A new, or perhaps a slightly different, interpretation of my art.......

I believe that at this moment in time I am perhaps seeking a different vocabulary to describe my approach to my art.

I have been reading Canter, Einstein, Escher and Nancarrow, and have engaged with concepts of irrationality, infinity, unsolvability and chaos. And I have found connections which help me gain insights into what happens when I engage in life-drawing.

Just as Kepler and Galileo questioned the amalgamated paradigm of Platonic philosophy of the past two millennia, I have looked beyond the depiction of the human body as an aesthetically complete form and have begun to understand and gain insights into my personal perceptual processes and their outcomes as revealed in my drawings on my paper. Earlier such challenges were, for example, the Cubists who I have often related my work to. 

I have recently and frequently have engaged with the inexplicability of space. A manipulation of space that can stagger us by beginning on one side and ending completely changed on the other. Fields of attraction that fluctuate in strength. Identical shapes rendered wholly diverse by the merest inflection. An infinity which may be found doubling back from the far horizon ( depths of the paper) to present itself to us as immediately at hand. 

I believe I have engaged in a transformative journey via a metamorphosis and re-interpretation of the human body opened up by new ways of seeing.

Take a look at these two very recent drawings (and many others from over the recent past) and ask 'What is the whole pose?'

I often ask what is it that propels my transformational art into its stage of metamorphosis and reinterpretation of the human body which appears to open up new ways of seeing, and the creation of seemingly impossible anatomical juxtapositions within a configuration of infinite spaces. 

In these two drawings we see impossible figures. Perhaps just a collage of parts. Yet it came from a 'whole' pose.  What is the nature and cause of the transformation process which is revealed by and resulted in this drawing? 

Do these drawings represent impossible objects within a possible space? i.e. something like the Penrose Triangle?

At some time in the past (When, I am not sure) I fell upon the fountainhead which influenced, and perhaps kept re-accurring, during my subsequent journey. When this was (exactly) or what caused it I do not have a clear idea. Probably, it was when I first discovered Paul Fowler's Extreme Poses in Stroud, but it took many visits to become aware of its 'characteristics in my drawing', and much longer to be able to articulate to myself that which was taking place. Perhaps it is only now, that I have an idea of what takes place - But I know, that later (a month, a year, or a decade) I will gain further insight, or have a different interpretation, of events.

It is not surprising that the most significant period in my art is focusing upon my exploration of space. I am an Architect! And however much  of my life I have devoted to exploring ecological and social/societal dimensions of the built environment that now I have little or no formal connections with architecture (except completing the building of my d-i-y self-build home) my in-bred engagement with 'space' seems to have survived.  So this is not a conscious pre-occupation with spatial issues, or with 'space' as a fundamental concept in my seeing and my perception of things. It is from within myself. It was there whatever happened. Deep within me as an Architect. 

In the above two drawings you see a 'superimposition', you see 'transparency', you see 'overlap', you see 'morphing', but I am claiming that there is also evidence of an embedded engagement with fundamental spatiality issues of infinite space and 3-dimensional complexity which is resolved and transformed through a 2-dimensional medium. 

In my drawings, at every point we can identify the shapes we see: a foot, a breast, an arm, a facial profile, a nipple, a knee, etc., but we can only postulate what these shapes grew from, what the pose actually is. 

Sometimes I feel I am engaging with bounded infinities and at other times un-bounded infinities. And during the making of a drawing I move between them, but quite unconsciously. Convergence on a point, takes place alongside a limitless divergence into and around the figure/pose/body. 

Escher himself advanced the issue of visualising objects or concepts which are wholly "inexplicable". I don't go this far, or enter into these extraordinary concepts. I just draw what I see - and the outcome can be explained - but perhaps only up to a point - the rest is mystery, and I hope will remain a mystery. So there will always be something more to explore and to analyse. Max Bill talks of an idea which I like: the "inexplicable" art. 

