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| Stack of books and gourd...a sketch showing two-point perspective |
The only vegetable I can remember totally refusing as a child was hominy. It was a memorable experience as my mom chose to serve it on trick-or-treat night. My mother finally relented and let me go out for the begging, only after she realized that I was so very serious about my hatred for this vegetable that I was willing to give up costume, treats and fun. 2-point perspective is much more palatable than that! Our drawing class members stacked up books and boxes. First we discussed the two vanishing points for each object which can only be seen when the objects are drawn from a big distance...i..e. on a drawing that is quite small on a fairly large sheet of paper. When we understood what was happening, we drew our piles of objects that were placed in front of us on the table. I chose a stack of three different kinds of books, each one with its own particular vanishing points along with its own particular degree of recession. (even though the horizon line at eye-level remains the same). I placed a handmade gourd on top for patterning, and because I like organic line playing with all of the straights....the yin and the yang.
An astute artist pointed out the apparent faultiness of my bottom book. This spiral-bound paperback, had a laminated cover that was not laying flat and had slipped down to the spiral area destroying the perfection of the receding form. I liken it to clothing on a model. The book's binding is still receding....it is just a bit disguised. Another way to help with the perspective issue when drawing items that are close to us is to accurately judge and record angles of edges, and to pay close attention to the shapes of the negative or counter-spaces....i.e. the spaces between the objects. We keep each other on our toes!
