Talking Colour / Talking Pattern – Elain Chen
Colour
During a day out in London, this blue house stood out to me in Notting Hill with its vibrant blue colour whilst its surroundings was lacking in colour. I used a range of mixed mediums such as oil pastels, paint and watercolour as I felt some of the colours from each of the mediums weren’t the colour that I was hoping for in the outcome or on the page so mixing these mediums together made it a lot more vibrant in colour.
This building was found in Notting Hill, these buildings were extremely colourful in person and it caught my eye whilst walking past. For this I used bright coloured paints to try and get a similar colour to the original image. I also mixed some paints to dull down the colour or brighten it. I also tested with oil pastels however it didn’t turn out the way I planned.
3 quick drawings using oil pastels, all stemming from the same image but with different approaches and point of views.
Pattern
This drawing came from an image I took in White City. These circular patterns were on the side of a wall and I found interesting how these overlayed each other and wanted to explore in depth.
Zoom in of a butterfly’s wings and trying to capture the irregular lines and patterns of the wings. I used a light brush of watercolour and using fine liner to make the patterns stand out.
Mosaic drawing from Tottenham Court Road tube station. The tiles were all different shapes and sizes so rather than using a ruler to get straight even lines, I freely tried to draw lines to get different shapes and sizes. I think rather than using colouring pencils, paint would have given it a more vibrant colour.
Yellow flowers from regent park that have been made into a pattern on a page. I lightly washed the background with a quick stroke of black oil pastel too to fill in the white spaces.
5th November 2024 @ 7:37 pm
My favourite of your drawing of yours is the daffodils for ‘Talking Pattern’. I love the two contrasting elements: The use of wet media in watercolor for the flowers in a clean, bright yellow and then the grainy, course monochrome background done in charcoal. I like how the petals have been done in quick, purposeful strokes; it gives a sense of movement to the work, as if the flowers are still growing, blooming bright out of the page. The juxtaposition between the flowers and the background is successful at exaggerating the sprightliness of the flowers, allowing the flowers pop out clearly.
Something which you could do to elevate your work further would be to work more on different mediums, such as different coloured paper or newsprint. For example, with the sketch of people sat at a tube station I love how you have captured their different characters onto the paper through facial expressions and different postures, it makes me want to know more about them. Adding another layer to the image in a new medium would work excellently here. You could create a separate layer for the brick wall using brown paper, this would strengthen the image, adding another strand of storytelling and atmosphere onto the paper. This would also eliminate the white background, honing in on the key principle of the brief: ‘Talking Colour’.