DRAWING

Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, or moving a tool across a surface. Common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers. Most drawing media are either dry (e.g. graphite, charcoal, pastel, Conté, silverpoint), or water-based (marker, pen and ink). Watercolor pencils can be used dry like ordinary pencil, then moistened with a wet brush to get various painterly effects. Very rarely, artists have drawn with (usually decoded) invisible ink. Digital tools which simulate the effects of these are also used.

The main techniques used in drawing are: line drawing, hatching, crosshatching, random hatching, scribbling, stippling, and blending.

Ink drawings typically use hatching, which consists of groups of parallel lines. Cross-hatching uses hatching in two or more different directions to create a darker tone. Broken hatching, or lines with intermittent breaks, is used to form lighter tones, and by controlling the density of the breaks a graduation of tone can be achieved. Finally stippling, or random placement of dots on a page, can also be used to produce a texture or shade.

Shading is the technique of varying the tonal values on the paper to represent the shade of the material as well as the placement of the shadows. Careful attention to reflected light, shadows, and highlights can result in a very realistic rendition of the image.

Blending uses an implement to move the drawing material on the paper so as to hide the original drawing strokes. This can only be done when drawing with a material such as graphite or charcoal that is not permanently attached once applied.

Drawing is generally considered distinct from painting, in which colored pigments are suspended in a liquid medium and usually applied with a brush. Etching is similar to drawing but differs in that the tool digs into the surface, which is then used to make prints on a separate surface.

One standard for differentiating drawing from painting is that it does not permit the artist to mix colors before applying them; colors can only be blended on the drawing surface, usually by overlaying one upon the other or by putting them close enough together that the eye "mixes" them.

These distinctions are somewhat arbitrary and subject to change; some artists refer to fully-rendered pastel and colored-pencil compositions as "paintings", and in nineteenth century usage "drawing" also encompassed the use of watercolors.

Prior to working on an image, the artist will likely want to gain an understanding of how the various media will work. The different drawing implements can be tried on practice sheets to see what type of pattern they create, and how to apply the implement in order to produce varying tones.

An artist who excels in drawing is referred to as a draftsman or draughtsman.

1. What is drawing?

2. What media is used in drawing?

3. What techniques used in drawing can you name?

4. What is shading used for? What is blending? What is etching?

5. What is the principal distinction of drawing from painting?

6. Is the distinction strict?

7. what does an artist do before drawing?

A Great Painting Enriches

Our Experience of Life

Just as a Great Poem Does or a Great

Musical Piece

To begin with I'd like to say that I fully agree with this statement and that I per­sonally have become quite an experienced art-lover after such a profound study of West Euro­pean and English painters at the lessons of English. I have never thought that the great painters of the past had been so closely connected by ideas, school­ing and their perception of art and beauty. I have also realized that without learning the primitivism and flatness of medieval times one would never be able to appreciate Hogarth's renowned vivid realism and total rejection of idealization, an approach, which was revolutionary at that time.

I have learned that the English artists of the 17^lh-19"' centuries have been greatly influenced by the Flemish celebrities such as Sir Antony Van Dyck. His models can be easily recognized by their spot­less armour, a steady gaze and a regal demeanour. It is apparent that they are all men of great impor­tance. As painter to Charles I, the artist was com­missioned to convey the King's majesty to all who saw it. After studying with Peter Paul Rubens in

Antwerp, Van Dyck went to London and then to Italy. There he adopted a more elegant manner o[ painting, which he kept all his life. It was in Italy, too, that Van Dyck created a style that began the great tradition of English portrait painting. These works were usually of noblemen with proud postures and slim figures. He was often accused of flattering his sitters, but not all were pleased. For example, The Countess of Sussex reacted to his portrait by saying she felt "very ill-favored,and quite out of love with herself."

Henry Fielding once said: "It has been a vast rec­ommendation of a painter to say that figures seem to breath, but surely it is much greater and nobler ap­plause, that they appear to think." And in this connec­tion the portraits o[ Sir Joshua Reynolds inevitably come to my mind. He is best known for the manner in which he married the Grand Style of the great Italian masters with portraits of the English aristocracy. I seemed to comprehend the message Reynolds was try­ing to leave to the next generations. Grandeur and formality are minimized in his pictures. Human feel­ings and emotions are in the centre. For example in his portrait of "The Countess Spencer with her daugh­ter Georgiana" the background elements of the col­umn, drapery and brooding clouds are the last thing we pay our attention to. It is the loving face of the moth­er and the innocence of a five-year girl that really astonish. I seemed to understand that mothers will always be so anxious, caring and generous, no matter whether they wear an intricate lace and finest silk or a denim shirt or jeans. The ability to implement this message to the people really makes the master. That explains the fact why Reynolds is credited with having elevated portrait painting in Britain to a height equal­ing that of the great Italian masters. His status during the reign of George III was such that when the King formed the Royal Academy in 1768, Reynolds was ap­pointed its first President.

