Today was about atmosphere and atmospheric perspective, and how those overlap with mark-making with the side of the pencil to lay in blocks of value, without a sense of line. This is a good fit, since I’ve separately been trying to think more about value, and seeing value shapes, and doing that separately from using line. I think something tricky when working with line only (especially in pen), is that line is asked to do so many different things at once – contour/outline/shape, adding detail, articulating form, creating value, showing texture. And so it can be confusing; it’s helpful and seems to yield better results for me when I separate out those different roles – e.g. by using one tool create chunks of value, then adding in line just as necessary. In analogy with blind contour (which I like), it’s also fun to see how much I can do with value alone and no line. A few sketches and notes on these ideas:

marker value studies of a plant on a stand and a baseball cap, with notes

ink and wash sketch of a potted plant on a windowsill, with notes

Other notes I want to remember from the course today:

  • The idea of pentimenti as a key part of the appeal of drawing (e.g. vs. painting) – the intimacy, humanness, dynamism in these marks. Unavoidable documentation of the history and process of making a thing.
  • Atmospheric perspective, both real and fabricated – e.g. can be used in still life to create depth; thing behind is more hazy, less detailed, while foreground is darker, more detailed etc.