Day 22. Get in Touch with Big Feels
Today is all about TEXTURE
Hi you all.
I wanted to just share a quick reminder of the sign that hangs on the wall of our virtual clubhouse wall (and maybe a real one someday soon!) Thanks for being cool.
Okay! Day 22. YOU ARE DOING GREAT. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Now let’s keep going.
In an effort to connect more to ourselves and the world around us, we using drawing to put our attention on our senses! First sense we did was sight. Yesterday, taste. Today? TOUCH.
I have another little skill builder for you today. (I know, I know. But they are so good FOR you.) Roll with me? I think you’ll really get into it, and it’s good to have in your pocket. Also, it’s fun. So good luck sticking to the ten minute limit today.
TOUCH & Texture
Remember those seven elements of drawing?
Line, color, shape, form, value, space, and texture.
We’ve talked (and drawn) a lot about line and shape and space this month, and today we’re going to focus on touch and texture. In drawing, texture usually means the appearance of texture in a piece. But that isn’t always the case. For your learning pleasure, here’s a little context on texture in art, and then we’ll get to the drawing part. Turns out, drawing texture is a great way to connect with our sense of touch and settle into our emo feelings, too.
What is texture in art?
There are TWO types of texture in art: Actual texture, and Implied texture.
ACTUAL TEXTURE That is what you would physically feel if you broke all the rules and actually touched the art.
What would this marble sculpture Camille Claudel by feel like? What would its texture be? Probably smooth and hard. What if it was made of sparkly slime? Or Sandstone? Or moss? Every drawing, painting, sculpture, and installation has texture. 2D or 3D, everything has a unique feel, even if we don’t touch it. That is its actual texture.
IMPLIED TEXTURE is how an artist uses materials to create the appearance of texture.
This Andrew Wyeth painting is made with egg tempera paint, which is a fast drying, slick paint. It’s painted on a wooden panel, which is a flat, hard surface. So while the actual texture of this painting is probably shiny and hard, the IMPLIED texture is what? Bristly? Grassy. Dry. Sharp. Rough… Quick quiz: How many different textures can you count in this paintings? What words would you use to describe them? How do you think Wyeth created each of these textures?
Or, very different texture here, check out Yoshimoto Nara, whose work always feels smooth, slick and a little plasticy to me, like there is thick sheet of plexiglass between me and the painting. When in fact, this is just a print on paper.
Two artists using very different implied textures/sense of touch to provoke very different feelings.
But wait! There’s more. You get a BONUS TEXTURE.
Bonus Texture: IMPASTO. When an artist uses tools like a palette knife, brushes or even their fingers to build up paint on a canvas in such a way that the paint itself becomes actual texture. This is called IMPASTO. You’ve seen this in paintings by Van Gogh, Money, and one of my all time favorite portrait aritsts, Lucian Freud.
Gosh, I love Freud’s paintings so much.
Today, we are focusing on IMPLIED texture.
Drawing Implied Texture
How you create (or imply) texture will vary depending on which medium you use. For our purposes today, I suggest we work exclusively with pen and paper. If you want to add color after that, fine, but start simple. By restricting ourselves to black marks on a white surface we have to learn the basics and really push our imagination.
Creating implied texture with pen on paper also quickly becomes an awesome repetitive mark making session. Drawing repetitive marks is a form of drawing meditation and a great way to slow down, focus, settle into our feelings, and destress. And I think we could all use that right now.
How do you create an implied texture with just a pen??
Creating a texture with just a pen is very similar to creating a pattern: draw marks that imply the texture you’re going for, then you simply repeat it all over the object/space. Ta-da. Texture.
That’s it.
With that, go grab your paper and pen.
TIME TO BRING ON THE BIG FEELS.