The man on the swings

Paul the model has made himself two swings which are suspended at different levels for him to explore some creative poses, as an alternative to the usual suspended ropes.

My first drawing uses two scales. I started with the leg and foot on the upper swing and then introduced behind this the full length of the pose from the right foot resting on the lower swing up to the head.

The next two drawings also explore what happens when two parts of the pose are juxtaposed using different scales.

This next drawing is more complex. The hand on the knee at first attracted me, and this was followed by the back and sitting on the swing with the right arm disappearing off to the right. The final move was, I recall, quite a bold step as I introduced the foot resting on the other swing smack into the centre of the composition.

Finally Paul sat on the lower swing with arms and legs dangling down and his chin supported on the seat of the higher swing.

The lady in the twirling hoop

Eliza in a leotard is acrobatically moving about within a suspended hoop which is every so often given a spin around. As it twirls and inevitably slows down she sometimes sits with arms outstretched, sometimes hangs by her legs like a circus trapeze artist, and assumes all kinds of other positions. Occasionally she will be given a chunk of charcoal with which she expresses her movements, hanging upside down, by mark making on a large sheet of paper on the floor. At some point I will include a photograph which she gave us permission to take.

I did not find an immediate empathy with this piece of theatre. Feet kept whizzing past, going out of view just as one got an idea of what to draw. But I very soon realised that one could start for example a foot and it would come into view time and time again. Also, as she changed poses and moved around within the hoop then a part one had started to draw from one pose reappeared in a later pose. 

I recall that in other places I had moved back and forth across a studio in order to include in one drawing different views of the pose. I did this simply to explore what would happen on the paper. My previous analysis of this process resulted in my describing it as a 'cubist' approach (see earlier postings).  I am looking at the human body from a number of different view points all at the same time. So the two outcomes above I feel clearly illustrate this cubism I seem to have entered.

So what happened with drawings three and four from this same morning?  For some reason they simply became more abstract. I introduced some tinted charcoal to help me differentiate those parts of the revolving anatomies which I had transferred on to my paper, but some new outcome has emerged. It is not atelier life-drawing, it is not representational art, it is not that which I have previously encountered appearing on the paper on my easel as I respond to the model and the pose before me. So, what is it?  

It's me, enjoying my art. I believe you become what you draw. Unless you become it, you cannot draw it. I now draw lines, and my line has become an 'expressive line'. All by itself it expresses light and dark. It expresses a third dimension. It is spatial.

Re-reading those last few lines (above) I have a feeling that I have begun to understand the philosophy of an artist whose work I have always hoped would at sometime in the future influence me (some of those words are likely to be his).  He is Frederick Franck whose book "Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing: Meditation in Action" was given to me by a great friend and a gifted artist, Marianne Hvass, in 2015. I know that Marianne would see in these last two drawings that I have touched a fulfilment in our shared art. One which Marianne and I talked about together on so many occasions. Marianne passed away in July 2017 but she is here, with me, an inspiration to our intertwined process.

Recent life drawings - 1

These two above drawings are of Robin at 'extreme poses'. They are my immediate responses to two poses which lasted about 30 minutes each. I found myself being very selective both in the part of the pose which I felt held the 'essence of the pose' and in economy of line. I was also conscious of the spatial issues within and beyond the paper surrounding the hand held high and the dangling arm. A favourite quality I embraced is in anchoring the drawn figure to a side of the paper (which emphasise the space beyond), something I enjoy in many of Egon Schiele's pieces.

Once I have let my hands dance the composition across the paper I begin to internalise the 'framework' and the 'strategy' for engaging with the parts of the pose, the anatomy, which attracts my attention. This attraction is an emotional response and is, in part, beyond my 'conscious' control.

Now here is something which contrasts with the minimalism of the above two drawings, comprising parts of five different poses. I am enjoying the degree of complexity which is achievable through transparency.

Here the model is within a twirling hoop suspended from the ceiling, As she slowly spins around responses result on the paper.

 

The model John presents 4 five minute poses, using a tensioned rope attached to a roof truss and which I ignore. 

