October - Week 2

Written 14/10/2025

Sketches based on her work

So, as usual by this point, I started by doing rough 'form' sketches of Toni's artworks.

Six felt tip sketches based on Toni Ebel's artworks, with notes

Her art and subjects are rather varied, so there aren't any obvious commonalities -- except for perhaps the mundanity of the subjects? People, rooms, the outdoors? Just things that she observed. Sometimes caught in a specific moment.

Specific artwork I will be focusing on

Stilleben mit Wein (Still Life with Wine), 1930s.

An oil painting of a desk with a book wih glasses on top of it, several bottle of wine with two glasses - one empty, one full , two apples, some books and a small painting within the painting of a still life with a vase and two apples

Why this one?

This is the painting that first 'struck' me when looking up her artworks (for one thing it was one of the easier ones to actually find!) but like I wrote last week I like its 'artifical authenticity'. In the sense that things are placed in a seemingly normal manner for a desk, but this is a painting that she has constructed - still life tends to be 'constructed' to a degree anyway (life isn't still!). So it is a well painted painting of a desk with wine, apples and books (and a more 'proper' still life within it) where I am left considering her choices (the colours compliment eachother and the spacing helps with the eye drifting from left to right when looking at the painting).

Sketches based on specific artwork

Like I did back in January, I did a larger pen sketch to get a 'feel' for the form and then a pencil sketch to get more details (in particular, the shading). I think these really helped me think about what I will be doing for my final piece going forward for the rest of this month.

Pen sketch of SStilleben mit Wein (Still Life with Wine)
I will admit, I did the artist sin of looking too much at the paper rather than the actual reference! Hence why the spacing is off here, I'm glad I made the mistake here though so that I hopefully remember not to make it for my final piece!
Pen sketch of SStilleben mit Wein (Still Life with Wine)
Focusing on the shadows here helped me notice where the light source was coming from (I am still a bit of a novice so I still don't always notice stuff like that XD). The shadows are very dark here (the whole piece seems 'dark' - I wonder if I should have a black canvas for this one?)