Drawing Lucy and Mike on August 10th

A double model day at Angela Palmer's own studio at Brockweir in the Wye Valley, with a small group of seven artists, and a variety of poses from very quick walk-abouts through to some five, twenty and thirty minute poses.

 Today was, upon reflection, something special. My five days at Summer School (see my last five postings) did not reach my expectations. I was unable to address the life-drawing issues which were upper most in my mind, and the drawings, all of which I posted, do not indicate to me that I have progressed my life-drawing journey. I seemed to have retreated into the comfort zones of familiar experiences. However, it was probably because of this disappointment that today saw me take a step or two further along my life-drawing journey. Nothing particularly radical in output. But it was more to do with what |I experienced.

I have previously talked about 'drawing a feeling'. Well, today I made the connection with Matisse, who by 1909 was able to declare: "I now draw with feeling and not anatomically." This was a crucial distinction, because at the time he was derided for his ugly and distorted figures. Thirty years later he would put it more succinctly: "Exactitude is not truth." He was explaining that the outward appearance of the drawing was less important than the emotional investment involved. The process meant more to him than the final result.

Today, I loved the process. But also, I'm quite pleased with the results.

Firstly, two three minute warm-ups, with the two models standing next to each other.

 

Then a 20 minute back-to-back sitting pose.

 

Next a walk-about.

 

Followed by a minute here and then a minute there.

 

For the next two I am using two of my old pencil drawings from Extreme Poses which I have treated with clear gesso so that they have a surface with a bit of bite to take a second charcoal drawing. This is something of an experiment to explore new juxtapositioning of  'old' and 'new'.  

 

 

The female model is lying on her side with the male model sitting with his back to me. So nothing particularly exciting in the pose. But it gave me the opportunity to use my two pencil (one in each hand) squiggle technique, which I then contrasted with a charcoal treatment to the male's back.

 

The final pose of the day found the two models lying side by side, head to toe, for about thirty minutes. He had his left knee raised and she rested her head on her hands. I did two fairly quick drawings. Both were designed as cropped compositions, with the second being even more selective than the first.

 

 

As usual all my drawings are on A1 cartridge paper.

Drawing Penny on June 11th

To start with two 5 minute poses. Both hands with an HB pencil in each to get the basic form and then some heavier lines with my usual hand.

All drawing in this posting are on A1 220gsm cartridge paper.

 

I started this next drawing with a fine-liner pen in each hand but somehow didn't really achieve anything I liked. I was uncertain about how to continue with the principal line directions, in other words how to introduce a consistency in the mark making. So I abandoned it after about 40 minutes or so with the option of returning to it later in the day. This I did, after I had completed the pencil drawing which follows.

The outcome of my deliberations concerning mark making, after completing this drawing is that it is possible to include a variety of 'directional' mark making, i.e. some squiggly lines, some contour lines, and some lines which are more descriptive, as in the drawing of the hair.

 

So here below is the pencil drawing.

I started with a very few light lines just to locate the main elements of the pose on the paper, and then decided to go all out for a singular diagonal hatching technique. I simply built blocks of hatching, lightly at first, then sometimes one on top of another and some applying heavier pencil marks. As this was taking place the three-dimensional form arose from the paper. The hand in the foreground received extra attention both to bring it forward and perhaps to act as a focus in the composition. 

 

Then after lunch I wanted to create for myself more of a challenge in terms of mental gymnastics (as opposed to improving my draughting skills). So I decided I would juxtapose two opposing views of the pose, in some way, and as there was a vacant space in the studio immediately opposite my morning position, it became attractive to include the two heads and then to see what would happen with the meet of the two forms. I had no idea at all how the two would come together and how the lines would relate and how any conflicts and contradictions might be resolved.  The legs, which were not included in the two morning drawings somehow entered the composition. The other new and important element for the composition is the appearance of the left arm, which of course was hidden previously.

 

The meeting of the two poses did not present me with any difficulty at all. Continuity and flow between the two just happened in a landscape of four breasts, two tummies and the high peaks of the lower rib cages. All of this appears suspended within a hammock suggested by the lines of the legs, and the whole composition is then anchored by the forward projecting left arm.

REFLECTION

I have touched on an approach to life-drawing on a few occasions over the past eighteen months which attempts a composition by withdrawing from the usual and standard, singular, and uni-directional drawing of a pose to one which juxtaposes two or more drawings in a somewhat challenging way,  i.e. attempting to study a pose from two viewpoints at the same time (as above); overlapping one or more drawings; placing two poses together to suggest a narrative; re-creating a new composition from dismembered 'body parts'.

I need to think some more about this approach, and perhaps bring together in a posting the evidence. In the meantime, I do have real need and desire to, every-so-often, engage with something different to standing at my easel in front of a model and doing a drawing. But, of course, it is never as simple as that. Ever!

Drawing John on April 30th

I am in the same position, more or less, as last Tuesday, and continuing an experimental approach to mark-making as I become more and more familiar with the pose.

