Part One: Project 1 - Stage 3: Exercise 1

Tuesday 7th September - Using marks to create surface texture

The final picture I decided to concentrate on was of an unusual tree trunk with coins embedded in it.


Tree trunk with coins

I created textural sketches using a range of pencils, watercolour with ink and finally charcoal. Again I used an aperture to focus in on a small area of the photograph.

Pencil: I used an HB pencil to represent hard edges and a softer 8B pencil to represent background and the soft mosses.
Although I created some interesting directional lines with the pencil, I didn't feel inspired with the result. Maybe with more work, mixing different media or adding colour would liven up the picture.




pencil sketch of tree trunk

 Watercolour and ink: A light wash of brown/black watercolour paint nicely represented the shiny, weather-worn top of the tree trunk.
Whilst the paint was still damp, Quink ink was used with a mapping pen - the lines became blurry and soft edged.
A green/blue background was added with ink lines added to create the muddle of the undergrowth.
I really enjoyed this - the texture took on a life of its own.


tree trunk in watercolour and ink

 Charcoal: This created soft smudgy lines against hard, dark lines. Texture easily created by the different ways of applying the charcoal, smudging or flicking, blending or applying layers.
The grain of the paper helped to recreate the look of grain in the wood.

study in charcoal

This was my favourite technique used for sketching the tree trunk. Charcoal was quick, effective and fun to use.

The complete page showing all the textures used to create the tree trunk.


page of textures for the tree trunk.

I enjoyed creating these textures from the photographs. A different atmosphere was created each time depending on the media used, and how the media was applied to the paper.
Each sketch grew spontaneously - you were never quite sure how each would turn out.
Another learning curve for me with this exercise, was that the more you experimented, the looser and more fun the sketches became.