Research Point - Ben Nicholson

Find out about Ben Nicholson. Why does he simplify still life forms and negative space and superimpose them on the Cornish landscape? Write notes in your learning log.

I started my research by looking up Ben Nicholson on Google and at first I wasn't overly keen on his work. I've begun to appreciate them more now however, if not fall in love with them. I found that the information about his life particularly the dates, varied greatly from one site to the other so I've concentrated on some information I had in books.

Ben Nicholson was born in Denham, Buckinghamshire in 1894 and died in 1982. His parents were both artists, Sir William Nicholson and Mabel Pryde and he studied at the Slade School of Fine Art where he was a contemporary of Paul Nash and Stanley Spencer, before travelling in Europe and the United States. He sebsequently became one of the most influential British artists of the 20th Century and was the first winner of the Guggenheim award.

He married 3 times, first to the artist Winifred Roberts in 1920, then to Barbara Hepworth in 1938 and to Felicitas Vogler, a German photographer in 1957.

His style was geometrically inspired and heavily influenced by Cubism and Mondrian and De Stijl. Nicholson’s early works were mainly still lifes, showing the influence of his father. While travelling in the 1920s however he encountered Post Impressionism and Cubism which inspired him to paint figurative and abstract works. His first one-man show was at the Adelphi Gallery in 1921.

On an early visit to Cornwall, Nicholson met Alfred Wallis, a retired fisherman who had taken up painting at the age of 70. Wallis’s painting style did not obey the convetional rules of perspective and he was known to paint on any surface that came to hand. Nicholson was greatly inspired by this and bought several of his paintings.

Following the breakdown of his first marriage he travelled to Paris with Barbara Hepworth in 1932 where he  met Picasso and Braque. On later trips to Paris he would also meet  Mondrian. He lived in Corwall with Barbara Hepworth from 1939. During the war Nicholson and Hepworth struggled to make money painting abstracts so Nicholson abandoned his white reliefs of the 1930s started painting more traditional landscapes again which he was advised to do for their popularity with buyers. He created a series of works in which still life paintings were intertwined with landscapes, often by placing a group of objects near a window overlooking harbours or rooftops. The outline of the still life objects were superimposed on these landscapes. An example of this is 1944 (Higher Carnstabba Farm) below...

1944 (Higher Carnstabba Farm) 55.9 x 55.9 cm

1943-45 (St Ives, Cornwall) 40.6 x 50.2 cm

1943-5 (St Ives, Cornwall) is another example from this period. In these paintings he  included the table top or window sill that the objects were sitting on but subsequently he became more abstract and removed this and the objects were drawn in outline as flat overlapping shapes left suspended in mid air. 

November 11-47 (Mousehole) 46.5 X 58.5 cm 

In November 11-47 (Mousehole), at first glance the overlapping foreground shapes in the paintings look like they are part of the landscape, especially since the colours are usually muted and earthy over the whole painting. The painting features the tiny harbour town of  Mousehole (pronounced 'Mowzel') on the coast of Cornwall. The still life objects and the landscape are bound together using colour and texture. The browns greys, and golds of the landscape are used in the still life elements while there are areas of paint that appear to have been scrubbed away in both areas.

In 1949 he moved to a bigger studio in St Ives which allowed him to make larger more ambitious works. The still life elements became increasingly complex in their spatial arangement. These cubist style still lifes combined with the cornish landscapes gave him a new reputation in the post-war period. The series culminated in the 1950s with such monumental works as August 1956 (boutique fantasque) below. 

August 1956 (boutique fantasque) 122 x 213.5 cm

This painting includes the table top and is clearly a still life but the landscape has now become more abstract and is only indicated at by the colours.

