For the second lesson, we learnt to prime our papers for charcoal drawing next week. We first applied a layer of gesso. After that dried, we applied a dilute mixture of black and yellow ochre gauche paint. It created this murky greenish hue that is actually quite nice the more you look at it. By appling gesso, it allows for better charcoal adhesion. Also, which a slight background colour, the whites(chalk) pop out better, creating more contrast.

After that we tried Chinese ink on rice paper. We were to draw the big shapes randomly and then try to “see” an animal. Then proceeding to draw out the rest. We were also meant to paint randomly. Then from there we see the “big shapes” such as the body and we try to draw the rest of the animal. I personally found it challenging trying to see an animal out of literally nothing.

I find it very hard to control the water. But prof says that the uncontrollable/mistakes can be used to our advantage. But I’m not of so high level yet.