This was another exercise which I really enjoyed and hadn’t expected this. I felt that drawing and painting figures went quite well for me. Proportions may not be 100% correct in all cases, but for me, the figures as such work in the context of the drawings and paintings. I did work from photos though, knowing that with drawing from life, it’s a different story.

I used the photos I made last Saturday when I was in Brooklyn and briefly went to Prospect Park. It was a rally nice summer day – sunny and warm, but not hot. In the spot I visited there were quite a few people enjoying themselves. It was a really friendly and calm atmosphere.

I made three preparatory sketches. The first was a pencil drawing of a boy on a scooter. It may sound strange, but in this drawing I (re-)discovered cross hatching as a technique to achieve tonal variation.

The second was a drawing of a group of people, using coloured pencil, worked over with a wash. It is very sketchy, but I really like this style. Then the third was a watercolour sketch in A4 of a woman walking her dog.

In all three prep studies, I had the feeling that the main difficulty were not the figures, but the landscape context – I had technical difficulties depicting the lawn and the trees.

For the larger painting, I chose three people preparing a picnic table in the park. I found it quite fascinating how they extended their living space to the outside, making themselves at home outdoors. Again I think my treatment of the figures was quite successful, whereas the greatest difficulty was with the background trees and the lawn.

Guided reflections

What would the picture look like if either the figures or the landscape itself would be removed? Assess your handling of both figure(s) and landscape. Have you achieved what you set out to do in terms of conveying an atmosphere or hinting at relationship or activity?

Without the figures, the landscape would loose its interest. The three mid-ground trees before the much darker background foliage are ok. The dryer, brownish grass in the foreground doesn’t work very well, it looks too earthy. The figures without the landscape would still work, but I think I suceeded in providing good tonal contrast from the landscape.

I think the painting is also successful in conveying the atmosphere and in telling the story of what the people do. I tend to find it somewhat overworked for the trees and for the foreground grass. I realized this while painting but decided to continue because I wanted to darken the green tones in the background.

For the future, the great challenge will be to paint people from life. I’d also like to improve on painting grass and trees.