Talking about his earlier painting "Au Chat Botte" he wrote:

"About space construction: I can explain one aspect of this by an early painting I made of a shop window in Dieppe...The name of the shop was "Au Chat Botte"....the words themselves had also an abstract quality - but what was important was that this name was printed in very lovely red lettering on the glass window - giving one plane - and in this window were reflections of what was behind me as I looked in - giving a second plane - while through the window objects on a table were performing a kind of ballet and forming the "eye" or life-point of the painting - giving a third plane."

Au Chat Botte 1932  92.3 x 122 cm

I found this very interesting when trying to answer the question above. Looking at his paintings of the Cornish landscape with the still life forms superimposed on them, makes me wonder he was trying to create planes, mimicing how the eye sees and processes all of the planes in front of them at the same time. Usually landscape paintings would take out these "extraneous" objects but Nicholson has made them part of the picture just as the human eye would. Thus when he is looking through a window at a view he is also seeing the table top in front of the window and he has possibly tried to show this as layers in his paintings.  

 

He is also quoted as saying "All the still lifes are in fact land-sea-scapes to me" which indicates that he didn't see the still life objects as the normal everyday objects with their known uses, rather as forms that followed the lines and curves of the lansdscape he was surrounded by. Nicholson was able to take the simple, everyday objects and extract the essence of their forms and transcribe this onto the landscapes. In this way, the objects are almost like superimposed buildings on the landscapes in the same way that the Cubists used the still life objects as a metaphor for the human body. 1954, July 30 (Rome) and Oct. 55 (Torre del Grillo, Rome) are examples of this where the architectural skyline and the still life elements are mixed.

Oct. 55 (Torre del Grillo, Rome)  1955 28 x 49.1 cm

So, the question was: why did Nicholson simplify still life forms and negative space and superimpose them on the Cornish landscape? I haven't been able to find a clear answer in any of the books I've read so I can only speculate. It appears that he was playing with spacial planes and superimposing one plane on top of others. Looking at his work through this period it is possible to see how this idea has evolved. In "Au Chat Botte" in 1932 he seems to have had an idea which didn't take off until he was painting the Cornish landscape during the war. He seemed to start by including the window sill or the table situated in front of the window and this idea then evolved to the suspension of the still life on top of the landscape. The objects became simple overlapping shapes and lines which often mimiced the shapes of the landscape and harked back to his reliefs from an earlier period. He later would use this technique with architectural landscapes which indicates he was thinking of the objects as architectural elements.

Research Point - Line Drawing

Find an artist who uses line drawing often. What are the strengths of working with line? What can you learn from the way this artist works?

Matisse used line drawing a lot, mainly drawing figures but also plants and still life. I've concentrated on his still life drawings for the sake of this section. Below are some examples.

Magnolia
pen and ink on paper
20.9 x 25.7 cm.
c. 1900

G1 of Themes et Variations
ink on paper
1941

Bouquet with Hellebores
1943-1944

A Straw Hat
pen and ink
1944

Still Life on a Table
1941

Still Life
brush and ink on paper
19.5 x 23 cm.
1900

Still Life with Apples
Hermitage, Saint Petersburg
1940

Jug with Pumpkin
pencil on paper
20.3 x 26.6 cm.
Private Collection
1944

Matisse produced many drawing in this style. He often drew these as a preparatory step prior to a painting, to work out any compositional problems. He felt that drawings should be a quick and gestural and be able to capture the emotion that the object evoked in him.

He would simplify the objects with a few elegant fluid lines but would often add flourishes and details when depicting the patterns in the background. At first glance it can be a bit confusing leaving the viewer unsure of the central elements of the picture. I think by doing this he was making the pattern as important as the objects themselves to the drawing.


Here are some of his quotes which I think are a fascinating insight into his thoughts and explain a lot about his style of drawing and why he did this.

"I have always considered drawing not as an exercise of particular dexterity… but as a means deliberately simplified so as to give simplicity and spontaneity to the expression, which should speak without clumsiness, directly to the mind of the spectator."


"Drawing is like making an expressive gesture with the advantage of permanence."


