mess

This week became a tough one for me. The more I draw, the more I get confused.

I spent almost whole week on colour research, then started drawing but only with paint. It was quite fun to apply the colour and patterns into my B&W drawings, but they were just too flat and no texture though it takes me ages.

By Tuesday I completely got lost, so the tutorial was really helpful.  First, Susan told me a couple of things to look at—Jazz age art and Matisse's cutwork—which are different to Mexican folk art but relevant to my design. It was actually good to know them, that I felt I got a clue to get back on the track finally. Now I'm going more abstract way rather  than pictorial painting, as I see in those artists' work.

What I learnt from this is to concentrate on drawing is important but to keep gathering information is necessary too. I often try to complete each drawing even if they seem not successful, and this kind of attitude may help to keep quality of drawings high but it definitely slows down the progress. To avoid going round in circles, secondary research and quick drawings shouldn't be ignored.

The second thing is to come out of sketchbook. I was quite embarrassed when she pointed out that I was woking within a small A4 sketchbook, because I should have known how limited a way of working it is. After being out of rectangle sheets, I can draw more freely.

Davis Stuart

Matisse

The main concept so far is unusual combinations of people, flowers and birds, yet most of my drawings look much more colour focused than each object I selected to draw. It means I have to be careful about details and shapes, and explore more next week.