Introduction
I have decided to make the focus of my last assignment artichokes! Why? Well I brought some recently for my son who loves to eat them raw with homemade salad dressing and I noticed the richness of colour and the variety in the shape. From different angles there are interesting details and shapes. This subject matter seemed to offer plenty in the way of drawing studies, using different mediums and angles and view points.
Exercise Different Angles
I started with looking at artichoke hearts which have been cut to a reduced form. The have such lovely concentric circles on the top but smooth rounded forms for each leaf. The following sketches are really just studies of each form from a different perspective. I started to add tone and shading but then decided to leave that for future exercises and so concentrated on proportions, shape and form.
Again using the hearts I looked at the side view and thought putting two together end to end would make an interesting composition for later studies. Both ends of the subject are interesting in terms of detail but the sides have their own interest with smooth linear texture and colour. For me, this exercise is about different angles and form rather than colour.
This third sketch is a view of the bottom of the artichokes where they have been cut from the stem. I think there is some very interesting detail work that can be explored and the idea of repeat pattern appeals to me.
I have made two studies of the whole artichoke below and right which again refer to shape, proportion and size. There seems to be so many different angles and viewpoints which is where the interest in this subject matter lies. I hate to eat artichokes so it was a strange choice for me but when I bought some for my son I suddenly thought what an interesting and diverse object to draw. Colour, shape and interesting curves make this a good subject matter.
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