Escher explored the boundaries of the impossible in his own art. He could construct impossible 3-dimensional objects within possible spaces of his 2-dimensionally represented worlds. Escher warped space and drew our attention to the uncertainty and relativity of perception. His world was a continuous transformational process, never fixed and only partially predictable. I feel I am now in his world. 

 

Picabia here I come........

Tomorrow we will have another virtual life-drawing session by Andrew with himself as the model.

Andrew has let us know the following poses: 1x15minutes, 1x25minutes and 1x45minutes. I prefer the longer pose. So this is good. I am proposing to make the most of the concentration required to address the longer pose, but also to attempt something which I have not previously experienced. I will place all my responses to all of the poses on one A1white cartridge paper.

So, there will be overlap, super-imposition, different scales, one pose upon another. There will be transparency, perspective and depth, There will be a spatiality within the confines of the frame of the paper. 

There will also be confusion and ambiguity. There will also be a morphing of parts. There will be unexpected and unanticipated anatomical juxtapositionings, all of which will surprise, and hopefully delight by their bizarre emergence. 

As I approach this experimental process what are my questions? 

My constants are: an A1 sheet of cartridge paper, portrait format (this I am familiar with so here I am within my comfort zone. This aspect is a controlled variable). What do I draw with? Most recently, with the models Wren and Fra, I have frequently reverted to and exploited my big thick stick of willow charcoal, with very satisfying outcomes. I use this in my dominant right hand. But previously for a long time now I have exploited drawing with a fine-liner pen in each hand: hence the nickname of '2pencilbob'. I have also for a number of years enjoyed graphite pencils, ranging from 4H thro' to 9B (although I have rarely found the harder leads to be useful). My thinking is that I will need to use a diversity of mark-making materials in order to distinguish and differentiate between my responses to each pose as I place them on top of or adjacent to each other. Picabia used variety, sometimes heavy bold outlines of faces interplayed with much more delicate and sensitive drawings of whole bodies and architectural features. The overall constant in this coming session will be 'line'. Tonal engagement will be kept away (except where a line indicates tone). The weight, and the intensity, and the power, and the depth, and the quality, and the characteristic, of each line will be differentiated. THIS IS MY INTENTION. 

What is my approach to be? I will not place the first pose over the whole paper using a heavy line. I will probably commence with fine-liner pens, drawing small and subdued, and with minimal impact on the paper. I will probably gradually build up a sequence of forms which overlap to a limited extent. Marks then may become bolder. Truth is: I don't know. 

Now, As so often recalled, pre-planning goes out of the window soon as one sits and engages with the model. Can't wait to witness what happens this time.....................keep in touch!

AND, This is what happened........

Three poses and a selective response to each: 

a) an arm using 4H graphite pencils

b) from the foot right up to the head using fine-liner pens in each hand

c) a lovely perspective pose, foot to the fore, simply outlined with my big thick willow charcoal stick.

Afterwards I then quickly dipped my finger into my pot of charcoal powder to transform my line drawing into a 3D sculpture. 

The virtual session (which started at 19.00hrs) finished at about 20.40hrs followed by us all showing each other our drawings and enjoying a brief discussion.

I then photographed my drawing and posted it on the group's 'Cluster' so that we can all see each other's output and make comments on them. I then added my pieces to this posting which I had previously written.

Wren on December 7th 2020

This was a pose of about 70 minutes, with a fine-liner pen in each hand making marks simultaneously.

And I now, in relation to this drawing want to add a few quotes to do with the art of Francis Picabia who I have found in the past has helped me understand something of my own approach to, and engagement with, life-drawing:

Picabia said "We must devote ourselves to setting down on our canvases not things but the emotions produced in our minds by things"  I very much go along with this and have for many years believed that what appears on the paper comes from the depths of one's subconscious as one enters into a meditative state.

