Drawing Alison on 17/08/2010

This session was arranged by two of my life drawing colleagues to help fill the summer gap between our regular life drawing classes, which will start up again in mid September. The model is Alison whom I have had the pleasure of drawing since I started life drawing about four years ago.
The first two drawings are quick ten minute 'looseners'. Basically, charcoal on A2 cartridge.

The following are my three ten minute quickies at the start of the afternoon session. Again, I am using charcoal on A2 cartridge paper.

I particularly like the third drawing: the angle of the shoulders and breasts as I look down upon the model, the tilt of the head, and the right hand as it pivots on the back of the chair. I also am pleased with the charcoal marks: both the strong linear marks which define the principal form of the pose, and the tonal variation in which finger smudging comes into play. I am also pleased with the way in which the composition extends off the paper.

So, now on to the main pose of the day. This is charcoal on A1 cartridge paper. The main pre-occupation was with containing the pose within the boundary of the A1 paper, but also continuing my obsession with the nature and characteristics of the marks which it is possible to create with charcoal. You should be able to observe from the marks on the paper how, over a number of drawings which were each rubbed down with a piece of kitchen roll, the final position, proportion and place on the paper was achieved. This is not a 'final' drawing, but a record of the search, experimentation and exploration which quite often goes into a drawing but which are rarely recorded, and therefore are not necessarily appreciated by the beholder.

Having a feeling of satisfaction with the basic form, the composition on the paper, and familiarity with the main issues of the pose, I decide to make a slight adjustment and move about a metre to my right for the second main drawing of the day. This reduced the amount of back I could see and brought the right forearm and breasts into view.

This is again charcoal on A1 cartridge paper. However the big difference is that I am moving away from utilising a series of linear marks on the paper in order to create the drawing, towards a more tonal emphasis in which the charcoal when applied to the surface of the paper is then rubbed and blended with the finger. An eraser is utilised to create the highlights which are emphasised in a few places with a soft white pastel.

I shall be exploring this approach in the future. I have been looking at a number of websites in which artists have used this technique and also have become aware of the precedence of charcoal drawing in the traditional classical atelier approach to life drawing.

At the end of the day I had a few minutes remaining so I very quickly carried out two five minute experiments. The main experiment was to see what happened when I turned to a landscape format. I had been very aware that the portrait paper format of the two main drawings of the day had caused me to pull in the left leg of the model towards the body, whereas it probably should have been much more extended. The boundary of the paper was strongly influencing the drawing and, in fact, distorting the body.

In the drawing below I have extended the legs but I did get rather excited by the quick bold charcoal marks on the paper.

Finally, the portrait format encouraged me to exaggerate the length of the left leg, but do you see what has happened? The vertical part of the body has been compressed as I attempted to fit it into the 'vertical dimension' boundary of the paper. It's a 'learning curve'!

Two female models posing together on 02/08/2010

Over the summer break Angela Palmer ran two one day sessions at Brockweir in the Wye Valley. Firstly, a 'Portrait in oils workshop' which I was unable to attend, and secondly a 'Double Model Day -Two female models posing together'. We started with two 10 minute quickies. First the models stood together and my drawing was rubbish. So here is my A2 charcoal quickie of the second pose. I feel it has a Henry Moore 'characteristic' about it. Then into the main pose for the day, firstly using charcoal on A1 cartridge.

I then moved across the studio and followed this up with an A1 pastel experiment on white cartridge after it became clear to me that the skin tones and colours differed between the models. I wish I had had more time to explore this observation. As with the majority of my pieces they are unfinished as I work on them only within each life-drawing class itself. I like the technique of defining a form by blocking in with an appropriate background colour (or texture). I have employed this approach before but am now beginning to understand its significance a little more and will expect to develop it in future drawings.

Drawing at Summer School

This is Peter Seabourne's Life Drawing Summer School at Arts Alive in Crickhowell, Powys, which took place over six days (July 30th to August 4th). I attended for four days. Carole modelled for the first five days with Glenda posing on the final day. Peter tutors and advises as one wishes and at the end of the day everyone displays their work and he performs a crit, placing each work in the context of the week and frequently also placing one's achievements within the context of the great masters of the art of drawing the human figure. Perhaps his principal teaching medium is his exemplary A5 sketch book in which he creates time throughout each day to draw a number of the poses using a 2H pencil and (in my view) concentrating on tonal value using a variety of hatching and cross-hatching techniques. It is a most beautiful record and archive of the models which we have the pleasure of drawing, and presents a set of drawings the quality of which we can all aspire to reach.

