Today I post my final assignment  which  is described above. I must  confess that it was not easy for me to decide  whom to draw. Partially it was difficult because adults around me had been unwilling or busy to pose, or I was not inspired enough to draw them.  At the same time I  was reviewing  one of my artists research and I finally found an inspiration to draw  a  child.  I looked through  Mary Cassat`s artworks and picked one of her most famous paintings a “Little Girl in a Blue Armchair” (1878). That painting made her famous, provoking lot of criticism due to unusual pose of the girl and  prevailing intense turquoise colour. As many of us, I see the mood of the girl on this painting – when the child is left on her own, relaxed and immersed into her own thoughts. So I decided to draw my 5 years old daughter  when she is at the same kind of mood: relaxed  and inside of  her own thoughts. She was sitting with her IPad in an arm chair under the standing lamp. I used, as it was required an A1 size paper. Since it was emphicised  – the study using tone – I decided to draw with HB pencil.  I feel satisfied  with an overall result and I  definitely see how all the exercises I did before helped me to come up with a decent image. I think I could do better in terms of drawing hands, fingers and face.

Self Reflection

October 8th, 2018

After I have received a feedback from my tutor about my drawing above, I was very confused because  it was not clear for me whether I managed meet the assessment criteria  in her opinion or not. She didn’t give me any feedback whether she liked the  drawing or not, what elements of the  drawing I got well and whiny should be improved. Her only and main concern was that I used and rely too much of HB pencil, her recommendation was for future drawings “no more an HB pencil”.  Unfortunately I haven’t  got particular feedback about my drawing above and that made the  self reflection even more important.  Below are my  critical thoughts about my performance meeting the assessment criteria of my drawing above:

• The use of colour in drawing. I didn’t use any colour and I guess that was a problem, even that was not mentioned by my tutor in her feedback.
• The most appropriate medium for the subject. I found  an HB pencil as a good medium  for my subject because I wanted to concentrate on creating shades and tones  on subject`s cloth and  shades on the arm chair;
• Composition and context. Composition and context are in  full relevance with the task given on page 111 of our course folder. We were required to draw a reclining model, so my subject is seating in the arm chair;
• Mark making and contrasts of line and tone.  I worked on contrasts and tone and the medium  demonstrates it very well. However my mistake here was not using a negative space which I left untouched that  makes the whole work as an incomplete. It is interesting that this was not mentioned by my tutor in her feedback. So I just can guess.
• Accurate and expressive depiction of the form: I think I have managed to depict the form of my subject quite accurate; I used all my skills I have obtained during the course to draw a figure with good  realistic proportions. I also think  that I did well with facial expression and  sibject`s pose, creating the mood, depicting a relaxed state of mind of my sibject.
• Experimentation with an idea, material and method:  I did not experiment with the material and medium in this particular assignment. Partly because there was not any emphasis on experimentation  with  mediums and partly because I was completely focused of creating a realistic figure, being not capable to create more complex  artworks. I understood the task very literally as it was described on the page 111, asking  students to focus on light, shades and tones. I got to much preoccupied with that and didn’t think about experimentation and expanding. This is  obviously because I am not a mature artist yet.

October 2018, New drawing:

Since I found some obvious flaws in my drawing for this particular assignment I have decided  to do an additional drawing for this final assignment of part 4 of  Drawing 1 course. Below is my work which I called “ An old man in Izmir”. I was inspired by the image of an old man sleeping outside of his house. I was buying fruits sold by the road and noticed him.  I took a photo of him to use for my drawing. By understandable reasons I could not  draw using him as a live  model, I had to use the photo. This time I used dry pastels  by Jaxell. Below is my analysis of how I managed to fulfill the assessment criteria:

• The use of colour in drawing. I used dry coloured pastels by Jaxell and coloured pencils by Prizmacolor for small details like facial features and fingers.
• The most appropriate medium for the subject. The most appropriate medium would be oil and I plan to do this drawing in oils. However I think pastels were also very good for creating the atmosphere: sunlight and shades.
• Composition and context. I think the context and the composition are in full compliance with the requirements of the assignment. The man is in reclined seating pose.
• Mark making and contrasts of line and tone.  Originally the scene didn’t include a     beam of sunlight. I have brought it  intentionally creating an atmosphere of a certain particular moment of old man`s sleep, because I found an old age as a special time of our lives as a final stage of preparation to  a moment when we meet the God. Thus the sleep at this age is not a just a sleep, it is always a day dreaming and a  meditation. That’s why I emphasised  the situation with the sunlight, bringing a beam of sunlight on to an old man.
• Accurate and expressive depiction of the form: I think I have managed to draw a figure with good realistic proportions and the surroundings of the subject.
• Experimentation with an idea, material and method: I have experimented with different dry  pastels and coloured pencils.
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