He also said that " My work allows me to forget this stupid  and abominable age"  Again I feel a relevance to our present condition in which climate change is denied by many, in which the Covid-19 pandemic spreads  worldwide, in which politicians both in the UK and the USA take us into a suicidal future, and war and poverty devastates. The act of life-drawing removes one for a time from these concerns.

A review of Picabia's 'Transparencies' described "a jumbling of elements" that leads to "a mildly irritating mystification". I can see this being applied to the above drawing. And another review referred to "a construction of destruction" (here are the exact words have I used myself in describing my approach as one of deconstructing the pose and reconstructing it influenced by my own perception and emotion).

These other drawings are of very much shorter poses, 5 or 10 minutes. The final drawing is my responses to 5 one minute poses.

 

An Abstract reponse to Wren

 We are at Andrew's virtual life-drawing session with Wren as our amazing model.

We have 3 five minute poses and then the rest of the session will be taken up with a lovely long pose of about one hour and ten minutes. I am looking forward so much to this longer pose.

These are the 3 five minute poses.

I will make no comment on the rest of my drawings tonight, except to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome!

I feel there is a 'abstract' quality emerging about them which I am particularly interested in.

In many of the drawings I can see a diversity, and a variety, in my-mark making which pleases me greatly. 

Not even a 'virtual' red haired lady.

 Just another doodle from my note-book whilst I fill in time. She is again from 'Model Society'. 

Beyond the virtual

 So this is not even a virtual-drawing session with a live model, so to fill the space here I am exploring 'Model Society' and mark-making in my A5 note -book:

It keeps me thinking! and drawing.

I guess that what I am doing here with these doodles, in my A5 note book, is connecting with other ways of responding to poses, but essentially it is just me simulating an engagement with the act of life-drawing. It helps to keep the mind ticking over and it does connect with some of the key issues. 

More of Fra (virtually)

Continuing with Monday night's virtual life-drawing, and I have my computer linked to my tv screen alongside which I have my easel with A1 cartridge paper to draw on. Fra is again our model doing some attractive yet fairly conventional poses but with a variety of timings. In order of posting these are:

2 x 2.5 minutes (both combined in one drawing)

2 x 5 minutes (ditto)

1 x 25 minutes

1 x 45 minutes

All are drawn with my dominant hand using my big thick stick of willow charcoal.

John Berger

 I keep returning to John Berger. 

Originally I recall it was his book 'Ways of Seeing'. Then I kept coming across him in tv programs. The Channel 4 lunchtime life drawing with nude models many years ago included him. I did that at home and my drawings are included in this blog.

I am re-engaging with John Berger at this time because I have just come across a paper of his from 1976 "Drawn to that Moment".

It is extraordinary in its insights into the emotions and concepts of drawing a human figure, which I believe can be transferred to any situation. BUT in his case it is John sitting at his father's body lying in a coffin. He draws his father. And he relates his feelings, his thoughts, and his insights into the relationship between an artist and the human body.

I have been moved, I have been energised, I have been uplifted, I have been taken into the depths of life-drawing (which is quite extraordinary as John is seeing, looking at, relating to, drawing, a dead body). 

At one point he touches on an aspect of life-drawing which I have engaged with a number of times in this blog: it is about how a drawing can tell the story of how it was made. John says, 

"Even a third rate drawing reveals the process of its creation"

He also refers to the perceptual mechanisms taking place and how what appears on the paper is a product of the perceptual processes of the artist, 

" A drawing of a tree shows, not a tree, but a tree-being-looked-at".  

I recall that in a very recent posting I have talked of how a drawing says more about the artist and the perceptual world of the artist; of what the artist is actually seeing, or perceiving; of the mind of the artist; than any attempt to produce a realistic representation of the pose of the muse on the paper.

