A typical morning, with a fulfilling experience

Typical in the sense that here I am at Paul Fowler's  'extreme poses' at Pegasus Art in Stroud, with Paul the model up in the ropes for five 30 minute poses. I arrive to find Paul the model up the ladder and hitching up the tensegrity structure. This is the first time, in my recollection,  that the model has directly engaged in setting up and adjusting the performance matrix.
I had no plan for the morning in mind. No conscious strategy. But I had spent time reflecting on my last few drawings (as recorded in my last few postings). I now feel that I can draw, I now feel that I do not have to think about 'composition on the paper', I now feel that I can freely engage with a number of issues which fascinate me, I now feel a freedom from previous constraints which may have inhibited my evolutionary life-drawing path.
Today, my five drawings are representative of 'a process'. Yet each is the outcome of my specific response to each pose. Each translates into a drawing the aspect of the pose which attracted me at the time. I discussed with Paul Fowler what had taken place. He externalised to me, and clarified for me the tentative reactions I was having. In summary, so much took place within the process of which these five drawings are the outcome. For Paul Fowler the outstanding breakthrough, and the new step, was drawing number three.
To start with I post the five drawings in sequence: they start with the first at bottom left, then middle bottom, then bottom right. The fourth is top right, then the last is top left.

It is the function of art to renew our perception.

I have mentioned (or better put 'claimed') in a number of recent postings that one of the objectives of my anagram approach, in which I focus on selected parts of a pose and reconstruct them within a different spatial organisation, is to challenge the beholder's percetion of the human body, or at least to ask the question 'what am I looking at?' and to look twice. But, in fact, I did not set out with this objective in mind. The type of drawing I now do will take its place in the evolutionary and changing journey of my art. In a year or so this blog will be revealing something different, just as postings from years past have recorded. Yes my art evolves, and the causes of change are numerous. But the fundamentals I like to believe come from within myself. And the expression on paper of my feelings when drawing the human body could well be influenced by the journey my feelings take through my two-hands and their two pencils.

Sunday June 26th 2016: the journey continues

Nothing particular to observe about these four main drawings of Penny from last Sunday's session in Monmouth. However, I do feel I want to persevere with my approach in which I focus on those aspects or parts of the pose which attract me, as I anticipate a significant step may soon take place. This is not to suggest that I'm feeling a sense of frustration or of repetition.  In fact completely the opposite. I'm continually surprised by my responses and always can't waite for my next life-drawing session.
With these four drawings I am particularly fascinated with the outcome of the first one. Whilst it is still possible to work out the pose I do feel that something new has been created by the way I have juxtaposed the parts. In other words, this is an example where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This phenomenon has occurred previously, and I enjoy this outcome. Perhaps I will collect examples of this and place them on a single posting.
The other observation concerning these four is with the last drawing. Here I intended to distinguish between the two selected parts by the addition of my tinted charcoal tonal treatment in drawing the lower part of the pose. However it was only at the end that I realised I had applied this also to the breasts which in fact are part of the vertical part of the pose but the result is that the breasts could be growing out of her thigh. I do believe there is great scope in this 'ambiguity' aspect of my art.

Drawn to arms (and a foot)

I don't know why I was drawn to drawing mainly arms and hands this morning. There was no conscious decision to do this. Each pose presented an attraction which I started to draw. Today it just happened to be arms and hands plus a leg and a foot.
Also I am unsure as to why I placed emphasis on each limb whilst including some other part of each pose with line drawing.
These are 30 minute poses at Extreme Poses in Stroud, June 23rd 2016, on A1 220gsm cartridge paper with two handed graphite pencil draing with Derwent tinted charcoal tonal flesh additions.

Drawing Penny at Arts Alive on June 18th

I'm pursuing my anagram approach to the human body. And just come across a fourth version  (see previous  postings for the others) of the wording Hans Bellmer was supposed to have used in his last interview to explain what he meant when he claimed "The anagram is my art"...........'the body is comparable to a sentence that invites us to disarticulate it, so that, through a series of endless anagrams, its true contents may be recomposed'.

To crop or not to crop?

