Graham Lock - Home

July 2010

The ‘Golden Section’...

The ‘Golden Section’ has traditionally been used to render a pleasing composition. A simpler version is to divide your paper horizontally and vertically into thirds. In a landscape you might then use one of the horizontal lines upon which to place the ‘horizon’ line, depending whether you are going to emphasise the sky or the land. One of the vertical lines might be where you place a strong upright – a person, mast or telegraph pole, for example. Whether your composition is essentially triangular, S-shaped, circular, rectangular or whatever, your main point of interest/focal point could coincide with one of the four points where your horizontal and vertical lines intersect. Of course, all of these are merely guidelines that give pleasing results that are easy on the eye. To break the ‘rules’ often gives you a more ‘interesting’, ‘arresting’ or ‘challenging’ composition.

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June 2010

Take time to compose...

Firstly decide on a format, whether landscape or portrait, and perhaps the ratio of base to height. Consciously make decisions about what is your centre of interest, where you place it within the picture. Consider whether you will have a background, middle ground and foreground, what lead-in lines you might have, and crucially, what you might leave out or put in. A series of quick thumb-nail sketches, with or without colour are often helpful. On the thumb-nails or perhaps when the picture is completed, use two L-shaped pieces of card to determine any cropping that might give a better composition.

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May 2010

Change of Routine...

It is too easy sometimes to just continue doing what one always does. Routine is comfortable. Security is comfortable. Sometimes to bring some excitement into our lives we need to do something different. This is equally true of our art as it is of any other aspect of our life. If you always draw in pencil, use charcoal for a change. Or draw with a pen and ink …. or even a sharpened stick and ink. If you always work in watercolours, how about having a go with oil paints? If you don’t like the smells associated with oils, try acrylic paint or acrylic inks. There are so many art materials available with which to experiment and have fun. This month’s painting of Sydney Harbour combines watercolour and pastels, two media that often combine well together. To quote Lucian Freud: ‘Half the point of painting is that you don’t know what is going to happen; if you did you wouldn’t bother to do it.’ It is common to say that each painting should be a journey. If it is, I certainly rarely know the exact route, often go up blind alleys or take wrong turnings, and I can rarely be sure what the destination will look like. The journey can be as frustrating as it can be fun, as rewarding as it can be disappointing ….but always absorbing.

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April 2010

The importance of tone...

When working in two dimensions you can show where one shape or plane ends and another starts by the use of line (as in a line drawing), tone or colour --- or any combination of these.

A painting done in one colour (e.g. Indigo or Burnt Umber) or a tonal sketch (as in this month’s ‘painting’ done in charcoal and chalk on watercolour paper) is a great way of raising your awareness of the importance of tone.

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March 2010

The pencil...

is probably the most used implement for drawing. However, people often don’t consider the different ways of holding it.

Holding it like a pen gives considerable control through the fingers, particularly for making short, intricate, accurate lines. For longer, flowing lines put the top of your pencil in the palm of your hand and hold the barrel half-way down between your thumb and fingers; you should now be able to produce sweeping lines more easily with movement from the wrist and the whole arm. For large areas of shading I suggest you pick up the pencil between your four fingers and thumb and hold it almost parallel to the paper.

I like to sharpen my pencil with a craft-knife. This exposes a good length of lead which facilitates shading. I usually use a 2B or 3B pencil. This allows me to draw a variety of faint and dark lines, as well as a variety of tones when shading. If you use something like an H or 2H use it lightly and be aware that you will not be able to achieve dark marks.

With whatever pencil you use try to avoid pressing too hard - put the lead down on the surface where it is easier to remove if you want to make corrections.

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February 2010

Sketching...

Every artist’s ideal must be to sketch whatever, wherever, whenever and to fill a book with beautiful drawings. I suspect it happens for very few. Nevertheless, the ability to draw well is essential, I believe, if an artist is to produce good paintings. This does not mean that you have to draw your subjects so that they look like what everybody else (or anybody else, for that matter) thinks they look like. What it is important is that they look like what you want them to look like – and that can be as realistic or abstract as you want them to be.

Fortunately, like most things, the more we practice, the more competent we become. Drawing can be fun – and it can be very frustrating, but getting into the habit of doing some drawing every day can only help it improve. So, try to carry a sketch book at all times – and then to find a few minutes every day to fill a page or two.

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January 2010

New Year’s Resolutions...

Many people make ‘New Year’s Resolutions’. Why not look at a quantity of the art work you have completed through 2009. Hopefully you will see it with ‘fresh’ eyes. Try to look at it positively, but critically, and this may give you your resolution for 2010 – perhaps to develop some aspect of your drawing or painting, to experiment with a different medium, to attempt new subjects……….to stretch yourself in some way.

Whatever you do, have a Happy and Successful 2010.

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