, a black biro and a tin of coloured pencils along with an A5 sketchbook. 

Emotive feelings: Calm, warm, abundance, rich, nurturing, beautiful. 
Physical: Green, wild, natural, old, textured, growth, functional. 



Of particular interest here it the bench. The way the light falls today, the bench reflects the bench onto the ground, it's as if the bench continues. Interesting lines but also a beautiful reflection of a much loved bench being part of the ground. 



This is particularly interesting. Looking up, the sky is blue, a block of colour with these wonderful black lines that look like patterns in the sky. A contrast to the green below. 


A functional post box in a green and natural setting, an interesting contrast. The brickwork is textured and the box a stand out red. I like how the colours work alongside each other here. 


A beautiful old lamp post, I think that is no longer used stands tall in the midst of a green  garden. There is a block of purple here too which I enjoy. 


A street sign, I like the angle that it appears here as I look at it from the side. Textured brick work but with new growth of green along the pavement. 





I returned to the post box, using the same A5 sketchbook. This time I added brown paper and included a tube of red and green acrylic paint. I just wanted to see if I could bring out the colour of the box and the contrast against the green in a more effective way, using the brightness of Paul Hogarth. 



Reflections: 

The A5 sketchbook marked into smaller grids worked fantastically well as documenting my journey. The biro and coloured pencils were easy to carry and really easy to use on location. I think the colour was limited in the sense that I couldn't always find the most accurate colour match within my collection of coloured pencils, however they did the job at identifying contrasts of colour, areas of brighter areas. 

Returning to the post box was really interesting. I like the vibrancy of colour in Paul Hogarth's work. By changing the paper from white to brown, this immediately increased the intensity of colour. A did switching from coloured pencils to acrylic paint and only using it in blocks. 

Some of the sketching en route are very quick, others were a little slower. All offer important detail and as I revist the sketches, trigger the same feelings as I experienced on my route. 

An important fist step into documenting. 

References: 

The works of George Butler
The works of David Gentleman
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/david-gentleman-1148
The works of Paul Hogarth 
 The works of Veronica Lawler
The works of Oliver Kugler
The work of Lucinda Rogers 


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