I rarely post cropped drawings. Because my blog is a record/diary of my life-drawing I want to be able to look back and see exactly what I did at the time. So I accept publication of my imperfections, and therefore I can reflect on and learn from them.
However, there are occasions when a concept or a drawing issue can be heightened by adjusting the boundary of the paper. Here is an example: the first drawing has not been adjusted, this is how it happened, the attachment to the right edge of the paper emphasised the space beyond the figure. There is a meditative feeling as the figure gazes into the distant space. In the second drawing the figure was originally placed in the centre of the paper with space all around and with a lost or soft edge to her back. By cropping the drawing and locking in the figure to the side of the paper the same effect is created as in the first drawing. But more importantly the original intention of my response to the pose has been strengthened, the inverted  'L' shaped form comprising the lean tall vertical torso capped by the overarching arms and head is now clearly presented and the distraction of the space behind the figure has been removed (the original drawing may be found on a recent posting).

Some emerging formats

I seem to be addressing my particular approach of selecting to draw those parts of the pose which attract me by adopting each time one of three formats or strategies. This all sounds very organised. Time will tell whether this provides a creative framework for the next steps in my journey or inhibits and slows down my normally evolving path.

This week, Tuesday morning at Angela Palmer's class in the Wye Valley (the first two drawings) and this morning at Paul Fowler's 'extreme poses' in Stroud (the other five drawings), there appeared three distinct ways of reconstructing "the human form as anagram" as I have recently been describing my approach.
a) I divided the paper up into 3 or 4 rectangles, to each receive one of the 3 or 4 parts of the pose I wanted to focus on. But I didn't necessarily keep to the imposed boundaries and I let some parts extend into the adjacent rectangle as I developed the drawing with overlap and transparency.
b) In two of my responses I wanted to explore and capture more or less the whole pose but was also attracted by the two outline silhouettes of the pose. This process resulted in a drawing that was freer and more flowing.
c) In the last two drawings I started with the part of the pose which first attracted me, then looked to see what next I liked and then the next. 

My reflective analysis suggests to me that the approaches followed in both a) and b) can be said to have a strong element of 'conscious design' about them. I am fairly certain that I knew what was going to happen on the paper before I started. By contrast the last two drawings referred to in c) were spontaneous,  intuitive, quick responses, which I recall feeling at the time that a gamble was taking place: it may work out or it may not. The second of these (the last drawing below) did work out. For me it successfully embraces some of the key qualities of my art which I am currently enjoying: illusion, ambiguity, spatiality, movement, provocation, and dare I add 'a two-dimensional riddle that challenges our eye and our reasoning' (or perhaps that is making too great a claim).

The wellbeing of the life artist

As with Tuesday (see previous two postings) I was up for it again this morning. And with the amazing Natalie up in the ropes at Paul Fowler's Extreme a poses, one could not wish for anything else. The variables governing a successful life-drawing session were all at their most provocative. The one exception was that we had to have a fan on in the studio, as opposed to the usual heaters. It was hot. Summer at its best. For me this added to the relaxed state I found myself in. So here are my responses to the five 30 minute poses. Too soon to include analytical objective self-critical notes. As for me I'm just going to allow some time to pass before I start a reflection on the morning. But, I do feel it was a good morning for me, and I feel a further movement has taken place in my life-drawing journey. How significant we shall see later. The only point I would add, and this is a personal diary note to remind myself of what took place: in all the drawings I brought in to my mark-making sequence the tinted charcoal as a second layer of marks. Previously,  and generally before, the tinted charcoal has been a fourth layer of mark-making to add a tonal impact to the drawing. Here I needed to use it early on (particularly in the second and fourth drawings) to help me untangle and differentiate the various bits of the body I had selected to draw. I am now jumping between light graphite pencil marks, tonal tinted charcoal sweeps, heavier graphite pencil marks, numerous times as the drawing emerges. I am excited by, and love, what's happening!

I feel I'm on a bit of a roll: part two

Here are the other two drawings from yesterdays life-drawing session described in detail in my previous posting.
Firstly, four 5 minute poses. As usual, I attempt a composition, which is always a bit of a gamble as there is no announcement of what is to come. The model is in complete control. And I do enjoy the challenge.
Secondly, the final drawing of the day. For all the others (in both postings) I sat low at my easel. For this one I raised my easel and stood. I moved closer to the model so to start with I was looking down upon her left shoulder (interesting to see the difference compared to the longer drawing presented in the previous posting). Then I moved across the studio to include a view from her other side, as I felt I could introduce a suggestion of a dialogue between the two.

