This assignment will introduce you to thinking without making assumptions about the importance or value of outcomes or ‘finishing’ work. This is an important part of the creative process, where placing restrictions on what you do or how you work can sometimes stop you from responding as openly as possible. The aim is to test how you can work spontaneously with little or no forethought, and to allow the elements of image-making like form, shape and line to emerge from unconscious experimentation.

Take a blank piece of paper, ideally A2 size, and an ordinary HB or 2B pencil and begin to make marks in the top left-hand corner of the paper. At first make small, short marks, but as you begin to work across the paper start to make them larger, stronger and more varied. Continue to work across the paper and begin to fill it with these gestural marks. Vary the length, density and shape of the marks as much as possible as you draw across the sheet of paper. Perhaps small ‘zones’ of the paper will consist of short, vertical marks, while another area might be formed of curling doodles or small circles. Fill the whole sheet of paper with marks, lines, and shapes, although you may need to sharpen the pencil as you go. It might take some time, maybe a few hours or even a day or two, to completely fill the paper. Don’t try to fill the sheet of paper in one go, you can take breaks and return to the paper over a period of time. The intention of this exercise is to reach the point where you are not thinking about the next mark, but simply enjoy letting the pencil and the marks you have made guide you along with no conscious effort.

When you have finished, and the sheet of paper is filled with detail and variation, take two ‘L’ shaped pieces of card and frame five sections of the paper, about 12-15cm square. Think about the variation of marks, density and visual content of each of the five selected squares. Take photographs of them and give them one-word titles that relate to the emotional or sensational affect you think they have.

The paper I had on hand was a little larger at 50cmx70cm. As the exercise directions state, I began at the top left hand corner and slowly progressed to the other side of the paper.

I like to sharpen my pencils to a long point, so I did not have to do much sharpening along the way even though the exercise took a couple of days to complete.

Though I made no plan beforehand and proceeded to make marks as intuitively as I could, variety, contrast and composition (to some extent) were still things I was thinking about as I drew. The patches of darkness provide contrast and depth, and the drawing has busy areas full of well-defined shapes as well as flatter areas dominated by soft textures and little contrast.

The overall effect of the marks is reminiscent of corals and barnacles, though I had no such plan going into the project. Nor can I think of anything that could have influenced me in that direction. I was listening to a podcast about the Byzantine Empire in the background, but I don’t think it had any direct effect on my work.

Drawing time was about eight hours in total. The final result looks a little better here than it does in real life because I used a HB pencil for the entirety of it and the low contrast is not very appealing. I edited the contrast for a better finished result.

The new compositions were made with a false paper frame, as per instructions. I played around until I found several images that I liked. They are pictured below. My favorites are titled.

Having read about the intuitive processes of other artists for the research tasks, I tried to apply similar elements of play into my own project. I was most inspired by Anni Albers’ ideas about medium/material, mostly because I was limited to the graphite. The graphite pencil can be used in a variety of ways to created different textures. At one point, the tip broke, so I had the opportunity to use the side of it like charcoal instead of just the very tip. Now that I look at the finished result, I could have taken things further and darkened more areas or stippled in a different way, but I think I practiced the concept well enough for an intuitive exercise.

Intuitive mark-making is not a big part of my usual process, but I can see how I could implement it. Because the whole page needed to be filled, I was forced to conceive new varieties of textures and mini compositions. These might be used in future projects as bases. In the midst of a project, taking some time to make more gestural or instinctive marks can lead to adding new meaning or spicing up an otherwise boring composition.