"Art is the only way to run away without leaving home" (Twyla Tharp)

Assignment 2 - SBA Diploma Distance Course

Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem'


Assignment 2 for the course saw us continuing in graphite work - we began with a few tonal exercises, including shading spheres and cylinders to show light source.
I then moved on to the main requirement which was once again a continuous tonal study - to be more complicated and detailed than the first - reflecting our understanding and skill in this medium.
I felt my first piece showed more of the mid tones in the Allamanda cathartica so when deciding on this assignment subject I wanted to find something with strong tonal contrasts, allowing me to work with stronger depth and tone, texture and form.  I spent a long time looking for subjects - the suggestion that it was a plant with flower etc., became a little difficult as we are now in Autumn in Western Australia and very few options appealed which included flowers.

In my garden I found a Magnolia grandiflora 'Little Gem' with no flower, however had a wonderful seed head - to me, even more beautiful and complex than the flower.  I could see it would reflect the strong tonal differences - and to assist in making choices I often take a large sheet of white paper to place behind a plant while in the garden to determine if I feel it can translate well onto paper.  This branch with seed head certainly leapt out so I quickly did preliminary sketches and tonal practise to ensure I could achieve the result I wanted.

Work in progress



Once the drawing was complete and transferred onto watercolour paper,  it then took many long hours of tiny graphite ellipses delivered in feather light strokes - but I loved the branch and seed head so I was happy to spend so much time on this subject.  .


All images © Vicki Lee Johnston

I think that's key to a positive outcome - if you enjoy looking at it for hours, chances are others will enjoy seeing it for a moment on paper.

Sometimes you need to leave home to learn


I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with an amazing botanical artist - Susannah Blaxill.  Susannah is an artist I have admired for years and rarely does workshops - please enjoy her website below
I flew across to Sydney and drove to Mittagong in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales to attend her workshop - staying at a lovely B & B.

View from my room
     

Chinoiserie

The week spent with Susannah was very educational, quite technical at times with lots of information on materials, pigments, paper qualities, graphite techniques, recommended reading etc.  We spent a lot of time working with graphite tonal drawings before moving on to watercolour.


Susannah works mainly with the wet on dry technique, which takes a lot of skill to render well!
A lot of focus was spent on leaves, how many colours you truly see in a leaf most would see as only 'green'.  


We spent a great deal of time working with dry brushwork, the fine details at the end of a painting - Susannah spends so much time on those fine tiny details, her work is testament to the hours spent.  I guess it's up to each individual how much time we choose and are able to spend on that amount of detail, but the more we put in  is reflected in the finished piece.



 
It was quite an intense week and very testing on my eyes, with all the fine detail and close work.  There was a lot to absorb - making notes and taking photographs along the way helps me to remember the week as it happened so that when I return home it still comes back to me.  It was very worthwhile and so good to work with a teacher one on one.  A welcome start to the next assignment where we move on to colour and painting ... leaves!