COMING UP: portraits unintended

Here's a starter.
Now go to the next posting!

Unintended portraits

In this posting I'm having a bit of fun.
I''ve cropped the heads from some of my life-drawings from the past few weeks.
This follows my attempt to do a detailed close-up drawing of Penny's clasped hands drawn large on A1 paper (see previous posting) which I found most difficult and challenging.
So I just wondered what an enlarged version of one part of the body would look like if one took a closer look at it. I''ve been playing with this enlargement thing on my tablet since I bought it, and so here are the results.
I find the.whole exercise fascinating but have not yet had studied the results and so have not formed an opinion as to the value of the exercise.

Drawing Penny on January 26th

Focussing on the clasped hands and three quickies, from drawing Penny at Arts Alive in Crickhowell.

All are drawn using HB or 2B pencils in both hands with additional charcoal rubbed in with the finger, on 220gsm A1 cartridge paper..



'my usual approach when it comes to hands and feet is not to attempt to actually draw them but to suggest to the beholder with a few blocks of tone and a few key explorative lines within the context of the pose as a whole. This is different. The focus here is definately on the hands and I found it challenging. A principal problem was that I was quite some way from the model and detail was difficult to ascertain'





'10 minutes of heated drawing activity as I grappled to capture the curled up form'





'another two 10 minute poses'



'also a 10 minute pose'

Drawing Paul at EXTREME POSES on January 24th

No life-drawing on Tuesday as I spent the day digging ourselves out from the heavey snows of the last few days. So it was with great anticipation for a good draw that I battled my way in my Land Rover Discovery to meet up with Marianne and drive over into England and spend the morning at Extreme Poses. On the journey we talked enthusiastically about our current life-drawing experiences, with moments of silent reflection on our shared thoughts. This helped to place ourselves in a good 'state of mind' for the morning ahead of us.

Below are my 4 drawings from this morning's session. All are on A1 220gsm cartridge paper, drawn with my two-handed approach, using HB and 2B pencils and some additional charcoal which has been blended in with the finger.

'emphasising the strong diagonal of the pose, the advancing foot, and the depth between the legs'

' a rare inclusion of the ropes: the arm pit was hidden behind the knot of the ropes and as it was impossible to make-up what could not be seen I decided to include the ropes which in fact helped to explain the pose'

'a further approach to placing emphasis on part of the pose by the inclusion of lost-edges'

'this in fact was the first drawing of the session which attempted to explore a journey up through the pose: I was not very satisfied with the drawing but it did prove to lay the foundation for the above three pieces all of which I am pleased with'

Drawing Robin art EXTREME POSES on January 17th

Further exploration of my established approach to drawing with both hands simultaneously. Including a return of charcoal this time in combination with pencil.
All on A1 220gsm cartridge paper.
Time for each pose is a maximum of 30 minutes, but I am tending to stop drawing before the end of this time. It is becoming important to me to know when to stop.

'the strong diagonal of this pose just asked to be placed on the diagonal of the paper and to be explored along its full length. Up to the last few minutes of this 25 minute pose there was something not quite right about the left hand - it was drawn weakly and too small, it had insufficient weight - a rapid erasing and a very rapid redraw solved my frustration' 

'Paul Fowler, our tutor, suggested I place areas of darker tone in first without any mapping of the overall form. This I did with charcoal powder applied with my finger and briskly brushed into the paper. With an HB pencil in both hands I then commenced drawing, and finally emphasised the darker tonal areas with a short willow charcoal stick and some more light finger rubbing. Additional pencil work completed the drawing within a total time of 30 minutes (but this included lots of long reflective pauses)' 



'this in fact was the first drawing of this morning's session with an HB pencil in each hand. I recall my left hand started mark-making with her left hand in the top left-hand corner of the paper and my right hand started with her right foot in the lower right hand corner of the paper (I am beginning to master independent action in each hand). Although her upper body was slightly arched backwards I feel I did not appreciate the full length of her torso and I exaggerated the dimensions of her buttock (I believe these imperfections were due to my over pre-occupation with the act of mark-making, and particularly with mark-making with both hands, and consequently I became diverted away from the issue of correct proportion '



'this drawing is made from a number of different mark-makings: pencil, charcoal powder, charcoal on edge and charcoal line both raw and rubbed in with the finger. Although this diversity has occured in the past I feel I want to pursue this approach in the context of my two-handed pencil technique, and will be including examples in future postings'

Drawing Penny on January 15th 2013

Back at Angela Palmer's class at Brockweir in the Wye Valley with Penny. All drawings with two hands and using either two HB or two 2B pencils .

Robin at EXTREME POSES

The first life drawing session after the Christmas break, and I expect now to get back into my weekly postings.
I am at Paul Fowler's 'extreme poses' at Pegasus art in Stroud. I have travelled from Wales over the Severn Bridge into England, about 45 miles, with three colleagues, to participate in this unique, challenging and thoroughly enjoyable life-drawing experience.
The model is Robin. She has taken on board the opportunities presented by Paul and his triangulated, tensioned rope structure, and has created an art form in itself which we artists are totally intoxicated by, and stimulates us to immerse ourselves in our own art. We are privileged.
This is a three hour session with half-hour maximum per pose, and a good and welcome coffee break (to the model and us). It is pleasantly exhausting.
You might ask "Where are the ropes?" I never really see them!

'is it possible to achieve a pose of this nature without the suspended rope matrix devised by our tutor Paul Fowler? I don't think so. As you can see I'm looking upwards. The left leg has weight, as do the hands, and the angle of her shoulders is critical to capture. This is an amazing pose. Is the head too big? Not sure. It dominated this part of the figure' 

'Robin hung in the air, limbs dangling down, shoulders and head arched away'

'this time Robin was long, she appeared extended, and I tried to capture this elongation of her body, with both hands constantly moving up and down the paper exploring the form'

'this was a quick ten minute drawing'

'not happy with this drawing'