This task was to draw tonal studies of cloud formations in the sketchbook, using charcoal, oil pastel and conté, and with the aid of putty rubber. Sketches should be small and done quickly, capturing different weather patterns and times of day. They also should give volume to the clouds and show movement, with a focus on light and dark and capturing contrast and tonal effects.
After recovering from reading the instructions, I began planning for the exercise.
Friday 12 October 2012
The weather is nice today, but the cloud situation is unsteady. This morning there were no clouds at all, but by now (midday) the sky is almost covered with white clouds. I was planning to go outside to draw this afternoon and will decide later on whether I will do the cloud exercise or the next one, which is independent of clouds.
The oil pastel drawing I made yesterday was a first attempt at drawing clouds, only that it wasn’t focused specifically on clouds.
Re-reading the task instructions, I understand that I could just go on the balcony and have a look at the clouds and draw from there. I will study the next exercise’s instructions and then decide how to plan the afternoon.
That afternoon I went outside to Jungfernheide, another large park not far away from my home, and made a first attempt at “Plotting space through composition and structure”, the next exercise which is covered in the following blog post.
Cloud formations No 1
A few days later I decided to do the cloud studies, because the weather was nice and there were interesting cloud formations. Rather than driving out of Berlin again or going to the park where I usually take a walk, around midday I went to a different place at a sidearm or canal to the river Spree, which I remembered to offer nice and hopefully at least moderately open views.
And indeed the place was nice. There was a small pathway next to the water where I walked a bit until the view was open to the sky and cloud formation passed by. I did quite a few sketches in charcoal (1+2), conté (3+4) and oil pastel (5-8). Rather than making them small, I covered a page with each sketch because I thought it would be easier for me to have a little space, for my first attempts.
And again I was very disappointed by what I was actually able to draw, compared to the beauty and impressiveness of the real clouds. Strangely enough, I like my drawings, but not for their resemblance with clouds (because there isn’t much). I decided to take some photos. Maybe I can learn how to draw clouds when I have a picture to look at. Maybe I learn how the structures look like at home, without a feeling of time pressure.
So what did I learn today? That I’m not able to depict clouds at least moderately realistic, that I’m not able to use putty rubber to work out lighter areas. That I’m not able to draw clouds with conté pastels and that a blue sky with just black to draw the light grey of the clouds doesn’t amount to a nice picture of clouds. There were some brief moments of learning though, for example when I discovered the property of ‘building up’.
I don’t know. Maybe it will work better next time. Maybe I’ll try to be very realistic and work after the photos. It has also to do with mark making. I just don’t know how to use the drawing tool to depict the object in the way I want it to look like. I feel like a Gorilla trying to speak, but only producing strange noise. Huge frustration.
Friday 26 October 2012 – Cloud formations No 2
I had another go at cloud formations. Weather conditions were ok, but the clouds were very strange. They looked like regularly baked patterns, with almost no blue sky to see. So my cloud studies are just in that they look very strange, too. On the first one, I managed to draw 2 formations on the A4 sketchbook page, but for those afterwards I just couldn’t get myself to do miniature sketches smaller than A4.
The first page was done with Conté, the second in charcoal, and three and four are oil pastel drawings. I found it very difficult to achieve any kind of naturalistic depiction with oil pastels. They look like anything but not clouds! But still, they are following what I saw in the sky.
27 October 2012 – Cloud studies after photographs
I made a third attempt, this time using photographs I had taken during my first two excursions. Strangely enough, this time I was able to downscale. Probably this was because the image in front of me (on the computer screen) was much smaller than a real sky.
I made three pages: First Conté, then charcoal, and finally oil pastel. From a technical point of view, I think these three are much better than the earlier attempts, and I especially like the charcoal page. But somehow I prefer the earlier “weaker” ones after a real sky – maybe just because they are so strange.
Concluding reflections
Writing this article and re-reading my notes on task instructions, I realized that I had read them well and understood that the sketches were supposed to be made quickly. But I may have missed out one important point: Instructions also advised to take time to study the cloud formations. I found the sketches after photographs more successful than the sketches from real clouds. Maybe this was because sitting quietly at home, I had more patience to study and look before drawing.