Recent life drawings - 6

The above two drawings include parts of more than one pose. The process I follow is I select from the first pose the part which immediately attracts. I draw it. Then from the next pose I select the part which attracts and begin a process of relating in some way this and further parts to each other on the paper. There cannot be a final design, but I await the outcome with an anticipation that something greater than the sum of the parts will emerge.

And now one of those events which I love to explore: the model supports her head on her hand, her elbow on her knee, and all this weight is taken down her leg, with just a suggestion that she is seated. Another 30 minute pose at 'extreme poses' with Shelley on a plinth.

In these 6 postings of recent works I have a number of drawings of Eliza suspended in a twirling hoop. Again I am not seeing the hoop itself but concentrating on legs in the air, arms dangling down, and other parts, but this time adding quick tonal swathes with the finger of tinted charcoal to help differentiate the parts. 

One morning, at 'extreme poses' I felt a degree of satisfaction, and mental exhaustion, from bringing together in three complex drawings multiple parts of the anatomies before us, with extensive use of overlap and transparency, and compositional complexity. So for the final two poses I appear to have reverted to a former approach in which the pose is not destructed, pulled apart, or recreated in a challenging format. Each process starts off with a 0.4mm fine-liner pen in both hands. Once the basic form is outlined then tinted charcoal is caressed across the paper with a tissue. This has a transparency allowing the initial ink lines to show through. Additional lines are added but mostly with my usual hand and some with a 1.2mm pen. Further tinted charcoal is rubbed in with the finger in the more deeply shadowed places.

Recent life drawings - 5

Frequently at 'extreme poses' with Paul Fowler in Stroud I sit and look up at the model above me in the ropes. This is Robin, each pose is for 30 minutes. I try very hard to convey that feeling of  'looking up'. I am drawing with a fine-liner pen in both hands and exploring and searching for the essence of that which I am looking at. Yet, it is in the act of drawing that we begin to see. Drawing takes us beyond what we are looking at. Drawing helps us to see.

Compositionally these two drawings work well. I do not consciously think about compositional issues. I now seem to have an inbuilt confidence that what I draw will fit on the paper (years ago bodies seem to shoot off the edges of the paper, uncontrollably).

However, a significant aspect here is the nature and character of the mark-making. Its squiggly, searching and explorative characteristics are in stark contrast to my more smoother, linear and perhaps minimalist mark-making.

I believe there to be something special about this next drawing below. There is quite a lot going on. It is compiled from a number of parts of two poses. It is of Robin sitting on a plinth (her left buttock eases itself over the edge) but her upper body is supported on the ropes suspended from the ceiling. Clearly, she sits on a plinth. Also her fingers gain support from the corner of a plinth. But she is also, with her arm raised up, holding on to a rope above. This arm is an extension of her stretched torso allowing her breasts to be included in the composition. I like the suggestion of her rib cage and her spine. 

This not a 'designed' drawing. It has come about by me focussing on parts of a pose which attracts, then drawing that part, then moving on to the next attraction, then drawing that in some kind of relationship with the former. And so it goes on....part conscious......but principally within the depths of the sub-conscious and feeling and emotion.

Recent life drawings - 4

My deconstructive, anagram, collage and cubist approach every so often is brought to a halt and interrupted by a pose which resists such violations. Above is a very quick spontaneous response to a pose of beauty. It demanded a degree of exaggeration by bringing the buttock, thigh and leg to the fore. And this, I did.

But I carried out this above drawing after I had completed the one below. I really am enjoying the complexity, overlap, and the demand on the beholder to understand what is happening. But when you look carefully at the drawing below you will be able to extract the basic pose speedily captured in the above drawing.

And now for something really special!  I have written frequently about my so-called 'cubist' approach, or better referred to as my 'cubist philosophy'. Moving back and forth across the studio to include insights into the pose from different view points in order to gain a fuller understanding of how I see the human form and its anatomy. Challenging my perception and upsetting my pre-conceptions of the body. 

One evening, in Monmouth, at Claudia Peake's life-drawing class, the model sat on a swivel chair and was moved through ninety degrees every five minutes. She came around and around and we were able to re-engage with each orientation a number of times. My cubist philosophy was given a support which was quite unanticipated. I love the outcome!

