Expressive lines and marks

For this exercise we were asked to make simple marks (no figures, no words etc) using different mediums using only black, blue or brown on paper and use these marks to convey 4 different emotions. The emotions i used were Joy, Calm, Anger and Despair.

I will start with Joy as this was actually the hardest emotion for me to capture, this maybe for a number of reasons such as its not an emotion i have ever really thought about conveying in my work before, my current circumstances and frame of mind when completing the task or even maybe the restricted colour palette i had to choose from.

The 4 mediums i used (going clockwise from top left) were soft pastel, conte stick, Oil pastel and Windsor and Newton Pigment marker. I found that all my marks went in an upward motion and quite quick, like they were "springing" off the paper. Looking at the finished piece now the marks almost look like party streamers and long swaying grass to me. i chose to use brown as my colour for joy as black seemed no harsh and dark and blue too cool of a colour, when i think of joy i think of warm and bright so out of my limited palette this colour seemed to show that the most.

The next emotion i will talk about is "Calm". this emotion was easier for me to express on paper than joy was. Whenever i think Calm i think of the sea and i think this has definitely come out in this piece.

For this piece i used (going clockwise from top left) children's cheap water soluble felt tips, Cobalt Winsor and Newton Ink, Soft pastel and oil pastel. All the lines and marks i made are all curved, blurry and soft. With the felt tip pens i tried applying water on top to blend the lines out, with the ink i wet the paper first then dropped the ink onto it and let it slowly disperse forming its own natural organic shapes. With everything on this piece it was all very slow and steady, no quick harsh lines, all just very soft and flowing.

Next up is "Anger" and i actually did this emotion first.

The mediums i used for this (clockwise from top left) are Charcoal & putty rubber, Conte stick, Oil pastel and 2B graphite pencil and eraser. I chose black as i see anger as a dark, deep, strong emotion and black conveys that well. With this piece the thing that stands out most for me is how erratic and frenzied the marks are, they cross over the boundaries of each box as if difficult to control and contain.  The marks are hard and harsh and especially in the case of the graphite pencil they have physically scarred the paper, indenting it, the marks can not easily be removed as you can see with both the charcoal and pencil i tried to erase some of it but it leaves a lasting mark because of the force and depth of the mediums used. I did a page in my sketch book on this and made notes as i went and the notes i wrote explain how making marks in this manner and with this aggression feels almost like you are abusing the paper and the medium you are using, it scars and rips the paper, it quickly blunts and wears away the pencil, pastel, charcoal. It snaps lead and breaks sticks it is destructive.

The last emotion is "Despair" and i chose this for personal reasons, because of current personal circumstances this is an emotion i am all too familiar with so thought it would be interesting to see how i display this feeling onto paper.

Again going clockwise from top left the mediums i used are Marker pen, Indian Ink, Charcoal and Conte stick. I chose black again as like anger despair is a dark deep emotion. In this piece i tried to show that despair can take many forms. With the marker i tried to convey the dizziness and spiralling out of control despair can make you feel whereas with the ink the sadness and upset that comes with it. The bottom two show the sense of being trapped with no way out. With the charcoal not only does it make the box thick and dark, almost unbreakable but i used the charcoal on my hands to make prints as if trying to escape and with the conte stick again it has the thick black boxes and inside them is a frenzied chaotic scribble but unlike with the frenzied scribbles in anger that broke the boundaries these are constrained by them.

Over all this exercise has shown me the importance that not only is the medium you choose important but simple lines you make on a piece of art can be powerful tools in telling the audience the story that piece is trying to tell. This is something i will think about in all my future pieces.