This goes a long way to validating a basic approach of mine, which is that I have little interest in the final drawing. OK: I want it to be acceptable to any beholder. But my attention, my consciousness, my application, my devotion, is to the process of me engaging with a model, sensing a dialogue between the model and the artist, a kind of two-way energy flow, the outcome of which (for me) is a move, a step, along my evolutionary life-drawing path. 

line drawing with graphite

 Just found two postings which resonate with me. They are about line-drawing and the use of graphite.

www.drawingowu.wordpress.com/2017/09/09/line-drawings/

and 

www.drawingowu.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/graphite-drawings/

Hope you find them useful.

I have been accessing this website for many years and found it both informative, stimulating and helpful.

The phenomenology of life-drawing

 I've concluded that virtual life-drawing is no substitute for the real thing. So much is absent, however much one works to make connections and to simulate the intimacy of dialogue between artist and muse and between fellow participants. 

In the virtual session we can see the other participants on the gallery, we can sit in front of the model and project the muse on to our big tv screen and get up close, we can post our drawings on to Cluster and make supportive comments to each other. Amazing really! But what is absent?

The full structure of the experience is diminished. I have often talked of the dialogue between artist and muse. Both are contributors to the process. Can you imagine one without the other? 

So what is 'The Experience' that I am missing, or better described as a dilution? 

from my point of view I am finding a diminuation in the following : perception, thought, memory, imagination, emotion, desire, volition to bodily awareness, embodied action, and also the social activity inherent in the occasion including a linguistic activity. Each of these is being challenged. 

There is a level of consciousness which is challenged and diminished in the virtual state. The components of this are: 

        the appearance of things

                  things as they appear in our experience

                  the ways we experience things

                  the meaning things have in our experience

There is the artist. There is the muse. In the best situations there is dialogue. Each contributes. Each is aware of the part they are playing, and their contribution. Dialogue emerges and develops with time. I have experienced fulfilling life-drawing relationships with one or two special models who I have had the joy of drawing over the years. The understanding they have of their contribution to the process has been, to me, an amazing revelation. So much so that we, together, have agreed and celebrated this shared and contributive experience.

Neither the muse or the artist is necessarily explicitly conscious of our habitual patterns of action in this process, yet we each contribute, and without this joint presence art is not possible.

However, more than just the experience, it is 'the meaning' of the experience [I will be attempting to explore this at a later time].

       

Prior to later this evening..........

 Just set up my easel, etc., in preparation for tonight's virtual life-draw. Earlier today I read through most of my 2018 postings starting with drawings of Zoe in the December and then going back over the months. I find it a great reward and a stimulus to engage with my thoughts at the time. I now have quite a lengthy record. I came out of reading these with the feeling that 2018 was an extraordinary year for me. My superimposing, my transparency, my cubism, my spatial complexity, were all in full and experimental flow, and my writing about my thinking, my perceptual  processes, and my relating to movements and artists was very full. Pre-constructions of spatial geometries on the surface of my A1's was started and developed and generated fascinating compositions and anatomical juxtapositioning. So lets see what effect this all has on tonight.

Nothing like I expected!

This simply confirms that life-drawing cannot be planned. Which I have always claimed. But that does not stop me attempting consciously designed ways forward. 

From frustration to joy in 24 hours, with Fra.

That previous posting (Wren on November 2nd) was primed with frustration and uncertainty, but suggested ways of uplifting myself.

Then last evening two things helped. Firstly Fra came on to my screen and her poses and attitude inspired me back into my art. Secondly I resisted picking up my comfort zone fine-liner pens and graphite pencils and took hold of my big chunky stick of willow charcoal. I have just one of these so one of the hands of 2pencilbob took the evening off. And low and behold it seemed to allow me to take out my frustrations as I was able to power into the paper, but also stroke it lightly over the surface as appropriate.

Fra presented a variety of poses: 1 x 5minutes, 1 x 5minutes moving, 2 x 15minutes, and 1 x 45minutes. So here they are:

This is the outcome of the moving pose as Fra flies around inside my paper.

