Today I worked on mass and void, using the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome. The aim was to think about the relationship between the solid structure of the building and the empty spaces within it, rather than trying to describe every architectural detail. I used a Pilot Custom 74 with Posting Nib, with Buff Titanium and Ultramarine Blue washes. The strongest part of the exercise was the treatment of the arches. I deliberately allowed the nearest voids to be darker and more defined, with the more distant openings becoming progressively lighter and less certain. The large area of untouched paper on the right also became part of the composition rather than something that needed filling.
This was a useful contrast to yesterday’s Light & Shadow exercise. Yesterday I was trying to make the wash describe the form of the architecture. Today the wash was used much more simply, to establish the larger masses and voids. The architecture itself isn’t completely resolved, and the paper also buckled slightly under yesterday’s wash, which doesn’t help the perspective in the photograph! But that wasn’t the main purpose of today’s exercise. The important thing was learning to let the empty spaces carry as much weight as the things I actually draw.
Score — 7/10
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