Exercise: 360degree studies

This was a really interesting exercise. I had to set an alarm every 15 minutes because I know that I am quite a slow drawer and thought I'd easily go way over time without being aware. So when the first alarm went off I was naturally surprised that it had gone so quickly and was a bit disappointed that I'd not 'finished'! But I got used to working quickly after the first one. I actually didn't find it too difficult towards the end to be selective, I focused on only the details that I considered necessary to a quick sketch. I simplified the trees hugely by just making marks to indicate the boughs, trunk or branches. I barely even bothered with adding detail to the grass or tarmac road, I just showed shapes and shadow here and there. Because i chose ballpoint pen it wasn't that easy to shade in large areas, so in hindsight perhaps I should have used another medium like charcoal or pencil. I kept the distant aspects of my views very simple, by juat shading/cross hatching areas to indicate tone and shape - this helped to indicate depth.

Research point: Cezanne

I was really interested to discover that Cezanne did not paint outside in situ according to one source http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/land/ - he compiled his settings presumably from his sketchbook work and his imagination. He chose the compositions of his subjects to fit with his own ideas of how they should be.

Cezanne was well aware that the true reality of the things we see is incredibly difficult to imitate. The problem he found was that whatever he painted and however well he mastered it, it would still never quite match up to the beauty of the scenery itself. His way around it was to more or less make his subjects up.

These images, however real they may look and feel to the viewer probably don't exist in reality, or at least if they do, they will differ certainly. He was an interpretor of the world around him, and through this talent he bridged the gap between nature and art. He proved that your depiction of reality can be just as beautiful and valuable as the reality itself.