An immediate adjustment to our anticipated morning.

Both Clarissa and I, as we travelled over the Severn Estuary this morning, talked of what we were each expecting, and each hoping to explore, as we further engaged with, and built upon, our achievements with the model Shelley from last week. 

But, no Shelley! A bad dose of Covid. 

A clad young lady seated was the substitute. Yes, instant disappointment. But this was very soon overcome as we started our responses. Both Clarissa and I produced some captivating drawings, which we both agreed had taken our life-drawing journey into a new dimension.

The model is seated on a 'classic' chair. Not sure who the designer was. An aluminium tubular frame supported a green triangular curved plywood back rest. This triangular form increased in significance as the poses progressed. This first drawing is the product of my typical (it is these days) parts approach,in which I home in on the first part to attract and then, as my eye investigates the whole pose, I add, and add, and add.

I must refer to this as my 'Magritte moment'. The triangular form of the back of the chair is a solid as it supports the model's arm. But at the same time the triangle defines a space that she is looking into. I love this ambiguity and perceptual gymnastics.

Her back is towards me leaning against the triangular back support. I journeyed down the right side profile of her body, then moved myself and my easel about a metre to my left and explored the left side. She dances.

And finally, from my seated position I was able to look up at the model as she sat on the chair supported on a plinth. So there are three selected parts which I have morphed together: the right side of her upper torso and arm resting on chair back; her extended neck as I look up to her face; and the midriff, within which her navel and her trouser button join together with her pendant from the face part play together.

Couldn't get out of Wales, then this happened.....

 April 7th and winds closed the old Severn Bridge. So I drove down to join the M4 to go over the new bridge (The Prince of Wales Bridge) to discover that the M4 was full of stationary traffic. So I drove back home. So no life drawing on April7th. 

The break must have impacted on me, acute frustration, because on Thursday April 14th something different emerged on my paper. Haven't yet objectively analysed the outcome, so here are my five drawings, and Shelley is the model.

A supporting strap divided the pose into two. Not sure why I responded in this way, but I reduced the bold thick strap to a single line. I then placed the breast and legs which I could see to the left of the strap. Next, the outline profile of her back went in, and for some reason I placed within this outline form a foot and a hand. At the last moment I then noticed her face peeping from under her arm so that went in. To the left, the body juts into a huge space. To the right the body itself becomes a space in which other parts of the anatomy exist. I really am excited with this outcome.

I almost dare not attempt an analysis of this outcome. I just love looking at it. Selected parts of the pose have been juxtaposed and morphed and hung in space. All it comprises is two feet, two hands and a partial glimpse of her peeping face. The model is clearly suspended in her pose and there is, I think, a suggestion of the plinth upon which her left foot is supported.

Her body went off into the distance. Her fingers inter twinned behind her, supported on the plinth. This is what I saw, so this is what I drew.

The right side profile of her body went in first. Then the left side profile. But I brought them together, excluding the body in between. This I believe emphasizes the leaning away perspective of the pose (although I don't believe I consciously considered this at the time, subconsciously probably). I then just had to include that which was allowing this pose to take place. She was holding on to straps fixed to the ceiling and her feet were pushing against an edge of the plinth.

Finally, I was presented  with a foot, very close to me, and dangling in space. In contrast I was clearly attracted by an opposite: the weight of her body was gleaning support via her other foot from the plinth, and also from her clasped hands upon her knee.  This narrative, as with most other descriptions, is from an analysis after the event. To what extent my subconscious was dealing with these issues of 'gravity' during the act of drawing is a huge question. What am I deeply engaged with when I draw?

Exhibition in May

It looks like there will be up to 20 of us 'Extreme Poses life-drawers' exhibiting at Gallery 1673 in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire from May 14th to May 29th 2022. We have each been given space for up to four A1 works. Here below are the four I have selected, which are now framed and ready to go. The Reception and Opening will be on the evening of Friday May 13th for which we are all bringing along our guests. Then it is anticipated that up to 600 people will visit over the weeks of the exhibition and will attract a wide range of artists and others who are interested to discover the amazingly creative community which Paul Fowler has attracted and to view the most original and provocative works which arise from his unique 'extreme' and challenging setup. 

Form: two bodies brought together.

The model is Shelley.

A drawing in two parts from two 30 minute poses.

A 2-handed drawing with fine-liner pens.

[a gamble is taken: how will the two parts juxtapose, will they morph together to realise a whole? The left side and then the right side from two poses were collided and morphed whilst a gaggle of feet appeared below all supported by the straps]

Selected: didn't see the bits in between.

The model is Tamaris.

A composition from the superimposing of parts from three thirty minute poses.

A 2-handed drawing with fine-liner pens.

[I am beginning to reach a pleasing degree of Picabian complexity: overlap, superimposing, transparency, differing scales]

Hanging: with support from the plinth.

The model is Tamaris.

A drawing composed from two poses.

A 2-handed drawing with fine-liner pens.

[a deep penetration into the depths of the composition is accentuated by the direction of gaze of the two heads as they look into the triangularly defined space. Then the huge weight of the buttocks is supported by the plinth. Together we then are asked to acknowledge a complex duo-directional spatiality]

Morphed: head to foot.

The model is Paul (the gardener)

A 30 minute pose.

A 2-handed drawing using graphite pencils.

[origins for this morphic concentration of selected anatomical parts of a pose can be found in one or two of my early drawings posted on this blog, but here I have achieved a succinct minimalism, which dare I say I like to place alongside Rodin's thinker. My approach demands I don't address the whole pose, and here 'the head in hand' and 'the toes curling over the edge of the plinth' captured my attention and a synthesis took place]

Can this be called a 'philosophy'?

My last posting has the five drawings of my responses to Tamaris. 

Reflecting on them I feel they imply quite a deep engagement with the art and processes of life-drawing. 

This depth requires a particular state of mind from myself, but without any doubt requires a contribution from a model who has special anatomical qualities and who possesses an acute appreciation of their role as they enter the model/artist dialogue. Tamaris is a muse of quality.

Been thinking recently:

I don't care if I don't draw well,

I just love drawing.

I don't care if I don't draw correctly the human body,

I just love drawing the human body.

Drawing the human body is fundamental.

In this action we touch the basis of ART, and

we reach into the very SELF.

In the light of the above I have just composed the following:

I LOVE LIFE........................................DRAWING

'My model

The pose

She or He

Sends an immediate dialogue

Provokes an instant response.

I respond

by exploring Visually

then Emotionally

then Kinetically

my two hands mark-making.

I commence ........ I engage.........I enter .......sub-conscious and meditative.

A sequence of arrival

A balance of form

Lines: "No room for them to go anywhere else"

I "Walk through space with my drawing"

my journey evolves'.

The two phrases in italics have been contributed by Paul Fowler, recorded in a recent tutorial in which I and Clarissa talked with Paul about our art.

The very drawable Tamaris on March 31st

 Perhaps the most interesting of models I have had the pleasure to draw: