Part 2: Turning Words into Pictures

Exercise details:

For this exercise I've had to choose from a list of words, and then draw everything that comes to mind. The word that I chose is Kitchen because of the physical immediacy of the kitchen at home; and the wide range of different objects which I am able to draw.

I've pulled out certain sentences from the exercise detail (in the course materials). These sentences below summarise, to me, the most important aspects of this exercise and the learning experience from doing it:

  • "Imagine you are moving around the scene with a camera and recording each element to create a visual checklist a catalogue of images."
  • "Be conscious of the details and qualities of each subject or object you draw to communicate its qualities and function."
  • "visual editing..."
  • "distillation of information"

Final composition:

I decided to compose my drawings into a moodboard style presentation:


This style of presentation (above) has enabled me to pull together the separate drawings into a coherent whole.  The assignment said to conceptually move around the scene to record elements, visually edit and distill information.  The image above is a distillation of my kitchen and things important in it at that moment in time, and as the exercise detail suggested I had to "deconstruct" the scene into component parts.  Thought on that.

I wanted to use a mixture of different media for the distinct drawings.  The colour of the apples, Worcestershire sauce bottle and marmalade all struck me as needing some colour to emphasise their taste qualities.   For some reason, I felt compelled to add some text to the the sauce and marmalade, and I'm pleased I did.  It adds another element of interest to the composition of drawings.

The exercise said not to be concerned about the accuracy or prettiness of any of the drawings; I took this point as given.  All of the sketches above were very quick and rough.  The exercise seemed to be encouraging me to simplify, distill and deconstruct.   Producing a sequence of little drawings has enabled me to look at a scene in a new way (it was refreshing not to do a "set-piece" observational/still life drawing challenge).

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