Drawing John on April 30th

I am in the same position, more or less, as last Tuesday, and continuing an experimental approach to mark-making as I become more and more familiar with the pose.

All paper is A1 220gsm cartridge. I like this very much, it has a bit of texture and will take heavy pencil lines and wet treatments. It also takes a delicate pencil line and its stiffness gives a sound surface to work on.

But firstly three 5 minute warm-ups at the start of the day. I start each using both hands with HB pencils and then heavier lines with my usual hand.

 

Next, a few preparatory lines with both hands but quickly into using a whetted tissue with charcoal powder. This soon dries and I was able to draw over it with a tinted charcoal pencil emphasising the darker tones. I also found that I could finger rub the dried charcoal areas and blend this in, in places with the tinted charcoal pencil. This was a very quick drawing, but really more like a painting technique, in which I attempted to keep the white of the paper as the highlights.

 

Next a much quicker and much more spontaneous response to get a further 'feel' for the pose. Less than 10 minutes before lunch.

 

Apart from the three warm-ups at the start of the day this next drawing is the one I spent the morning on. So about 90 minutes maximum. It is a two-handed drawing using two 2H pencils. I believe I am succeeding in using both hands/pencils equally. Neither is dominant. And I'm asking myself  "does this mean both sides of my brain are contributing to the process, and if so what difference is this making?"  

What I am concluding is this: "I feel there is a more 'energetic' enquiry and exploration of the forms of the body taking place, which I believe presents in me a very different sensation to when I'm using other techniques. Tactility is enhanced: by which I mean that I am much more conscious of the engagement of the pencil with the paper."  

 

Finally at the end of the day I wanted to get a bit closer, not only by cropping the pose but getting into the space between the shoulders as they relaxed forward. Two handed pencils moved around the paper followed by fine-liner pens, then to give emphasis to the drawing the heavier line of a tinted charcoal pencil was then softened with the finger.

Drawing Robin on April 25th

I seem to be moving away from lots of lines and two handed drawing towards a more selective line using just my principal right hand.

Drawing John on April 23rd

Drawing Damaris & Robin on April 18th

Damaris and Robin up in the ropes together at 'extreme poses' with me only a few centimetres away. This was an amazing morning in which the two models explored intertwinned creations which presented a completely new challenge. For me it seemed to provide a catalyst for bringing together and relating a number of issues and ideas which I had been addressing over recent weeks. But I will need time to reflect on what has taken place. In the meantime I'm posting the six drawings of the morning.

Drawing Abigail on April 16th

Carrying on from last Tuesday with Abigail in the same pose and me again moving around the studio to explore from more or less the same three locations, plus a 5 minute gesture pose.



'Yes! I have posted this one upside down. I find it helps me to check on issues such as the appropriateness of the tonal work and perspective. Apart from that I'm reminded of the figures leaping out from the Sistene Chapel ceiling'



 

'LIFE as we see it' exhibition

This is the annual exhibition of paintings, drawings and sculptures of the human figure by those who attend Angela Palmer's life-classes at Brockweir in The Wye Valley.

The exhibition runs from April 14th to May 7th.

The Garden Room

Taurus Crafts

Lydney

GL15 6BU

01594 844841

www.tauruscrafts.co.uk

I have three drawings on display from the past year.

All are A1 on 220gsm cartridge paper.



'rest and reflection'

charcoal and white pastel on clear gesso-cartridge





'female nude totally relaxed'

two-handed pencil drawing





'male nude with mohawk hairstyle'

two-handed pencil drawing



Drawing Abigail on April 9th

I sort of played around today.

I don't mean frivolously playing around.

Behind these drawings of juxtaposed poses I am attempting to journey beyond the straightforward representation of that which is before me.

Perhaps I have been trying to do this for some time now, but I remain unsure of what it is I am seeking.

I believe I will recognise it when it arrives.

When it does I will not stop there and repeat it.

I will be moving on again, further along, in my life-drawing journey.

I've talked recently about drawing a feeling.

Recalling how I felt during the day, and also reflecting on the drawings now that I have posted them, I do sense a change in what I am experiencing when actually standing in front of the model.

The pencil or pen or charcoal is much more part of the search, much more part of the exploration, much more part of the emotion, than it has been before.

As a result, are the marks any different than before?

Why should I be experiencing this particular breakthrough at this time?

Is it a breakthrough or is it just one step, like other steps before, as I travel deeper and deeper into my life-drawing world?

Or did I just feel differently to day, for all sorts of external reasons? 

Apart from the second drawing which is of three five minute warm-ups at the start of the day, the others are the product of my moving my easel around the studio, and in the first and last drawing of turning my paper through 90 degrees, back and forth a number of times. These movements seem to be the result of my wishing to explore and draw Abigail in her reclining pose from a number of locations all at the same time. I do now believe that this experience represents a dominance of 'expression of feeling' over 'representational drawing'. It is an enhancement in the dynamic of the dialogue between artist and model. After having drawn Abigail for three days now, I feel fairly sure that her personality and her qualities as a life-model are playing a significant role in the new experience of 'drawing a feeling' which I have outlined above.

   



the paper was turned through 90 degrees a number of times during which drawing started with pencil outlines and then a simple bold lines of either charcoal or grey pastel to distinguish the two figures





these are the three 5 minute warm-up poses at the start of the day drawn with a fine pen. 





some exaggeration is included as I bring her right leg and foot towards me, with the intention of enhancing the sense of perspective



with the exception of introducing some tonal emphasis with a heavier mark-making, using my dominant right hand, this drawing was constructed using my left hand. Consequently the mark-making is lighter, is more searching, and of a much more exploratory nature than it would have been had I used my 'skilled' usual right hand [in earlier postings you will note I have been experimenting by drawing with both hands simultaneously, but this is the first time I have used my left hand by itself. Further comment when I have explored this approach some more]







I must have disturbed the other life-drawers in the construction of this drawing as I carried my easel back and forth across the studio locating myself three times looking up from her feet and similarly three times looking down from her head. The key decision for me was the relationship, and hence the nature of the dialogue, between the two figures as they emerged on the paper. I was asking myself whether I should resolve this meeting of two bodies and create a realistic portrayal of two bodies laying together or more simply overlap two separate drawings. I think in this case I did a bit of both [having tried to describe what happened, now I understand something of the dilemma, and I really want to do this again and explore it more].







this is the portrait format of the first drawing in this posting, and in fact was the starting format. I do not know what prompted me to turn the paper through 90 degrees, except that it was part of this desire to explore and draw the model from a number of directions at the same time which I have described above.



All the drawings shown are on A1 220gsm cartridge paper