Assignment 1: Project One Using Marks to Create Surface Textures Stage 3 - Exercise 1

Exploring surface textures. 

For this exercise I chose two images and used four different combinations of media to reflect the textures in the images.

The first was an image of a rice field from the Guardian and I chose (from left to right):

• Watercolor paint wash and letraset marker pens to pick out the finer detail of the rice plants in the paddy fields.
• Oil pastels.
• Coloured pencils.
• Aquarelle watercolour pencils used both as watercolours and as pencils for the finer details.

Of these, I much prefer the watercolour/letraset combination. The subtlety of the watercolour captures the soft tones of the background sky and fields. The pen, on the other hand, brings out the delicate but distinct stems of the rice plants. The aquarelle is a close second, the pastel an interesting variation for a more abstract interpretation. The colored pencil didn't really achieve the variety of texture I was looking for.

The second image was of a star galaxy from an amazing book about astronomy. For this I chose:

• Acrylic gouache paint overprinted with lustre paint applied by dipping and printing with a bottle cork.
• Watercolour paint accented with natural food colour.
• Oil pastels.
• Coloured pencils.

 I liked each of these interpretations although they are quite different. The watercolour used for the second interpretation has the look of a wreath of plants but is quite pretty albeit a rather loose interpretation of the image. Likewise, the coloured pencil (far right) is a rather pared down interpretation but captures the swirliness of the galaxy.

Overprinting with the cork has brought out the appearance of the gases surrounding the nebula in the first interpretation. However, my favourite is the pastel version as the smudgy nature of the pastels blends the colors to give the impression of swirling gases, but has more depth and intensity.

And the original images?

The full image..

 
 And my selection...

Whirlpool Galaxy...

And my selection....