National Drawing Day

 

Today is National Drawing Day (16th May) and #SothebysSundaySketch's theme is Japanese art, with an example of a portrait of a Japanese woman. I combined the two and drew my Hakata doll ceramic ornament (made in Japan) with bamboo pens in inks on light green tinted calligraphy paper. 

I wanted to create a print effect because the Sotheby's picture was a woodblock print. So I began my ink drawing by using a thin bamboo pen dipped in Indian Ink, which is often used in printmaking. Once I'd finished the entire drawing, I added the red ink with a thicker nibbed bamboo pen, followed by the green, gold then finishing with the white ink to shine out against the light green paper. The gold ink glistens ❇ as the viewer looks at it from different angles because it is a metallic type of ink. It was very precise work which needed a lot of focus and concentration, especially since I wanted to create strong lines and blocks of colour to give it a print effect, rather than creating looser, freer marks. It is a representational drawing of the ornament, I haven't adapted her, her clothing or her hair in any way, in order to retain her strong cultural heritage. I chose an angle where she is glancing over her shoulder in a similar way to the Sotheby's picture. This angle also depicts the sense of movement and gesture she has in the ornament's pose.