I had intended to juxtapose a half of the second 15 minute pose alongside to see what emerged. But when I saw what I had created I declined the challenge as I was rather pleased with the way my eye was drawn into the journey up and down the right side of the pose.

 

I frequently enjoy employing different scales, yet I do not think I do this consciously.

The longer final pose of the evening. One of my quite usual de-constructive/re-constructive processes came into play. I tend to start this type of response by firstly focusing on the part of the pose/anatomy which immediately attracts. Then when the second is started to be added 'compositional concepts' and 'narrative scenarios' emerge in my mind which are then developed as other parts are added. Transparency, superimposition, depth, spatial complexity, and a few other aspects play their part to varying degrees, but not sure of the determinants of these. 

The one preoccupation I consciously recall with this drawing was the four points of emphasis allowed by a heavy application of the chunky charcoal stick. Had some idea they would suggest/create/form/allow some sort of linking pattern or structure. But as soon as the concept arose the five minutes were up, so couldn't take it further.

Wren on November 2nd 2020: Not so much the drawings but my thinking surrounding them!

 Getting back to life-drawing after a bit of a break, with Andrew Buckle's Monday evening virtual session. Six drawings of various lengths of poses by a new model to me 'Wren'.

My last live session was with the lovely and inspiring Shelley, on March 12th, over at Paul Fowler's Thursday morning sessions 'Extreme Poses' in Stroud. Since then I have, on and off, tried Andrew's virtual sessions. They are hard work to concentrate on as the ambiance created in the live studio is absent. Having fellow artists as friends alongside and entering into their own worlds yet still connected is impossible to recreate or substitute. There is something very special about this shared but at the same time very personal context.

But a number of other changes have made it difficult to really get into my life-drawing world recently, and the creative and meditative aspects of its process. The range of concerns, restrictions and multiple changes with Covid-19, and the break-ins to our outhouses and loss of machinery and other goods, are the two principal events. But then my own self-imposed distraction as I have taken up the challenge presented by my Covid isolation of finally building a porch on to our self-built home which started four decades ago. But I miss so much my engagement with the human body, my making marks on my paper, my surprise and joy at what emerges as if by magic in front of me and what concepts, ideas, processes, and philosophies enter my thoughts and the research which follows as I attempt explanations of the content of my journey.

Not sure where I found this, but it has helped me push away my frustrations:

  'You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength". 

Over the past seven months, since live life-drawing stopped, I have become aware of an increasing emptiness, a general lack of self-confidence, and a reducing ability of power over my mind. I have filled my space with lots of physical activity including the building work, and also growing an amazing quantity of vegetables, amongst other things. But the intellectual, deeply personal, meditative, and challenging dimensions of the act of life-drawing has absented itself from my life. 

But I have already started to  consider how I might regain a power over my mind through my re-engagement with life-drawing. And what has come up is the question about how what emerges as I re-engage and that which has gone before. 

Followers of my blog will know that I regularly look back through my life-drawing history and carry out a sort of analysis of what has happened, looking for characteristics and trends and placing my art in a wider context often within art movements and relating it to significant artists. The questions that have arisen

 'Will something completely new and different come out or will I simply repeat that which I know I can do and which I know works?'

 'Will there be a reappearance of my iconological formula or schemata, i.e. will I cite, allude to, refer to, recollect or emulate that which has gone before? Can I avoid doing this? 

How may I avoid repetition? How can I avoid reverting to a former 'age' or 'era' of mine, or in Marxist terms an 'ideology'? Well, if an ideology is simply defined as a 'system of ideas' then I am completely relaxed by this. Because I know from a life-time of dealing with ideas then they will incorporate change. A thinking person does not stand still. And the content of this blog as a week by week diary over at least a decade is evidence of this. It shows that my art is a 'journey' and that I am a 'process' artist. Probably, when a disruptive challenge has entered ones life, it is perhaps necessary or even inevitable to delve back and to latch on to roots, before taking off again. So, lets wait and see what happens. 

