Author: Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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Part 3 project 3 exercise 2 fore/middle/background

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Instinctively this feels ok but as soon as I saw instructions that included rulers and viewers I was thrown because that just isn’t me. I’m realising that I’m more intuitive even though that often leads to wobbles and inaccuracies. I think though that I have a few techniques up my sleeve now to help compensate, one of them developed during an earlier exercise and that led to an interior drawing that I rather liked (I may re-purpose it for one of the perspective tasks). It involves using one of my own photos, reducing it to monochrome, increasing the contrast, and … Continue reading Part 3 project 3 exercise 2 fore/middle/background

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Project 3, exercise 1 sketch 1 tonal study on white ground

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’ve had several goes on the Drawing course at this watering can and I’m having several more shots at it here. These constitute work towards Project 3, working on different coloured grounds. This is the first: charcoal on A3 white cartridge. Major success is getting all of it in the frame for the first time! I’ve latched onto his work because of its tonal qualities which might apply to this exercise. No harsh lines, completely blended and calm. It reminds me of ice cream. Also, it’s realism without being photographic and his compositions are almost linear, there’s no fancy footwork … Continue reading Project 3, exercise 1 sketch 1 tonal study on white ground

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Part 1, project 2 monochrome studies

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Are these instructions particularly obtuse or do I have the wrong language chip installed? Anyway, the task was to take two A3 sized sheets (conveniently side by side in my sketchbook); apply a dark wash to one and a light grey wash to the other. As I didn’t have any of the suggested colours to make the first (and also may not have twigged that ‘wash’ meant ‘transparent’) the dark side is a mix of Royal & Langnickel student grade cyan blue and lamp black, and the grey is this mixed with Liquitex heavy body titanium white. Next, came the … Continue reading Part 1, project 2 monochrome studies

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Part 1, project 2 overlaying washes

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

For some reason, the instructions for this task became more impenetrable the more I read them. I’ve done something but whether it meets the brief or not, I can’t be sure. I also used the products of this exercise as the base for the next one – opaque colour mixing – so I had direct comparisons. The second part involved mixing the main colours with white to increase opacity. I used the right hand side of the original washes for this to enable direct comparison. I’m biased here; I like heft and texture rather than watery applications although I can … Continue reading Part 1, project 2 overlaying washes

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Part 1, exercise 3 – painting with pastels

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I think this task is about using pastels much as I might use paint but I’m really not sure what’s expected. I have both oil and regular pastel crayons so I started with the oils. Thinking of ‘painting’ I wondered if the idea was to use a solvent to facilitate blending so I added Liquin either to the support prior to adding colour, or after the colour to influence blending, but I’m not sure it made much difference. It’s also maybe problematic that the quality of the cartridge isn’t great, being a bit smooth. I’ve blended with both stumps and … Continue reading Part 1, exercise 3 – painting with pastels

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Part 1 – applying paint without brushes

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This appeals to me, I like wielding a palette knife and a pebble and carving acrylics into shapes. I started with a landscape from memory but found my memory had stored all the wrong shapes. I’ve been doing sketches of this scene recently for the Drawing module and although that’s moved on a bit from pencils and charcoal, it felt very nice to be let loose with something solid and malleable. I worked originally from photos I’d taken there then reduced to monochrome and heightened the contrast in PaintShop Pro. I go through this underpass almost every day and, a … Continue reading Part 1 – applying paint without brushes

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Part 1 – piece of fruit

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

At the moment, there’s just an apple so – here’s a progression of apples. I’ve used just four colours: cadmium red, cadmium yellow, violet, and cadmium green, (all student grade Royal & Langnickel so not very pigment dense) along with just one brush, a Royal & Langnickel size 6 which is soft, flat, and not very large so ok for A4 size and the little bit of detail I want to trickle in. After letting it dry a little, I added more colour from the same palette then scraped lines into the wet paint with a pebble (a Catalyst W-01). … Continue reading Part 1 – piece of fruit

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Assignment 3 – outdoor scene preparatory work

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I think I’m working my way towards using the underneath of the bypass for this. I liked the exploratory sketches and the brutal nature of the concrete, which has nevertheless been appropriated by humans, and how it sits in the middle of a natural environment of clay, rocks, uncultivated vegetation, and water. It’s often dripping; the sounds under there echo; the traffic rumbles and thuds above. Today, I was on the far side from where I’d taken those initial photos and I could hear music. It was coming from the vicinity of a man who was sitting on the river … Continue reading Assignment 3 – outdoor scene preparatory work

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What Do Today’s Students Get Right And Wrong In How They Take Lecture Notes?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

A note on notes. I have to remind myself of this periodically, partly because the practice of note-taking at speed and often in cramped conditions ruined my handwriting forever, but also because, in the context of sketch books, I found it hard to see the point. Also, I didn’t want to make a mess of something I liked and might use later as a print or postcard. But this article makes it clear (again) that taking/making notes is a way of organising information and this makes it more memorable. I do think there’s a significant difference though, between taking live … Continue reading What Do Today’s Students Get Right And Wrong In How They Take Lecture Notes?