"If I trust my drawing hand it is because in training it to serve me, I forced myself never to let it take precedence over my feelings."


Matisse is known for his mastery of shape and colour. Although not a drawing, his famous Blue Nude cut-outs  are the culmination of his style of paring objects down to these simple elements. The lines in his drawings are free and expressive. He wasn't interested in imitating the physical world, rather he seemed to concentrated solely on the objects essence and his feelings about it.  


I found some clips on you tube showing him painting and they described how completely unaware to him, his hand would trace out the lines he would draw before the brush actually touched the paper. I'm not sure if this is something we all do but he was apparently astonished by it.

To answer the question above, the obvious answer is that line drawing simplifies an object into its basic elements without the clutter of shading and form. The artist has to really look at the subject and pick out only the important aspects. Additionally however, line drawing is a way of describing an object, not only by it's shape but also its feel. The line itself can convey many emotions without the viewer even realising they are being affected. A thick bold line or zig zag line will descibe anger and aggression while soft fainter lines will convey sadness or quiet. In this way an artist can influence the viewer and add a new facet to his/her work. I think this is what Matisse was trying to achieve, maybe without the outcome of influencing the viewer but certainly he was trying to depict his feelings.

I think trying to draw like this would be actually very hard. It would require a whole new outlook on drawing and what I am trying to achieve when putting pen to paper. I have tried to paint in an expressive style in a previous course and found it very interesting but I don't think I managed to let myself go enough to express my feelings. I love the expressionist artists and would love to be able to do this but much more practice is required (and possibly a few vinos to aid the procedure!).
It seems couterintuitive to analyse exspressive art with an end to trying to figure out the key to painting in an expressive style because then it would become contrived and the artists expression would be lost. I guess it just has to flow naturally.

Assignment 3 - Still Life

Still Life Group using Line

I struggled with this exercise to choose a subject and I think I've chosen the wrong combination. The flowers and the glass and too tall while the rest of the objects are small in comparison. If I'd had something else, mid-size it would have helped. Becasue of this, the composition is all to one side. I should have moved it over to the left and shown the right hand side of the cloth more. More planning is needed at the preparatory sketch stage.
With regards to the medium, I think the drawing is ok. At the time I struggled with to show the folds in the cloth but actually I think that bit came out quite well. Now I look at the brief again, I think I have concentrated far too much on tone again. I start out with that in my mind but then I get carried away with all of the other aspects of the drawing.

Preparatory sketches

A3 Rotring Artist Pen

Ultimately my main problem is that I am rushing things too much. I am fully aware of this but time is just not on my side. I am constantly aware I only have an hour or so to work at a time so things always get rushed. I find this so frustrating. If I had more time I would just start again and repeat this excersise. On the other hand I always think that if I was studying this in a class setting there would be time constraints and not every assignment would work and this is part of the learning curve and something my tutor should see. Studying at home it's very tempting to repeat and repeat until it's right but you wouldn't be able to do that in a class. Anyway I'm just making excuses now for not starting again so I'll shut up!


Still Life Group in Tone

For this excercise I chose pastels. I'm not really a fan of pastels so this was going to be a challenge for me. I always find I smudge too much and I can't get the detail with them. In the end it wasn't a horrible as a thought it would be. My problems with the drawing are the odd angle I chose to draw from and that I have too much empty space outside (so the composition could be improved). In hindsight I would have included some background to stop it floating - this is something I have recently realised I do through my tutors comments of the last section. I have always left the background out so that it doesn't detract from the subject but I now realise it doesn't - hopefully my future drawing will include background!). Now I look at it the top of the bowl is the wrong angle too. Aaargh!
With regards to drawing with tone I tried to keep the ends of the spring onions and the parsnips and other highlights nice and light and contrast this with the dark areas in the bowl and underneath. I struggled a bit with the shadows inside the bowl, inbetween the vegetables. I just couldn't find the right colour and in the end I think I added the dreaded black which makes it jump out instead of sink back. The squash was particularly hard to get right with the pastels, I think because of the smooth surface.