Here are the six drawings of Wren posing for various poses. They are not posted in chronological order. One contains 5 one minute poses, and another is a forty minute pose. I will not indicate which is which. What is fairly obvious is that a continuation of some of my iconography can be detected in them: 'transparency', 'superimposition', 'spatial interpenetration', 'multi-faceted viewpoints', 'deconstruction and reconstruction', 'ambiguity', 'dismembered fragmentation', 'manipulation', 'distorted figuration', together with some 'exaggeration' and playing with 'differing scales'. 

I did come up with a fairly succinct summary of where I thought I had arrived, some weeks ago:

 'My Art has introduced an architectural spaciality into the 3-Dimensional multi-faceted viewpoints of Cubism'

Further thoughts around my current dilema to follow the drawings:

 

"In drawing, the moments of choice have been kept visible" John Berger. But the question I have asked is 'What has influenced the moment of choice in these drawings?! How strong has been the influence of my ideology? Pretty strong, Eh? 

But Richard Serra claims "There is no way to make a drawing - there is only drawing!" If this is so then one's ideology lies deep and influences unconsciously. Love it!

If a drawing is essentially a private work, related only to the artists own needs, then it will inevitably express one's ideology however much one consciously attempts a jump towards something new or different. But Why Draw? I guess you can't draw for the sake of drawing. Just as you can't think for the sake of thinking, without MEANING being involved.  So the drawing will say so much about the author of the drawing- "Do a drawing every day. Become familiar with your voice on the paper" Grayson Perry. So, in your drawing you will begin to see yourself.

If one cannot release oneself from one's past then one must bring new youth to old ideas. And I feel this is what I have done a number of times over the years. Suggesting the existence of an ideology but also a presence of an evolution of process. Within an evolutionary process there is no place for 'end products', no place for 'achievement' (unless it is the achievement of continual change). Maria Clark talks of her art "I think my work as a process, so the question of achievement cannot be thought".

As an architect, when I enter the plane of the paper into it's space, I am transposing the three-dimensions of the body by disintegration, dispersion and reconnection into a two-dimensional format. This is my process. And perhaps my built-in, sub-conscious ideology sets some rules. But I will always recall Helen Frankenthala (a quote on the first page of one of my first notebooks) "There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen" and "Every canvas is a journey all its own".

Exploring geometrical frameworks (with Fra)

 I've been experimenting with introducing geometrical frameworks on to the surface of my A1 papers in order to help me 3-dimensionaly structure the space, both within and beyond the 2-D surface, within which I can then place the whole pose or parts of the pose. Sometimes a grid, sometimes a series of circles of varying diameters, sometimes fairly random diagonal lines, etc. etc.

For this evenings virtual life-drawing session organised by Andrew with Fra as our model I introduced into my process the Golden Rectangle (or ratio) with its accompanying Fibonacci Spiral. I also prepared a few sheets with 100mm grids.

Here are the outcomes:

started with a 100mm grid, then on the night Fra started with 5 one minute poses. before posting this drawing I emphasised the lines of the grid between the figures and erased those within the outline of each figure. Then I thought to add floor and ceiling perspectives lines in order to suggest a space within which Fra is dancing.

one of my prepared sheets included a large circle so, when Fra stood with outstretched arms the  'Vitruvian man' of was it Leonardo or Alberti? immediately came to mind. Unlike the previous drawing I had already included the perspective lines suggesting the space beyond the circle.

the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Spiral create a composition that will draw the eye to the important element of the drawing, so here I selected Fra's left foot going behind the lower part of her right leg. I recall that I felt the eye was being drawn down by the lines of the legs to this area of the pose. However I also recall, and I believe this was a stronger pull in relating the shape of the pose to my geometrical strategy, the curve of her back could be compositionally juxtaposed with the line of the spiral. Another strong thought at the time is that the seat upon which she was sitting could be the second of the squares of the golden ratio of rectangles. So it all seemed to come together in my mind almost instantly at the beginning of this pose which was held for about 20 minutes or so.