I feel I'm on a bit of a roll

Yesterday at Angela Palmer's life-drawing class in Brockweir in the Wye Valley. I felt good, I'd had just experienced a number of successful and fulfilling days doing the other things I devote my life to, so I was really looking forward to a day of life-drawing. Angela had promised me a free half day for the time I portrait modelled when the life model was late. And to make a significant contribution to this already perfect set up the model was a lady who I had first drawn in Monmouth some weeks ago and I had conveyed her qualities to Angela.
My output was five A1 drawings. And as a set they seem to illustrate my current 'diversity of response'. Here are three, all drawn from the same location.
The first clearly embraces the whole pose. I was instantly attracted to the part of the pose forming a right angle which could locate itself within the right side and base of the paper. But I had to address the lower part of the pose and found no hesitancy in placing it as I did. I discovered later that she was standing on her own hand.
The second response falls well within my 'anagram' approach (this I have addressed on a number of occasions in earlier postings). I enjoy this. I draw each 'bit' in turn, focussing on its qualities and form, but not consciously addressing the overall compositional issues of the whole. However, subconsciously there must be a set of design rules influencing what is happening. With his drawing I clearly recall thinking that I would be simulating the quick 30 minute response slot which we have at Extreme Poees in Stroud, and that I would self-impose a time limit. So this is a quick drawing!

By contrast, the third drawing is not a quick one. I took my time. Deliberately so. I thought at the time, 'Well, I'm here all day, let's exploit the space which this creates. The thinking space. The space to think about something which I don't usually address, or at least have not addressed for some time, which is a more intimate engagement with the qualities of the model'. There is far less mark-making with graphite pencil lines and much more use of the tinted charcoal blocks which when applied to the paper are caressed across its surface either with a tissue or with the tips of my fingers in the processes of tonal blending whilst exploring anatomical beauty. 

Extreme Poses on June 2nd 2016

Natalie is up in the ropes at Extreme Poses in Stroud with five 30 minute poses and me extending my life-drawing journey but using my now familiar graphite pencil two-handed mark-making with additional tinted charcoal on A1 220gsm cartridge paper. A fuller description of the morning may be seen on my previous posting.

Another morning for diversity at Extreme Poses

This is the second time I seem to have responded to each of the five 30 minute poses in fairly clearly defined diverse ways. Very similar in fact to my previous visit to Paul Fowler's Extreme Poses, two weeks ago.
I would describe what is happening in these two sessions as developing an attitude or feeling about and towards each pose which results in focussing on or selecting parts of the pose and bringing them together in a new spatial arrangement which says something about how I am perceiving the pose and also utilising what I feel at the time to be an appropriate mark-making technique. Each response is different and specific to each pose. This is not an engineered or forced diversity. The outcome, the drawing, does I believe represent my response. In fact today, I was completely relaxed, feeling good within myself, had no plans as to how I might approach the morning. I simply stood at my easel, observed the pose, homed in on a part or an aspect which attracted me and started to outline this attraction within the space within the paper with my two graphite pencils working together. From this start the drawing then took on a kind of 'life-of-its-own'.
The drawings are posted in the order I made them.

Experimenting on May 31st

I didn't set out to do three separate studies. I started by exploring the full length of the pose but as this was progressing I felt I wanted to home in on two other parts of the pose, and to do these at a larger scale. The line drawing appeared next. Then I felt a need to explore the left shoulder and arm. The different treatments emerged as the drawing was created and were clarified and emphasised towards the end.

Here are three fails.

But what is a fail?
In these, I believe it is obvious.
In the first I attempted to highten the foreshortening perspective by missing out the middle of her body and was totally oblivious to my depiction of the 'withered' left arm.
In the second the hands and foot are supposed to be advancing towards the beholder, so they should be very much bigger. And in the third I appear to have created a depression in her knee. 

An enjoyable day at Arts Alive

Enjoyable and very relaxed. No preconceived plan. I simply responded to each pose without any obvious conscious intentions. Two poses, before and after lunch, on May 28th, the day after my birthday.

The 5 minute response

Here are my drawings of 5 minute poses by Penny on May 23rd and Andrea on May 31st.