Miguel de Cervantes said: "Good painters imitate nature, bad ones vomit it." One can't but think about English landscapists percepting the universal wisdom of the saying. 1 was deeply impressed by Thomas Gainsbor­ough's "Mr and Mrs Andrews". A peaceful provincial couple is resting after an afternoon of shooting. To the right, their estate extends far into the distance. The sheaves of corn tell us it is autumn, and Mr Andrew's dog and shotgun imply that he has been hunting. It was quite an experience when almost instinctively I started looking for a pheasant shot by this elegant English gen­tleman. I felt authentic pity that Gainsborough never completed the painting. His wife's beautifully executed blue satin dress is unfinished — the outline of a bird is visible on her lap. Robert Andrews and Frances Carter were married in November 1748 and it is thought that this portrait was painted as a celebration of this event. It's fantastic how sensitive we become while dealing with a real masterpiece. I saw that both of them are not very young and the words from a Russian song, where autumn is compared to a person's age came to my mind. The song persuaded us to treasure every season of our lite, like the Andrews were enjoying the last sun of late autumn. The years made them wiser, happier and brought peace and stability into their hearts.

I seemed to understand that not only the intuitive sense of style and color and the superb handling of paint make him one of the artistic geniuses of eight­eenth century Europe, but the ability to put verse and music into every single stroke of brush.

I. Answer the questions.

1. What were the great painters of the past connected by?

2. Who were the English painters of the 17"^1-19^lh centu­ries influenced by? Why?

3. How do you understand Fielding's words?

4. What is Reynolds best known for?

5. What do you think Cervantes meant?

6. Why are people impressed by works of Gainsborough? 7 Do you agree that painting enriches our life's experience? Why?

II. Circle the right answer.

1. The great painters of the past

a) created primitive works

b) weren't able to penetrate into their sitter's feelings

c) didn't leave any masterpieces

d) were closely connected by their perception of art and beauty

2. Sir Anthony Van Dyck

a) was the famous Dutch painter

b) influenced the development of pictorial art of his days

c) considered to be the father o[ British painting

d) painted mostly landscapes

3. Sir Joshua Reynolds

a) followed the steps of W. Hogarth

b) worked in Scotland

c) was the first president of the Royal Academy

d) was a genre painter

4. Thomas Gainsborough

a) was Reynold's follower

b) was a great master of portraits

c) worked mostly in London

d) lived in the 19"' century

5. The great painters

a) were all poor

b) did not pay attention to anything except their art

c) created new genres

d) had the abilities to put poetry and music into every single stroke of brush

III. Do you agree or not? Comment on the following statements.

1. The great painters of the past were isolated.

2. Van Dyck created a gallery of ceremonial portraits.

3. Reynolds is best known for the seascapes.

4. Background is very important in Reynolds's work.

5. Gainsborough was appointed the first president of the Royal Academy.

6. In his work Gainsborough did not pay any attention to the background.

7. Gainsborough's works were very musical.

IV. What do you think? Give a reason for your opinion.

l. The great painters of the past were connected by their perception of art and beauty.

2. English painting of the 17'^h-19'^h centuries was greatly influenced by Sir Anthony Van Dyck.

3. Van Dyck's works are easily recognized.

4. Reynolds' manner of painting differs greatly from other English painters of the period.

5. Gainsborough flattered his models.

6. A great painting enriches our experience of life.

VI. List all the problems touched upon in the text.

VII. Role play. You invite your friend to visit the exhibition from the National Gallery of London. He/she is reluctant to go.

VIII. Comment on the following quotations.

1. "Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures." Henry Ward Beecher.

2. "A great portrait is always more a portrait of this painter than of the painted." Samuel Butter.

3. "The painters of old painted the idea and not merely the shape." Hsieh Ho.

4. "The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard." Leonardo da Vinchi.

5. "Painting is silent poetry, and poetry painting that speaks." Simonides.

6. "Imagination without skill gives us modern art." Tom Stoppard.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1843