The focus is to be a part of the house, or maybe three different parts of the house, drawn as tondos. I chose the latter and used Inktense pencils for the task which I also dampened and brushed out with a flat brush as these pencils produce rich colour with added water.
I also used my newly discovered technique of drawing large (in an A3 sketch book) then using digital cropping to create the tondo as this not only maximises my strengths in gestural marks but also allows for more than one result from a given piece. While this might not always be possible with a physical work, in the world of prints, cards, and marketing items, it’s an efficient use of a maker’s time.
These are the raw images. The first two are on primed cartridge simply because they were there and next in the sketchbook. I like the brush marks under the sponged pencil work. The first subject is a large wooden carved animal my parents gave me years ago. It’s light, like balsa wood, and it guards the TV. I have no idea where they got it.




One of two candidate crops Second candidate crop
I’m generally at a loss to say what artist inspired or informed my work because I usually have no idea, this time though it’s very definitely Henry Moore and his biro sheep. I was aided in this by one of the cats forever nudging my arm as I was drawing, making a continuous line a better bet than trying for separate ones. An interesting observation, now I have these on-screen, is how much looser they become as they progress from first to last. And is there the faintest hint of Emin’s sketch style in the covers of the last one, maybe?





This exercise seems something of a contextual anomaly, having no preceding rationale and no follow-through. Nevertheless, using pencils again is a reminder of their role as tools in the making of marks, which is valuable in itself.
Bonus animations because I’m enjoying trying out all the options.
Moore, H. and Clarke, K. 2003. Henry Moore’s Sheep Sketchbook Paperback – Illustrated. Thames and Hudson Ltd. Henry Moore’s Sheep Sketchbook: Amazon.co.uk: Henry Moore, Kenneth Clark: 9780500280720: Books
2 thoughts on “Part 4, exercise 4-2, three pencil drawings”