Leaves and lace and light

Charcoal on paper
52.5cm x 75cm

A play of light and dappled shade, openings to deeper dimensions, dialogue regarding the effects of time, beauty, and conservation of our natural resources – these are the narratives supported by this work.

I played with leaves, lace and light… converted my thoughts and feelings and vision into a charcoal drawing… and found it mesmerising.

The white-on-white still life really engaged my creativity and demanded that my powers of observation increase. The project increased my capacity to see tonal shifts within both surfaces and shadows; the various edges that ranged between crisp, hard-edged leaf edges, all the way through to multiple layers of shadows with soft edges; and then translate these into charcoal on paper – on an A1 scale. I learned to become inventive and adapt my application of charcoal and chalk to the surface, tone and/or edges I was attempting to render – and even capture an interpretation of the leaf corpuscles, bumps and fractals that feature on leaves if one takes time to look closely.

The ability to not become overwhelmed by the task of creating refined drawings of a complex subject was another outcome of this project, and I learned to simply exercise patience, take one step at a time, and develop the drawing as a whole, top-down style – comparatively scanning the whole to make segmental judgements and decisions.

I wrestled with the medium – charcoal and pastel that seemed so obstinate, unyielding and abrasive in comparison to my much-loved flowing paint, eventually yielded to become almost-friends  with lots of potential to explore and things to learn about how we might work together, and combine to create something special and unique.

I’m absolutely delighted by my learning outcomes.