Forthcomig delight: 3 double-model days at 'Extreme Poses'

For the next three Thursdays Paul Fowler is bringing together two models who will work together on a number of poses. This is a drawing of mine from a few years ago in which I addressed this challenge.
I recall my reflections at the time, one of which was that the special issue of the two model pose was how to identifyy, respond to and capture such aspects as relationship, interface and dialogue. I anticipate that I will learn something of what I mean by this, this next time. I also wish to explore the depths around two concepts, a) we should attempt to draw what we see, rather than the object we are looking at, and b) what we see says something about ourselves.

Anchoring the pose: drawing Paul on November 27th 2014

I have anchored each pose to one or two sides of the page. This is to place emphasis on the focussed items, I.e. the hands and feet, by removing in a clear and deliberate manner the rest of the body. This anchoring also helps to project the limbs and their extremities out into the space of the page. This was a deliberately chosen strategy which aimed to help me concentrate on the hands and feet by removing a wide range of other variables, e.g. overall proportioning of the body, whether to crop and which parts to crop, overall perspective issues of the pose, etc.
All are A1, two-handed, HB pencil drawings on cartridge paper.
I enjoyed this session of 5 thirty minute poses, and felt extremely fullfilled.

Pre Egon Schiele: Drawing Robin on November 20th 2014

Here I am at 'Extreme Poses' again and we have the amazing Robin working hard at her exciting poses. I'm in an anticipatory mood, thinking about my visit tomorrow to the exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery - 'Egon Schiele: the radical nude'. My state of anticipation is twofold: a) confronting the work of one of the most challenging artists of modern times (and one of my artist idols), and b) looking forward to the impact that Schiele's drawings will have on my own work.

Drawing Martin on November 18th 2014

Before settling into the main pose Martin took up three short poses balanced on one of those large exercise balls. As the first drawing (the lower one) incorporated a strong perspective, from the head to the feet, I attempted to reduce the size of the subsequent poses and managed to achieve a perspective in the overall composition. This was a new departure in these  quick collage of poses. Usually the figures are simply placed alongside each other or are overlapped in some way.
For the main pose I tried to place emphasis on the advancing right foot together with the left set of toes and the hand, all three of which caught my attention right at the beginning.
I'm continuing with my two-handed approach and now find it is my natural way of drawing.

A special moment: like a kiss!

A few postings ago I suggested that my visit to India would stimulate a change within myself which would find expression in my life-drawing. There is no doubt that the experience was spiritually uplifting and emotionally challenging. How this has influenced the direction of my life-drawing journey remains to be seen. A moment which was and is very special is captured here: A wonderfully shared moment! 

The Kiss re-visited

I've just got very excited with a pastel life-drawing I did some years ago. So, I've humbly placed it in context with one or two of my current pre-occupations.

Five studies with an emphasis on 'perspective': drawing Paul on November 6th 2014

During the making of these drawings I was conscious of the issue of advancing a part or parts of the pose, and receding other parts, in order to emphasise the 'perspective' or 'depth' of the composition. The first four had shortcomings in this respect with a success in the fifth;

1. feet too big
2. elbow (with star like tatoo) too small
3. shoulder could be larger or right arm slimmer
4. genitalia too large

These are observations made two or three days after drawing. During drawing I try to avoid self-anlysis or self-criticism. In other words the act of drawing is an intuitive, spontaneous and un-selfconscious process. As I take the view - "Do not try to create and analyse at the same time: they are different procedures" (popularised by John Cage in the 1960's but originally one of '10 rules' by Sister Corita Kent.
A second rule I like is "Consider everything an experiment" which fits well with my adopted philosophy, recalled in a recent posting "Paths are made by walking"

An experiment with charcoal: drawing Paul on November 13th 2014

Paul Fowler our tutor at 'Extreme Poses' at Pegasus Art in Stroud suggested we might like to escape our comfort zone and select from a collection of sticks, paints, inks, textured paper, etc. which he provided. I chose a thick textured paper which when pulled apart produced feather edges and varying outlines. Mark making came from drawing the charcoal stick across the paper's edge on to the drawing. In addition to the two poses responded to in this way I did two othe drawings of Paul our model.

Nude man resting arm on piano: drawing John on November 4th and 11th 2014

In addition to John taking up two poses with his arm resting on top of an upright piano, he also took up some 5 minute poses and for two of these used a tensioned rope fixed to an overhead beam.

"paths are made by walking" (an up-date)

At the start of compiling this blog I referred to an inspirational poet, Antonio Machado:

'Wanderer, your footsteps are the road,
and nothing more;
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind one sees the path,
that never will be trod again.
Wanderer there is no road,
only wakes upon the sea'

Antonio Machedo is perhaps the most famous of Spanish poets. And today, I feel a powerful relevance in these words, just as I anticipated when I placed them on my blog in the posting of January 29th 2010. Perhaps even more so.

This blog is a diary and a record of my life-drawings. I make observations as I go along. It is a personal record but one which I share with whoever logs in. And I love and value the comments and best wishes which come to me. But I also maintain a note-book. This is also a diary, of 'my thoughts', websites discovered relevant to my work, some quick life-drawings, quotes, etc.

On October 16th Sylvia and I set off to visit India and Nepal. I took my note book with me. After 2 days I entered this thought: "we are now 2 days into our visit to India and Nepal and finally I have had the courage to start entering some thoughts about what is happening, because I realise that the spiritual experience which I am embarking upon will profoundly impact upon my evolution as an artist, as I am expecting to be changed as a human being."

I, perhaps, should have experienced India fifty years ago. I do admit it was quite an effort on my part to take on board the travel, the intense schedule, the anticipated extremes, and the diversities. But I knew its value. And I am reminded of the first quote in my note-book, which was initially included with reference to my 'life-drawing journey', but has equal relevance to my footsteps of experience in India and Nepal;

"the only rule is that there are no rules.
Anything is possible.
It's all about risks, deliberate risks"  .........the author of this is Helen Frankenthaler.

Paul in 5 suspended poses, on October 9th 2014

At Extreme Poses in Stroud, run by artist Paul Fowler. Paul the model is a gardener, and a professional artist's model. Here I have continued with a charcoal stick in each hand, following on from picking up charcoal two days ago, after an absence of many, many months.
Paul climbs up in the ropes, suspended from beams, and maintains each pose for 30 minutes. Although my drawings are produced in a shorter time, as I tend to stop drawing before I get to the end. By this I mean if I go beyond a certain point in my mark-making then I can often lose the essentiality of my response. In other words in attempting to 'tidy-up' and 'complete' a drawing I often depart a long way from my starting point. And, actually, I usually enjoy looking back at my starting points. Often, they are quite prescious to me.

Abigail dancing, and sitting with hands together, on October 14th 2014

A short Tuesday evening's life-drawing session. I had completed my packing ready for my trip to India and Nepal early Thursday morning, so I drove over to Angela Palmer's class at Brockweir in the Wye Valley for a final draw.

Moving around Sue as she is nodding-off, on October 7th 2014

The first two drawings contain three very quick responses to Sue as she posed in various positions at the start of the session.
Then I moved around Sue as she gradually nodded-off sinking into a very comfortable chair.
I am unable to recall why I picked up charcoal sticks as a sudden and un-anticipted departure from my lengthy period of a pencil in each hand. It was an 'on-spot' decision. I believe now that I just wanted to break out from my more conscious way of pencil drawing and freely, perhaps more intuitively and more spontaneously release my feelings.