The first three drawings are from day one. My conclusion is that I was very rusty after a short absence from a life drawing class and I am not satisfied with the results. A partial excuse is that following the excitement of Extreme Poses (see last posting) being presented with a 'standing' model is less challenging. However it is the technique of drawing which I feel is rather 'stiff'. This first drawing is A2, in charcoal on cartridge paper. The second drawing is A1, pastel with charcoal outline on tinted newsprint.

However, in this third drawing I think I have conveyed the relaxed nature of the pose and have been much bolder in using the charcoal. I also brought forward and exaggerated the size of the legs, which eventually took the feet off the paper, whereas originally and according to 'measurement' and according to my intention, should be visible. So my conclusion is that this composition works well in that without the feet the eye becomes focused on the upper part of the body, i.e. the lovely massive right thigh and left knee and particularly the relaxed breasts and the turn of the head. The diagonal composition is also a strong point and Peter wanted me to eliminate the chair to emphasis this. Maybe I should have taken his advice.

On my second day, attendance was smaller so I took advantage of the extra space in the studio and in the morning moved my easel so that I did three drawings, each from a slightly different position, but each dealing with the perspective issue created by the nearness of feet, leg and bottom, with the rest of the body positioned over the top and in the distance. I have related the three drawings below not in the sequence they were drawn but as though the beholder is moving around the model. Upon examination it will be seen there is a significant difference in the boldness of line and tonal variation between the three, which I believe reflects a growing confidence as I became familiar with the pose and gained an increased awareness of the issues it presented. The order in which they were drawn is firstly the middle one, secondly the one on the right and thirdly the one on the left. I also experimented with different colour conte crayons to map out the basic form and then used different colour pastels to emphasise the deep tone points.

All three are on A2 cartridge paper, with charcoal rubbed with the finger and a charcoal outline in places. Conte crayon and pastel are also used as already described above.

On my third day we had two poses. Firstly a seated pose in which I was keen to explore the tonal variation over the back of the body and also the slight twist of the torso including the turn of the head. A yellow cupboard door positioned beyond the model inspired the bright yellow panel which I then placed on the drawing to help emphasise the overall body shape. This is a charcoal drawing on A1 cartridge paper.

The second pose is one I really enjoy. The challenge of 'perspective', I adore! Earlier postings of 'perspective' poses often show studies from the head end with an occasional foot end view. Here, I firstly did a quick study on A1 cartridge paper using charcoal to gain an idea of the relative proportions of the parts of the body and their place in the overall composition on the paper.

The first drawing was placed on the wall beside my easel and a second drawing was started which attempted to correct the weaknesses in shape, sizes and relative proportions. One key understanding was that the pose fitted within a square, whereas one might expect that the length of the body would fill the portrait format of the paper. Another key realisation was that the mid-horizontal line of the composition passes across the top of the right kneecap. In fact most of the body is above this line. Furthermore, the top of the left knee is in line with the left elbow and the head. In fact the top of the left knee is way up high in the composition and at the top of the paper (all of this, to some people, may seem very obvious and perhaps trivial in detail, but it takes time to become fully aware of these proportional and perspective elements and to establish their place on the paper).

The final drawing below is itself the product of about six layers of drawing in charcoal. Each one is rubbed down with a piece of kitchen roll and then drawn again with slight adjustments and corrections of line and size and proportion of parts.

The model lay on two pieces of material: one mauve the other light red. I took inspiration from the use of the block of yellow in the previous drawing and responded in the way you see below.

My fourth day saw a change of model. Very different. Quite lean this time and muscly as well. I had enjoyed the build up to this final day and felt confident in my abilities. So, with no pre-planned approach, medium or technique in mind I stood for a time observing the model. She leaned against the back of a chair which was draped with a blue sheet, and standing on a table so she was at my eye level. A big (A1) bold charcoal attack on white cartridge seemed appropriate. A strong geometry of angled lines across the paper began to locate the legs, torso and arms. The head, drawn too big to start with was then reduced. Dark tones were punched in with a thick charcoal stick. I am pleased with it!

So, what next? No point (this time) in attempting to refine, improve or take further, as I was pleased with what I had done. A change in paper and medium, and an attempt to capture the whole pose, and to experiment with a way of emphasising the tonal differences between the two sides of the figure.

The drawing was constructed in four layers: each time using a darker 'brown' conte crayon on top of the earlier lighter drawing as the journey toward the desired form was taken. Placing a dark background against the lighter parts of the body and leaving the lighter paper tone to contrast with the dark tone shadow areas, was experimented with.

Finally, I suppose I felt I couldn't leave the Summer School sessions without attempting a drawing which pulled out the colours which one can see in the model (all my Summer School drawings had so far engaged with tonal issues). However, I couldn't resist the 'big-foot' perspective, so I moved my easel. It uses charcoal, pastel, conte crayon on A1 cartridge paper.