And now, in this posting, back to 'extreme poses' in Stroud with a drawing of one of Robin's classical  poses. I must have drawn Robin in this pose in my charcoal on gesso days, in my expressive bold charcoal drawing days, in my pastel and conte on expensive paper days, so many times. A constant, over all, this time is her special and individual character and the way she presents herself. Look at the head resting on the arms supported by the straps, her extended torso leading down to the signature curling of the one foot  around and behind the other leg. 

And finally, back to the 'two scales' approach in which I superimpose two drawings from the one pose but at different scales. Below, the model is supporting herself with arms outstretched holding on to supports above her head, and I have then added a close up of the left arm and shoulder. Why am I doing this? I believe it is helping me to see beyond what I am looking at, by examining an issue from two or more points of view simultaneously. It also brings into play the 'spatial' aspect: it suggests perspective and depth. I constantly engage with depth within my compositions and space beyond my boundaries of my drawings, and beyond the parameters of the paper upon which I draw.

Recent life drawings - 3

Again, this is drawing of two scales. The side of the face, shoulder, one hand on the other, and the leg beyond, went in first. I then elected to explore what would happen if I completed the composition by introducing and morphing together an outline of the back of the model and including also the dangling left leg.

I don't have anything to add to the following drawing

However, here is a blatant attempt to bring together two scales from the same viewpoint: a close up of the raised arm behind the head and the breast on the right, synthesised into a morphed composition with a full length drawing of the pose from the left.

Here is one of those real 'gamble' drawings. I am unsure as to what the outcome will be. I appear to just layer/superimpose one part upon another. Yet, within my sub-conscious, within how I am feeling about that which I am beholding, I have a powerful and confident drive to pursue the task of transferring to paper through my mark-making the emotional dialogue that emerges between me and the muse.

It is quite extraordinary that every so often, regardless of my attempts to do things differently by desconstructing, morphing, superimposing, playing with transparency, exaggerating perspective, etc. etc., that I want to capture the beauty of a straightforward but seductive pose. So here is Shelly sat on a plinth.

Recent life drawings - 2

I moved between two positions in the studio and used different scales, including a large scale close up of his cupped hands.

I am pleased with the simplicity of this drawing in which limbs radiate from the centre as the model spins within a hoop. 

 

In the above right Robin supported up in the ropes for a 30 minute pose. An amazing form which I decided straight away to respond to with no intention whatsoever of deconstructing it or playing with two scales. The advancing right leg went in first. Then the feeling of depth and perspective was explored which was significantly helped by her upper body and head not being seen. I saw the advancing left foot late on. But as soon as it came within my perception I realised its significance, it too advanced and helped strengthen the perspective between the feet in the foreground and the dangling arm beyond. The lower left drawing is of Shelley up in the ropes way above my seated eye level. Unlike the drawing of Robin this is not a straightforward representation of the form before me. What I now realise I did was to miss out some of her body and bring the legs and her arms in front of her head much closer together. This must have been a fairly subconscious and intuitive response as I don't recall deliberately doing it at the time. What this does is to emphasise the curled up nature of the pose. You can see how the knees and right hand advance. So in both these drawings I am using a degree of exaggeration, by advancing (or drawing larger) those parts nearest to me.

  And finally another experimental drawing utilising two scales. I firstly outlined, to the larger scale, the chin, right arm, left elbow, right breast and the line of the top of her left thigh. At the time, that was going to be the subject of the drawing which I thought I would then work on. But as I had on a number of recent occasions been exploring the morphing of two parts of a pose and also two parts but at different scales I elected to introduce the outline of the back, down to the bottom, and to include the upturned foot resting on the plinth. Finally the left breast went in which related to this second smaller scale drawing. The theory that I am developing about this approach is that the resultant form often says something more about the actual characteristics of the pose than a straightforward representation would. But probably it is saying a lot more about me and my perceptual processes and what I am actually seeing and the character of the pose that I am reacting to. Putting it another way I think I want to draw large (close up) the part of the pose which attracts me at the beginning but I also want to draw (within the one composition) or suggest something about the whole pose.