another aspect of the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci Spiral is that they foster organic and natural looking compositions that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye. So I had no hesitation in employing this geometry to the beautiful lines and form of this part of the female nude.

and so to the final pose of this evening's virtual life session. I don't often do whole poses these days as for quite a few years I have employed my de-constructivist approach prior to re-constructing within my own personal perceptual parameters. So I experience a frustration in attempts to get the proportioning more or less right. Playing with perspective by bringing a foot forward and exaggerating it in terms of related size with other parts and conversely diminishing in scale the more distant parts of the pose are to me very enjoyable and challenging ways of drawing. I suppose in that case proportioning is a consideration but almost surreal and abstract forms and shapes become the result and the focus of attention. But here I felt a need to simply enter a process of representing on my paper a realistic portrayal of the pose which Fra was presenting to me. I could add a detailed critique of the shortcomings in terms of proportions, but I know what they are and they are so obvious.

2D...3D...4D Spaciality Within and Beyond

 This posting is built around my drawings from Andrew's virtual life-drawing session on the evening of August 10th 2020. It will include my pre-session thinking and my researches into related issues. So, I will expect to return to this posting and add some material over the coming days. But in the meantime here are some extracts from my notebook which I hope to expand upon:

'entering the plane of the paper, transposing the body, its disintegration and dispersion into a two-dimensional format': I have set up a number of different geometrical spatial frameworks on 5 or 6 A1 papers into which I expect to place whole or part poses at different scales and varying perspectives.

from the Journal of Architecture, a paper 'Drawing the female nude', has brought to my attention the work of Euan Uglow - 'Nude from twelve regular vertical positions from the eye' (1967). I can relate this to my fascination with exploring varying perceptions of the human body and my re-vitalised engagement with 'spatiality' born in me from my early days studying architecture, together with my own 'cubism' and my indulgence in concepts of 'transparency' which I have begun to understand from studying the works of Francis Picabia.

distorted figuration.

to bring a new youth to old ideas (OK, I've done this before, or something very similar. But, it feels new!)

"I think my work as a process, so the question of achievement cannot be thought" Maria Clark (A life model and performance artist who lives in Paris, publishes about her work, and who I have communicated with recently)

drawing: "the graphic imposition turns the actual flatness of the ground into virtual space - translates material/reality into the fiction of imagination" David Rosand.

"In drawing the moments of choice have been kept visible" John Berger (Berger on Drawing).

A drawing is essentially a private work, related only to the artist's own needs.

'I want to oblige the viewer to undertake the labour of interpretation' (This is from a London Review of Books article on the film work of the amazing Jacques Tati)

and a few more terms which I find helpful: polyvalent (having or using a lot of different forms); multi-layered (i.e. superimposition/transparency); dismembered/fragmented; manipulation/layering/filtering; etc.

Then and Now!

From two-handed squiggle drawing with HB wood pencils to two-handed, bolder, graphite pencil: mark-making over time.

Virtual: July 27th

Fra is modelling again in Andrew's Monday evening virtual life-drawing session:

a close up study exploring textures and marks with graphite pencils, willow charcoal and compressed charcoal (with a complete indifference to any sense of proportional representational accuracy, i.e. the hand grew larger and larger during the process of the drawing , the knees were brought in from the left in order to include them in the composition, and the breast descended so as to be included)................

and a part portrait in HB wood pencils juxtaposed with a line-liner pen drawing of two models (I recall Kate and Jemma over at Neil Bally's studio in Talgarth) from a few years ago...............

and also four quick poses brought together in one compositional drawing (in this process one has to rely upon one's instinct to anticipate what might be coming next, sometimes it works, usually (I find) it does!