Black & White

Whilst considering which subject to choose for this Black and White exercise. I took a fine black ink pen, pencil and sketch pad to the beach and sketched some views up and down the beach and out towards a neighbouring island. This view was quite striking because the sea seemed to be divided, waves appeared to be forming near the shore whereas further out and towards the island the sea seemed much calmer. This still area reflected the bright grey of the sky, whilst the waves were dark the foaming wave caps were very bright white.

This last sketch caused problems when trying to convey the tone variations; and the whiteness of the waves against the varying grey shades of the sea reflected in the overcast sky. I sketched the same view in pencil as well to see if it was easier to capture the subtle contrasts.

But in thinking about the scene afterwards I thought it would lend itself to this excercise very well. Because of its simplicity and having already considered controlling tone in both pen and pencil I chose to draw the outline shapes as a separate piece.

Which I then enlarged to suit A3 and inverted. Sticking with the principle that the whiteness of the waves was key to the piece I cut the black areas accordingly.

My only area of uncertainty was how to represent the island and the immediate area around it. Do I go for a black sky and white island with a corresponding black area behind the waves? This would have the advantage of defining the tops of the furthest waves. I settled for the island as a black silouette.
Having fixed down all the black areas and completed the piece my observations on the effect are that in a way this method captures the bright whiteness of the waves in contrast to the surrounding grey that I saw on the day I made the sketches.

However It also illustrates its limitations, some areas of tone cannot convincingly be converted to black or white and still maintain a sense of depth or a sense of a change in the environment.Although perspective can be captured. The effect however can be very stark and dramatic. And puts me in mind, as I have become familiar with his work, of Edward Bawdens prints.