Check and Log

1. What aspects of each drawing have been successful, and what did you have problems with?

For both drawings I am not happy with the composition. I didn't realise there was a problem till it was too late for both. I also didn't stick to the brief properly and do a line drawing  in the first section as there is too much tone. The second drawing has faults in the basic shape of the bowl which should have been picked up at the beginning. So my biggest problem is rushing!
In the first section I found it was difficult to create the same depth and form with line only that pencil would achieve. Pencil and other soft media can do this via gradual changes in layering but every pen mark is final and each mark is similar in strength to the next.

2. Did you manage to get a sense of depth in your drawings? What elements of the drawings and still life groupings helped to creat that sense?

The table cloth in the first drawing was difficult to do. I've had this problem before with flat surfaces. I tried to make my marks fainter at the back of the table to show depth and distance.
In the pastel drawing I think I'm lacking some depth possibly because of my lack of experience with the medium. I felt I didn't have the correct colour to give the dark tones so the vegetables seem to be separate entities and not touching.

Depth can be conveyed when objects are placed in front of each other. Shading conveys form and shows an objects curves. Also colours can be used to show things are behind each other. For instance reflected colour. 

3. What were the difficulties created by being restricted to line and tone?

Well since I got carried away in the first drawing and didn't stick to line only, I would say one of the difficulties in being restricted to line is just that! I needed someone sitting beside me shouting "stop!" everytime I started to scribble. When you are restricted to line only it's very difficult to show the form of the objects. You have to look at the subject and see the basic shapes not the shadows and patterns. It's a different way of drawing entirely.
Being restricted to tone has it's own difficulties. The pastels complicated this for me because I struggled with the correct colours to get the shadows. In a black and white drawing this would be easier and could be done just be increasing or decreasing the darkness of the areas. I think I possibly thought too much about the tones here and so added too much dark brown/black.  

Assignment 3 - Detailed Observation of Nature

Line Drawing Detail

For my first attempt at this I drew a sliced open cabbage and I used a scribbly technique to depict the bumpy texture of the leaves. I think this worked out quite well but then I re-read the brief and felt I had but in too much detail and tone.
So I started again with a piece of brocolli and I tried to focus on the lines without focusing on the tone. I found it quite hard and had to keep stopping myself doing this. Also drawing in one continuous line was a new and difficult test. The instict is to lift the pen constantly so this was a good excercise.

A4 sketch book - Rotring Artist Pen and Fabel-Castell Pitt Artist Pen

  
Getting Tone and Depth in Detail

For this excercise I chose a shell. I brought lots of lovely broken shells back from a holiday in Ardnamurchan a couple of years ago and they have been sitting in the garden looking messy so this was the perfect use for them. The shell I chose was almost all broken away and I loved the s-shape of the central spine.

A3 various soft pencils

 I enjoyed this excercise and I'm please with the result. I thought I would get frustrated with the detail but it was enjoyable. The most difficult bit was gettting the darkest shadows dark enough. I found I had to keep reevaluating the tones and going back to make them darker. I tried to use hatching as much as possible rather than the softer build up of graphite on the paper. I think the hatching actually helped show the curved shape of the shell, particularly the inside.

Stipples and Dots

I struggled at first trying to find a suitable subject but then I found this old branch when I was out for a walk with the dog. The bark was peeling off and moss was starting to grow on it so I though it would be great for this excercise. The bark, the wood underneath and the moss gave 3 different textures to work with.

The bark was smooth with lots of little bumpy marks. I had to be fairly random and "uncontrolled" when doing these marks in order to make it look natural. The wood underneath needed a more linear style to show its texture.

A4 smooth paper Rotring Artist Pen

I am pleased with this drawing and I like the fact I let it run of the page. I enjoyed using the scribbly style with the pen.

