The main bus station – Terminal O’Higgins
I made several studies of the main bus terminal on two separate occasions – what drew me to the station was the constant movement, buses, people, taxis and pedestrians. Also the fact that I have been a constant traveller and commuter all of my life and this bus station in Rancagua is the start and end point for many journeys.
My first two sketches below capture some of this atmosphere – the first sketch more so as the mark making is more fluid, and there is more attention paid to movement than form and correctness. The second sketch is more restrained and in trying to capture a busy moment with lots of traffic and people, I lost my way.
The next sketch as well as the second drawing above were from a high viewpoint in front of the station overlooking the scene.
Finally I looked to the right, moved down to a lower level and made this quick sketch looking towards the main avenue to capture the traffic and a huge flag pole that dominates the skyline in front of the station. I liked this view but in the end did not have enough detail/interest to complete a final drawing.
At home using a photo of the station from a similar viewpoint to my first sketch above I made the following drawings:
They did not really capture the atmosphere I was looking for and were absent of movement and people – even my markmaking was heavy and static. This then turned into a more abstract style using heavy soft pastel – see below:
All were made in my A5 sketchbook.
I felt that I should backtrack and use my original sketches of the Terminal to achieve what I was looking for.
Thinking of the work of Kossoff once again, it was clear that although his linework is fragmented, hurried with lots of energetic movement – there is also rigorous observation of even the smallest detail such as pigeons, people, traffic and tree movements.
This can only be achieved by making many sketches of the same place over and over again – which is evident in many of his London Landscapes.
My final drawing of the Terminal was completed studying my sketches and using a photo as a reference for the additional details.
Again it was important for me to build up a sound base with many layers of soft pastel and then finish the drawing with charcoal and soft pastel highlights:
I feel that this drawing captures the movement, colour and atmosphere of the Terminal – several details are not quite correct – such as the figure to the left of the bus which was perhaps too large and the sign over the building too far to the right and perhaps also too large but overall the composition works, and the electricity wires help fill the space left by what is a very bright blue cloudless sky (typical of the region).
BA (Hons) Painting - Learning Log 