All paper is A1 220gsm cartridge. I like this very much, it has a bit of texture and will take heavy pencil lines and wet treatments. It also takes a delicate pencil line and its stiffness gives a sound surface to work on.

But firstly three 5 minute warm-ups at the start of the day. I start each using both hands with HB pencils and then heavier lines with my usual hand.

 

Next, a few preparatory lines with both hands but quickly into using a whetted tissue with charcoal powder. This soon dries and I was able to draw over it with a tinted charcoal pencil emphasising the darker tones. I also found that I could finger rub the dried charcoal areas and blend this in, in places with the tinted charcoal pencil. This was a very quick drawing, but really more like a painting technique, in which I attempted to keep the white of the paper as the highlights.

 

Next a much quicker and much more spontaneous response to get a further 'feel' for the pose. Less than 10 minutes before lunch.

 

Apart from the three warm-ups at the start of the day this next drawing is the one I spent the morning on. So about 90 minutes maximum. It is a two-handed drawing using two 2H pencils. I believe I am succeeding in using both hands/pencils equally. Neither is dominant. And I'm asking myself  "does this mean both sides of my brain are contributing to the process, and if so what difference is this making?"  

What I am concluding is this: "I feel there is a more 'energetic' enquiry and exploration of the forms of the body taking place, which I believe presents in me a very different sensation to when I'm using other techniques. Tactility is enhanced: by which I mean that I am much more conscious of the engagement of the pencil with the paper."  

 

Finally at the end of the day I wanted to get a bit closer, not only by cropping the pose but getting into the space between the shoulders as they relaxed forward. Two handed pencils moved around the paper followed by fine-liner pens, then to give emphasis to the drawing the heavier line of a tinted charcoal pencil was then softened with the finger.

Drawing Abigail on April 9th

I sort of played around today.

I don't mean frivolously playing around.

Behind these drawings of juxtaposed poses I am attempting to journey beyond the straightforward representation of that which is before me.

Perhaps I have been trying to do this for some time now, but I remain unsure of what it is I am seeking.

I believe I will recognise it when it arrives.

When it does I will not stop there and repeat it.

I will be moving on again, further along, in my life-drawing journey.

I've talked recently about drawing a feeling.

Recalling how I felt during the day, and also reflecting on the drawings now that I have posted them, I do sense a change in what I am experiencing when actually standing in front of the model.

The pencil or pen or charcoal is much more part of the search, much more part of the exploration, much more part of the emotion, than it has been before.

As a result, are the marks any different than before?

Why should I be experiencing this particular breakthrough at this time?

Is it a breakthrough or is it just one step, like other steps before, as I travel deeper and deeper into my life-drawing world?

Or did I just feel differently to day, for all sorts of external reasons? 

Apart from the second drawing which is of three five minute warm-ups at the start of the day, the others are the product of my moving my easel around the studio, and in the first and last drawing of turning my paper through 90 degrees, back and forth a number of times. These movements seem to be the result of my wishing to explore and draw Abigail in her reclining pose from a number of locations all at the same time. I do now believe that this experience represents a dominance of 'expression of feeling' over 'representational drawing'. It is an enhancement in the dynamic of the dialogue between artist and model. After having drawn Abigail for three days now, I feel fairly sure that her personality and her qualities as a life-model are playing a significant role in the new experience of 'drawing a feeling' which I have outlined above.

   



the paper was turned through 90 degrees a number of times during which drawing started with pencil outlines and then a simple bold lines of either charcoal or grey pastel to distinguish the two figures





these are the three 5 minute warm-up poses at the start of the day drawn with a fine pen. 





some exaggeration is included as I bring her right leg and foot towards me, with the intention of enhancing the sense of perspective



with the exception of introducing some tonal emphasis with a heavier mark-making, using my dominant right hand, this drawing was constructed using my left hand. Consequently the mark-making is lighter, is more searching, and of a much more exploratory nature than it would have been had I used my 'skilled' usual right hand [in earlier postings you will note I have been experimenting by drawing with both hands simultaneously, but this is the first time I have used my left hand by itself. Further comment when I have explored this approach some more]







I must have disturbed the other life-drawers in the construction of this drawing as I carried my easel back and forth across the studio locating myself three times looking up from her feet and similarly three times looking down from her head. The key decision for me was the relationship, and hence the nature of the dialogue, between the two figures as they emerged on the paper. I was asking myself whether I should resolve this meeting of two bodies and create a realistic portrayal of two bodies laying together or more simply overlap two separate drawings. I think in this case I did a bit of both [having tried to describe what happened, now I understand something of the dilemma, and I really want to do this again and explore it more].







this is the portrait format of the first drawing in this posting, and in fact was the starting format. I do not know what prompted me to turn the paper through 90 degrees, except that it was part of this desire to explore and draw the model from a number of directions at the same time which I have described above.



All the drawings shown are on A1 220gsm cartridge paper