Autumn with Paul

This posting of my drawings of Paul, together with the content of my previous posting of my drawings of Natalie (Autumn with Natalie), for me heralds a significant transformation in terms of 'technique', the 'making of marks', the 'dialectic of abstract with representational drawing', and of the 'challenges which I can present myself with' in my life-drawing journey.

I am offering no comment (self-analysis) on these images, nor I have I done so on those of Natalie.

But, I will contribute this observation: "I feel I am moving from a representational stance towards a more abstract interpretation of the subject before me"

Autumn with Natalie

These two weeks in September (from the 19th to the 30th), which bridge the autumn equinox, have for me been so enjoyable, and so fulfilling, in my life-drawing journey.

This posting of drawings "Autumn with Natalie", and the next posting of my drawings of Paul, put together a record of my experiences during this time. At this moment in my life-drawing journey I do feel so fulfilled!

Why this should be, I am uncertain.

Maybe, it is life as a whole, which is going OK.

Maybe, it is a one of those points in time when a choice, between the emerging paths which appear ahead in the life-drawing journey, has to me made. There is no compulsion to change direction. There is no-one to say 'do this'.

Yet, sometimes, occasionally, the complex set of variables in the life-drawing situation, present an opportunity for evolving, progressing, moving forward, reaching-out, discovering something new.

I feel that I am experiencing such a moment!

So, without an accompanying commentary, here are my drawings of Natalie who will very soon be welcoming her baby into her own private world.

A French Connection [September 2011]

Oh so good to be in France again!

I spent a week with a group of life-drawing friends in France at the invitation of the artist, Alex Brown, and the sculptor, Christine Baxter. They are establishing a programme of residential painting courses at their new home and studio in Astaillac, which is a few minutes drive from the medieval Abbey town of Beaulieu sur Dordogne.

This was my first engagement with landscape subjects and my simple and limited self-selected aim was to translate my life-drawing approach and techniques into drawing the landscape. Now, upon reflection, there are a number of key learning experiences which I will now take forward into my life-drawing journey.

The following gives a taste of the week's engagements and are grouped according to the experimental issues I tackled. All drawings, apart from the three life-drawings, are approximately A3.

Firstly, four willow charcoal on gesso treated cartridge paper.

Then, four drawings (2 charcoal, 2 pastel) of a village street with strong shadows and towering rock cliffs above.





Three varying techniques: pastel on gesso treated paper, a single attempt with acrylics, and finally tinted charcoal pencils.




A study of roofs.






Three experiments exploring the tonal value of colour, using in each case a limited palette of colours. I read somewhere that such a selected palette can introduce a harmony to the work.


In the monochromatic piece above I sought to locate the paper tone in the scale.

Then three studies looking towards a hill across a valley using pastel on three different papers: gesso treated newsprint, pastel paper, and thirdly a smooth white cartridge paper.




On a rainy day we stayed in the studio and was so pleased that Penny, one of our usual models was with us.

Drawing Paul on 15/09/2011

I'm back at Paul Fowler's Extreme Poses at Pegasus Art in Stroud, England, after a summer break from life-drawing. I travel over from Wales on a Thursday with a few friends and we spend the morning with a model suspended in a matrix of ropes which hang from the beams in the studio.

All drawings are on A1 cartridge.

The first two are charcoal on a clear gesso treated paper.
This third drawing uses 2B pencil on a smooth cartridge paper.
Finally, charcoal with the heavy lines using a charcoal pencil. This last drawing was quite quick, about six or seven minutes.