My first live life-drawing after a seven month absence. I am over at Niel Bally's studio in Talgarth in Powys, an hours drive north-west towards the centre of Wales. This is for three days. As I have commented on before, I regard Niel as a tonalist and a colourist and I have crowned myself as linearist. The line, or rather two lines from my two-handed drawing technique, has characterised my art for a number of years, with occasional transgressions into alternative mark-making with charcoal and pastel. So it was with anticipation and a degree of academic interest that I approached these three days. What would appear on my paper? Would we witness something novel as I took my first steps in creating a new path in my life-drawing journey? How would I respond to any suggestions from Niel as to what we might be doing, what materials we might employ, what experiments we might challenge ourselves with? Would I react any differently to Niel's emphasis on light, tone and colour, as in the past I have tended to do my own thing? Prior to the weekend Niel did send out an email saying we would be using inks and washes. In response to this I took with me a range of materials. In place of 'liquid' washes I anticipated that my experience and results with tinted charcoal might be an appropriate 'dry' substitute. For my palette I took Derwent tinted charcoal, graphite pencils, various thicknesses of willow charcoal, soft pastels, some conte, charcoal powder, two inks, brushes various, erasers, a few pots and a stack of 220gsm A1 cartridge paper.
Here below I am about to post my 15 drawings from this 3 day period. I will return to this posting over the next few days and add comment and observations which I hope will convey the story of what took place.
Was it inevitable, that whatever Niel proposed, I would start off in my comfort zone? To a greater extent this is what occurred. Perhaps quite consciously, but I believe I wanted to check whether if I did 'carry on as before' then with the absence of seven months and the likelyhood that my changed mental state would impact upon my art and something unexpected might emerge.
We started with a number of quick poses, and excerpts from the first six found their way in to the first A1 drawing. Three standing poses using graphite pencils then had three lying poses superimposed with fine-liner pens. Superimpositioning, transparency, different scales. No concept of a composition at the start.
Here, selected parts of four poses make up this composition.
A lying pose for which I elected to focus in on three parts and move them horizontally to over lap each other.
A vertical structure to the composition which occurs regularly in my work. Parts of each foot were obscured by the folds of a blanket which I consciously took advantage of as I felt this would concentrate the view of the beholder on the hands as they clasped each other and the lower leg.
I really enjoyed those first four drawings which confirmed that this principal genre of mine was not only still in existence but healthfully up and running. I don't think I will ever tire of pursuing explorations of the human body in this way. Both hands working together on a selected part and then the challenge of how the parts might relate within a three-dimensional spatiality. But I then made the plunge to respond to Niel's workshop theme. Not inks and a wet medium, but using my Derwent tinted charcoal spread and blended with my fingers and not a line in sight. I was aiming to include the folds of the blanket but lunch time came and so the pose came to an end.....an unfinished work. I would have calmed down the background and worked on the tonal contrasts of the body had more time been available.
Not sure why I placed the two rectangular forms on the paper before I started on the pose. I perhaps recall that it was something Niel said about looking to see how one might juxtapose a form on a preprepared background or context. I suppose there is a sort of relationship between the 'L' of the body and the ochre angle, and I did at the end suggest the rectangular outline of the platform the model lay upon. Perhaps the two angled structures can give a spatiality and depth to the overall composition.
After lunch I took on the challenge. Turning my paper to a landscape format and exploring alternative responses. Here they are in detail.
Fine-liner pen which softened and ran and turned blue when I moved a 2 inch wide paint brush dipped in water over the surface. The patch of red conte roughened up the damp surface. So I left this drawing and went on to one of the others. I returned when it was dry and additional work incorporated graphite pencil cross hatching, ochre tinted charcoal caressed with a damp brush and to each side in order to emphasise the sensual form a damped brush with graphite powder.
Perhaps less than a minute response to the two feet with a fine liner pen in each hand. The dots are where my left hand rests and continues its connection with the paper whilst my dominant right hand produces the majority of the lines. A brush with clear water was moved horizontally across the surface and the ink marks softened.
Again, an amazingly quick drawing. A few fine-liner pen lines and then finger marks dipped in charcoal powder. I frequently discover magical happenings, unintended, in my drawings. And here she appears to be holding up her left breast with her left hand. But my intention was simply to introduce some shadow beneath the lighter toned breast with a highlight above the nipple.
And this was a hand advancing towards me. Beyond was an athletic pose with arms and legs shooting off in all directions out from an angled twisted torso. Fine-liner pen, fingers dipped in charcoal powder, and then a dry brush lightly moved up and down which picked up the charcoal grains and spread them. Perhaps a two minute response [the quick ones, without thinking, coming from the emotive feeling and the heart, are the best ones].
text to be continued later................................................
The figure on the left facing inwards followed by the figure on the right opposing her. Felt a compulsion to do something with the space in between them. As I dipped my brush in a some ochre tinted charcoal with a drop of water I connected with the image 'is it a vase or is it the silhouettes of two opposing faces?' What am I suggesting? Is it a solid or does it represent depth between the two figures? It could be a kind of organic growth, a tree trunk or similar.
An unfortunately 'stiff' figure not sitting comfortably. I was looking at the relationship of the angles of the chair with the angles of the pose. This is drawn upon an earlier drawing of two standing figures and I was anticipating an interesting transparent superimpositioning outcome. There is a narrative here which could be taken further, but this drawing is disappointing.
This is much more in line with what Niel was asking for: strong tonal contrasts using brush and inks. We liked the weight of the buttocks and how the figure stood firmly without showing the feet on the ground.
And this follows on from the previous use of a wet medium with some additional graphite pencil cross-hatching.
And again more of the same with a selected cropping of the pose, and a conscious attempt to place the drawing around a 'blank' lower left quarter of the composition.
A landscape of monumental forms. In terms of the perspective, the advancing elbow should have been brought forward much more, and I could see a greater length of the lower arm as it disappeared beneath her hair to support her head. But I enjoyed the making sequence: a quick searching outline of the forms using fine-liner pens, a wet brush with charcoal powder, some willow charcoal density marks, some finger caressing to soften and blend with the intention to fill the paper.
This is my response to a lying pose, landscape format. But perhaps more intriguing if turned thro' 90 degrees.
The final drawing of the three days and my most satisfying outcome. Why? I will try a summary of the main points:
- I enjoy the 'perspective' challenge of looking down along the length of the pose: the large head with the body beyond and perhaps diminishing into the distance.
- I wanted to include the full length of the pose but with my tendency to draw large something had to give, and very early on in the outlining of the composition I saw the pose as two parts, the upper body and the lower body, and I knew that I would bring these together and overlap in some way.
- I wanted to celebrate the two legs and their respective characteristics: especially the exaggerated length and height of the left upper leg. Yet in relation to the head they should be drawn much smaller. I dipped my fingers in charcoal powder and sculpted their monumentality ensuring highlights were maintained.
- If I treated the upper part in the same way they would clash together and I naturally leapt to a linear pen technique for the head and left arm and which allowed the breasts to have a transparency as they were drawn over the legs.
Studio colleagues celebrated the success of this drawing. Everyone did something special and we all learnt from each other.
Finally I had a half hour or so before packing up and saying our goodbyes so I got out my A5 sketch book and before Jacquie terminated the pose I did two quick fine-liner (one handed) responses:
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