Detailed Observation of Nature - Check and Log

1. Which drawing media did you find most effective to use, for which effects?

I found the Rotring Artist pen was best for the scribbly style of drawing what is good for showing a textured surface. It also flowed enough to draw in dark shadows which some fine pens struggle with.
Soft pencil is good for drawing tones and gradual changes in shadows across smooth surfaces.

2. What sort of marks work well to create tone, pattern and texture? Make notes beside some sample marks.

Tone is best shown with layering of the media. If you are using pencil, hatching maybe isn't the best method becasue the gradual changes in tone are best shown by soft build up of the graphite. With pen, tone has to be shown by going over the area again and again until it is dark enough.
Pattern is best shown with a light touch. You can lightly sketch the pattern without putting down too much detail and it gives the impression of pattern.
I found fine pen really lent itself to drawing texture by doing a stippling, scribbly effect. I think its important to keep this as random as possible as styles such as regular hatching give the appearance of a smooth surface.

3. Did you enjoy capturing details or are you more at home creating big broad brush sketches? Find drawings by two experienced artists who work in contrasting ways: from tight, rigorous work to a more sketchy, expressive style.

I did enjoy capturing the details although I thought initially I would get impatient and frustrated. I find it quite hard to use big broad strokes even though it appeals to me more when I look at art. I don't have the confidence to be more expressive yet because I always think I'll ruin the drawing.

One expressionist artist I really like is Munch. He is of course famous for his paintings like "The Scream" but I was able to visit an exhibition a while ago of his prints. Most of these were woodcuts and lithographs including many of his famous paintings. He used limited colours and few lines. He was so expressive with his brushstrokes and able to convey so much. His common themes were love, anxiety and death.

Vampire, 1895  Lithograph  38.2 x 54.5 cm

Woman in Three Stages, 1899  Lithograph  46.2 x 59.2cm

The Scream Lithograph 1895

The lithograph of "the scream" above is particularly expressive. The lines create a distorted chaotic feeling. The persons mouth open in an "o" draws the viewer in. His now famous quote from his diary explains his inspiration (and opens a window into his tortured mind).....

"I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature"

For an artist who draws in tight, rigorous way I didn't want to go for the obvious choice of someone who was typically a realistic, photgraphic style of artist. Instead, a very different style of artist is fellow Glaswegian, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Mackintosh (1868-1928) was primarily an architect, and interior/furniture/textile designer who had a professional influence on the development of the Modern movement. He is also known for his beautiful drawings and watercolours of plants and flowers and his watercolours of French landscapes. His style was heavily design led and he tried to unite natural forms with an architectural and design vocabulary.

The Little Bay, Port Vendres (watercolour, 1927)

"Larkspur" August 1914 (pen and watercolour)

"Willow Herb, Buxstead" 1919
(pencil and watercolour)

Each line seems to be carefully thought out and while the drawings maintain their lifelike qualities the subjects are paired down to their essential elements with no extraneous "confusing" features. The lines remain loose however and the beautiful curves are characteristic of his manner.
These two artists have very different styles. You can imagine (rightly or wrongly) Munch standing at arms lengths using sweeping gentures to paint, while Mackintosh would be sitting rigidly over a book correcting every mistake. Both styles I find very appealing in their own ways.

4. Look at the composition of the drawings you have done in this excersise. Make some sketches and notes about how you could improve your composition.

I'm quite pleased with the composition of these drawings especially the one of the branch because it
runs off the page. The only problem is the drawing of the cabbage which is a bit of a strange composition. If I had to do it again I would change this composition so it is landscape rather than portrait. It would also be better to rearrange the 2 halves so they don't look like they are on a slope or to just concentrate on one half. I like the idea of zooming in to the middle and making an abstract drawing but that wouldn't have been suitable for this excercise.

