hmm. so for Block Test 2 we had to do a drawing and painting paper, and i chose the theme garden, and settled on the title of ‘The Forgotten Garden’.

here are some of my prep work:

Sketch of a dry stone wall – i love dry stone walls! (in uk) hahhaa. so i decided to include a dry stone wall into my garden XD

 

 

haha. here’s a painted version.. doesnt look as nice. i think it’s too yellowish. :S

 

 

 

My first draft of a garden! but after some serious concept development, i decided i preferred the idea of a more ‘forgotten’ garden…

which looks like…

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TADA! haha.. try-out of painting (acrylic) :

I added a crumbling stone wall, a broken footpath and a bare tree, to make the garden look more ‘forgotten’. This is in addition to the flowers and plants in my first draft (above). I feel that this combination makes the garden look more neglected, and nature has truly ‘taken over’. I wanted to make the foreground darker, so that the focus will be on the white flowers under the light filtering through the little clearing at the top left hand corner. Through this composition, I hope to portray that even though this garden is neglected and forgotten (represented by the bare tree, crumbling wall and broken footpath), new life is sprouting. 

However, one of my classmates commented that the light ‘filtering though from the top left hand corner’ looks as if it comes from a spotlight. To this, I fully agree, and I realised that sunlight should not seem to come from a point source, like what I have depicted in this painting. I also feel that since the foreground represents neglect, there should not be any flowers growing there, so that it will seem ‘darker’ and more forgotten.

*note: the white patch at the top left hand corner is not part of my painting… it’s cos the papers were stapled together and I just scanned them like that. so the painting’s corner is folded.

Actual painting (acrylic) :

I improved on the effect of sunlight filtering through, as well as making the foregound darker. However, I like the colour tone of my try-out better, as I feel that the tree and stone wall here have too much of a reddish tinge.

One thing that i think can be improved in both paintings is that my garden can be ‘messier’ and more ‘neglected’, by having more sprawling plants around, instead of clusters of flowers and plants.

All in all, I am satisfied with my improvement in painting technique, especially since these are painted in acrylic, my most-seldom-used-medium .

*size of paintings: A3

Comments are most welcome!