Hello my name's Bethan and I'm an Educator at the National Gallery.
In today's video we're going to be exploring a painting by the artist
Vincent van Gogh called 'Sunflowers' and we're going to be using this painting to
create some of our own experimental drawings. Vincent van Gogh created the
painting in 1888 when his friend Paul Gauguin was coming to stay with him in
the South of France. He used the painting to decorate the
room that his friend would be staying in as if he was giving him a big bunch of
flowers on his arrival. Like many artists van Gogh used drawing in his work every
single day and he sketched the world around him using any materials he could
get his hands on so today all you will need is a pencil and something to draw
on. This could be a piece of paper, it could be cardboard or even the back of
an old envelope.
I've chosen the 'Sunflowers' for us to work on today
because of all the details it includes. Is this a painting you've seen before?
Why don't you take a closer look and see if there's something new you can spot.
Notice how each sunflower is different: some are just about to flower, others are
in full bloom and some are just a dried seed head with one petal holding on.
Vincent van Gogh created seven versions of this painting while staying in the
South of France and this idea of creating multiple copies is going to
inspire what we're going to be doing today at home.
Before we start sketching we need to find an object to draw from. Van Gogh
loved drawing from life so can you find something at home you could draw from?
This could be a plant or a vase of flowers or even some fruit. You can use
anything at all that you find interesting and make your own still life.
Still life is an art term that means a collection of man-made objects or
natural objects. If you don't have anything you'd like to work from perhaps
you could collect images of nature when out on your daily exercise. You could find
leaves or flowers and photograph them and work from them when you get back home.
Even a dandelion growing in a crack in the pavement could make a wonderful drawing.
All of the drawing techniques today are really simple so you don't
have to be an expert to take part. It's about experimenting, practicing and
having fun so why not get everyone at home involved and draw together?
For our first drawing activity we're going to be looking and noticing all the lines that
make up our object. Like in the 'Sunflowers' where there are spiky lines
and straight lines and curved lines, in your object, can you notice these?
So to begin our drawing can you start by sketching all of the straight lines you
can see? When you've done that we're going to carry on drawing and build over
the top all of the curved lines we can notice in our object. When you're sketching
make sure to push nice and confidently with your pencil.
Now you've warmed up let's try something a bit different. We're still going to
focus in on the lines that make up our object but this time we're going to
sketch without taking our pencil off our piece of paper. Let's imagine we're
taking our pencil for a walk. So find your starting point and just
allow your drawing to grow out from there. Can you sketch the whole object in
one go? This isn't always easy to do but remember that practice makes perfect.
There's no wrong or right way of drawing. Today is all about experimenting.
For our next drawing experiment we're going to be looking at light and dark.
If we look at our 'Sunflower' painting we can see the contrast between the petals and
the leaves and the darker disks in the centre. Notice how your object can be broken
up into light and dark areas and how can you sketch them? Perhaps you can show the
difference between different lines and different marks that you make.
Begin by making a simple outline sketch of your object and then you can start building
up over this outline drawing, looking at light, so the highlighted areas, and also
darks, so the shaded areas.
You can use different types of lines to suggest in the contrasting areas on your object.
if your object has a shadow try adding that in to suggest in a darker area.
You can build this in by adding your darker tones of your pencil. There's no wrong or
right way of doing it, it's completely up to you.
I haven't used a rubber at all in my drawing, I'm just focusing on being
confident in my sketching not worrying if it goes wrong, just building out
different lines and tones so don't worry if you make a mistake. It's all just
about practicing, experimenting and hopefully improving our drawing and
looking skills.
For our final drawing activity we're really going to test our looking skills.
We've made three sketches so far of our object so your hand should be really
familiar with its shape so this time we're going to sketch our object without
looking down at our piece of paper. We're just going to allow our eye to
communicate down to our hand what it is that they can see. You might be surprised
how your object turns out.
Again we're going to find a starting point in our
object and then let our pencil guide us around our piece of paper. I know it's
tempting sometimes to look down at our paper but just try be confident and let
your eyes communicate to your hand what it is they can see.
Other ideas you might like to try out could be sketching collaboratively or
maybe you could try sketching the object over a few days and notice how your
object might change over time. You can even try folding up your paper into a
concertina so all of your drawings are kept together in a book.
Vincent van Gogh created 'Sunflowers' for a friend so perhaps you could create your drawings
for a friend or family member you're looking forward to seeing soon. You could
even send one of your pictures in the post.
Thank you so much for watching.
We would love to see what you've made. Share your drawings online with us by tagging
us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.