Drawing from Observation

Recently in the studio we were asked to draw from observation using an item we had chosen to bring in. Our medium was ink and water and tools involved various sizes of paintbrushes and dip pens. 
I found the tasks related to drawing from observation really interesting. The object is right there in front of you and I feel you connect with it a lot more than with sourced visual aids (photographs, books, internet etc). It forces you to really look at what is sat in front of you, you can manipulate it, touch it, twist it, draw from various angles and viewpoints. It becomes about your own perception of what you see and taking this information and translating it from 3D to 2D in your own way which can be really challenging.



I chose to bring in a miniature succulent plant in a tiny pot. We were asked to fill an A4 sized piece of paper with a drawing from our chosen item and repeat this 3-4 times. I found this extremely challenging, attempting to translate information from such a small plant with a high amount of detail onto a large page and have enough time to repeat this - felt almost impossible. This is when I had to be selective again about the information I decided to use (but it was still really easy to get bogged down with detail).

I also had an attempt at drawing a houseplant that Tilly had brought in. Due to the larger size of the plant and leaves, I found this slightly easier to draw from and was a lot happier with the outcome of my work.