5. Did doing a line drawing get you to look at space more effectively?

I think it did help in hind-sight although I wasn't aware of it at the time. With a line drawing your references change because you are focusing on the outside line rather than the shading and looking at the whole object not just one small part of it.

Assignment 3 - Exploring coloured media

Exploring Coloured Media

Here are some of my experiments with coloured media

Check and Log

1. Which of the media you have experimented with did you find most expressive? Make notes in your learning log on the pros and cons of each medium.

The most expressive media tend to be the less fine ones like pastels or oil pastels. With these you are able to do broad loose strokes that are less about portraying the exact detail of the subject and more about depicting your own feelings about it. I find this expressive drawing quite hard because you have to forget about trying to copy the subject exactly onto paper and think more about general shapes and colours.
The cons with these media is the same feature however. Their broad strokes Make it difficult to do any detail so it's a different style of drawing that requires you to look at the subject in a more general way.
I tried using turps to thin the oil pastels but it didn't work as I expected. The oil pastels didn't dissolve as much as the water soluble pencils did and didn't blend much but the turps seemed to spread the pigment over the paper better.
The colour pencils are better for detail and they can also be used with water. I found adding water increased the intensity of the colour so some practice is required to get the right amount.
I found the felt pens a bit restrictive because of their intensity and permenance. Using these to create a drawing will require some practice I think.

2.Which medium do you think lends itself to very detailed work

Anything with a fine point should work better for very detailed work, like pens or harder pencils. You have the freedom to either made fine marks or you can hatch or use them on their side etc to create darker areas. My searches have shown that a soft medium such as charcoal can also be used to create wonderfully detailed pieces but this would be much harder to do I think and require a lot of patience.

3. Which techniques, tools and effects do you particularly enjoy? Make notes about your experiments.

Funnily enough I enjoyed the felt pens even though I wasn't sure how I would do a drawing with them. Some of the pens have a flexible brush like nib that could be used to create fine lines or thicker depending on the pressure you use.
The oil pastels also were interesting especially the way you could score into them to create the detail that is difficult to do with them alone.
I think the water soluble pencils should be quite flexible because you have the watercolour effect but can overlay detail once the area has dried.

Research Point - Detailed Drawings

Research Point - Find some examples of artists' work who exemplify mastery of detailed drawing and make notes about their work


I did a couple of Google and Bridgeman searches on detailed drawings and came up with a few drawing of interest. First of all I came across a couple of drawings from John Delafield Cook. I was really impressed by the detail in these, they are beautiful.

Bulbul nest 99 - Charcoal on paper 69 x 78cm

Golden Babbler nest 02 - Charcoal on paper 88 x 107cm

He is a comtemporary artist and does incredibly detailed charcoal drawings from nature on a large scale. I'm always fascinated by detailed charcoal drawings because whe I use charcoal I end up with smudges everywhere an I find it very difficult to get small detail in.
The scale of these drawings must add to their effect too. From my own experience I've found that detail is easier if it's done a bit bigger but these drawings are very big and must require a completely different technique from small scale.
Something I've found a lot with detailed drawing is that the objects are in the centre and the background is left blank. This makes the subject jump out from the paper and the background doesn't detract from the detail.

Another artist that I have come across in my search for detailed drawings is Albrecht Durer. The drawings I have found tend to be figure drawing but their detail is beautiful. These would have been done on a smaller scale which adds to the draftsmanship.

His studies of hands are beautiful. The highlights are done with white and the subtle lighting is lovely. One of the things that make his drawings so lifelike is his ability to show the tonal variations. The shadows are very dark and I think that's probably what makes them so accurate. He mainly uses hatching but he has done it in such away that it isn't noticable. The hatching follows the shape of the fingers etc like ringlets which helps convey the 3 dimensional shape.


His portrait of a man aged 93 is another example. This drawing is done in pen and ink but at first glance appears to have been done in a much softer medium like charcoal. This is due to the delicate lines and careful shading that isn't too dark and doesn't overpower. You can almost feel the softness of the mans beard.

