Project 4 Stage 2 Ex 4

I took this photo for another exercise and thought I'd done pretty well so I wanted to use it again.

I liked the colours and the way the leaves fell on and over each other in such an attractive way.  The colours are spectacular.

I isolated a couple of areas that particularly appealed to me then did some sketches and colour swatches and made a list of words that applied to what I'd chosen.

Selection 1

I'm never very confident with this sort of exercise and my inclination is to copy.  Pencil sketching I find particularly difficult so I made myself have a go.   I tried to remember everything I've learnt over the past few months and when I let mark making take over a bit things got a little easier.  Somehow I never end up with what I aspire to!

Pencil sketch from selection 1

I dwelt on shape when I was drawing and had to make my outline marks bolder to distinguish the leaves from the negative spaces.  I like the lower half of the sketch better than the top bit - probably because the leaves are more distinguishable.

My second selection was made because I liked the shapes the leaves and stalks made and the way the colours slipped easily from one to another; a sort of strata effect.  

Selection 2

I wanted to focus on this aspect and spent some time thinking about the medium to use.  I settled on soft pastels but began with a lilac colour wash to get me going.  I didn't know what would happen if I put light pastel over dark but in the foreground I found it worked well.  It was difficult to know when to stop blending and I will always wonder what would have happened if I'd taken it further.

Pastel interpretation from selection 2

I felt much more freed up with the pastels; less likely to copy.