13/11/2020: Charles Tunnicliffe artist research.

 As part of my research for the authorship project, I have been looking a lot at the work of Charles Tunnicliffe. I am already quite familiar with his paintings, however, I have been researching into his practice even more during my exploration of geese as part of my own project. Tunnicliffe is undoubtedly one of the most significant artists for bird illustrations. Although my work is more stylised in nature and his is much more scientific and accurate, I feel that his approach to illustrating birds is admirable and noteworthy. 

I have been looking over images from his sketchbooks today and thought they were worthwhile sharing on this blog.

I particularly like the way in which he uses gestural marks to make informed detailed notes on the types of birds he is looking at. It is evident that this approach to on site drawings is what allows him to make such scientifically accurate drawings later on. It is impressive to say the least as smartphones with high quality cameras were not available during Tunnicliffs time as an artist, where as previously, a lot of my practice has revolved around taking pictures with my phone to later draw from. I try to limit how often I do this now as I have come to the realisation that you can make much more deeper enriching observations from life and you get to pick up things you might not have the chance to with a photograph. Furthermore, drawing from life allows you to manipulate angles and fully analyse up close what it is you are observing. Whilst photographs will always be a convenient point of reference, I thing that it is much more impactful to draw from life in a way that artists like Tunnicliff did.