Tutor feedback Assignment 2

SELF PORTRAIT

Marvellous self portrait. Now I know what you look like! Good tone and size, Full page. Not a lot of variation of mark, but what you have used works nicely. Do try to follow the contours with your drawing and shading lines. For instance, your shading flattens the face and hair due to the straight lines you’ve used. Imagine the same shading but following the contours, or applied in the direction of the hair itself. If you cannot imagine this , then try it on a piece of paper. 

This is a similar comment to my last assignment (from a different tutor) about using more variety in my mark making so it's clearly something I need to work on. I've used a lot of soft blending strokes here. I decided to make some small changes to the drawing by adding more contour to the shading on the face and hair as my tutor suggested.

Original A3 pencil

Changed A3 pencil

  I didn't want to make to many changes as it would darken the tone a lot so it's not easy to see. I've changed the direction of the pencil strokes in the hair which was very noticeable and I also tried to give more shape to the shading on the cheeks and eyes.

I thought I'd have a scribble on fresh paper to see if I could create more depth using contours and other marks.

 The drawing is dreadful but it was an interesting exercise as I had to keep stopping myself from doing bland shading and do more of a contour hatching stroke. This is exaggerated but hopefully next time I'll incorporate some of these marks. 

FIGURE DRAWING

This is an excellent work. You’ve observed the subject in great detail and managed to transfer much of that observation to the paper. The hatching works nicely to suggest the solidity, with your lines nicely following the surfaces to give a lovely roundness. The comments you make on your blog are valid. The best thing about them is that you have made the good observations, recognised the faults, thought about them, and the next stage is to remember or refer back to them, work out the answers, (i.e. ensure you measure with your thumb the size of the head early on in the drawing.) when carrying out other work making sure you don’t repeat mistakes. You’ve learned how unforgiving pen is. So make sure you do enough preparatory work before tackling the next important pen drawing. Also you may find it helpful to sketch as a product designer does, where exact lines are needed with no space for corrections, - with your hand imitating the movement and line you propose, above the paper before touching ink to paper.

Feel pleased with yourself as this is affine piece to submit. I would however just suggest one point , that you sketch a suggestion of background, so the model is not sitting in mid air. It is important to always place your subject in a context.

For a moment think of the background in your reclining blue figure. Imagine that drawing without the background, and then your hatched sketch with that much background as the blue one contains.

I can clearly see what she means. I roughly drew in a background trying to figure out where the shadows would be. I found a similar area in the house and used that.

Original A2 pen

Changed A2 pen

 The changed drawing is definitely better. The background finishes the drawing off and more importantly doesn't detract from the figure. Unfortunately I can't do much about her exceedingly large head but I've learnt lots.

Tone - 2hrs – x1 drawing -A3 – model reclining

I love this drawing. It is competent, creative, and emotional. The use of those colours suggests an exotic and emotional scene. Had you kept only to the blue it could have been cold, but the purple warms and with the strength of the blue, gives a strong atmosphere. I see that you tried orange as well. You were correct that the complementary colour dulls, but this is when added as a mix. It dulls and does not change the tone though. It can also be used alongside the base colour to make the colour stand out.

 This was very interesting regarding the colour mixing.  In this case the orange would make the blue jump off the page and vice versa. I'm just used to using paints to create different colours. I had to go back to my colour theory from my last course.

This is the colour wheel showing opposite colours and where my theory came from.

We also studies how placing different colours next to each other affect the colours.

You can see that in the bottom row the blue square jumps out when it's surrounded by orange but recedes when its surrounded by green.

 Likewise, the orange square looks like a different colour when its surrounded by red compared to the blue.

So for conte pencils and other media like this that don't mix you have to think of a different way to create tone and shading. A single colour drawing obviously requires just increased pressure or layering but in this case choosing another similar colour like the purple works best.