August - Week 2

Written 17/08/2025

Sketches based on her work

The Sketches basaed on her paintings were very interesting to do, considering how varied her art is. I do think I didn't leave enough space in them (I was focusing on the forms rather than the whole composition)

Six felt tip sketches based on Joan Hill's paintings, with text describing them

I feel like a common theme amongst her work was the aspect of things/people being caught 'in the moment' (collecting food, dancing, sitting etc) and also her cultural heritage (traditions from the Muscogee Creek/Cherokee nations but also the environment). I also noticed that either the sun or the moon feature heavily (or in the backgrounds) of her paintings. She also tended to have limited colour palettes (not mono-coloured but definitely only a slice of the colour spectrum) but her work is still vibrant!

Specific artwork I will be focusing on

Spirit of the Suli Obanga (Buzzard Dance), 2007.

hree Native American men wearing wings dancing. In the background are four figures in white and a pole with a fish stuck at the top

Why this one?

Funnily enough, when I first decided to do Joan Hill for this project the painting that I was going to take experience from is Effigy Bowl of the Sacred Fire since I thought it looked SO beautiful. But as I did more research, and when I started drawing the sketches I found that Buzzard Dance really gave me good inspiration for what my final idea for this month will be.

I love the fluidity of the dancing in Buzzard Dance, and the contrast of the inked men and the white 'ghostly' men in background. I also really like the watercolour wash for the majority of the colour in this painting, it gives a good 'feeling' or 'impression' of the piece. I think that not colouring in the clothes lets the ink details stand out more (or maybe I'm biased because I find I lose detail when I colour in drawings).

Sketches based on specific artwork

I did a pencil drawing of the artwork and then I did a quick painting of it too to get a rough basis of colours and the inking

Pencil sketch of Spirit of the Suli Obanga (Buzzard Dance) — I was glad to get a bit more practise of the men's anatomy and of the clothing. The way it flows really helps convey the movement. Like I said above I should have blocked out the composition more! The feathers were hard to draw though, I think I made them look a bit too sharp. The ghostly men are a bit too close to eachother too.

Basic painting and inking copying Spirit of the Suli Obanga (Buzzard Dance) — I really liked how the wash came out just in this practise. You can see that it is a lot more faded (I can see that I will need to layer the paint!). The ink helped me keep the figures smaller (probably because the point of the fineliner is finer than my 2B pencil) which is good to see. The white gouache turned out really well once it dried too!