Week 4 - Observational drawing and mixed media

In the lesson today, we drew our objects using biro. I drew, once again, the glass Coca-Cola bottle that my Uncle and Auntie got me when the named bottles were popular, as my name wasn't printed by them. I stuck pieces of newspaper on the page, experimenting with drawing over the top and also mainly on the page to see what made the object stand out. I layered emulsion onto the newspaper and found that it created even more contrast in the drawing. I then went onto rip a desired shape of newspaper and drew over that. Reflecting on the drawing now, I can see that the shape of the newspaper doesn't accentuate the shape of the bottle. I also used graphite to add tone and found that it gave a softer mark which was useful for establishing neither the shadow or highlight of the bottle.

Going on to use biro, newspaper, emulsion and graphite, I think this drawing is more cohesive than the previous. First of all I stuck two pieces of newspaper onto the page, leaving a space between them. I placed a thin layer of emulsion over the text so it was less prominent, as I think that on the last drawing the text had too much attention is drawn to it. I sketched out the shape of the bottle using biro and used graphite to start adding subtle tone. I then crosshatched with biro to show the darker shadows and reflections on the glass. I used emulsion again over the top to show the points where the light hit the glass. I also think that the space between the newspaper adds to showing the light on the bottle, which was accidental but I will do this in the future.
















An artist who uses mixed media involving newspaper is Carme Magem. I like the way that the words add tone to the skin by using dark backgrounds with white writing to create the shadow under the arm. The straight brushstrokes present the body to be simple, but the writing juxtaposes this and reveals the body and mind to be more complex.