Oil pastels for life drawing

An example of living and learning, I find the inexactitude of oil pastels frustrating, but then I could have worked this more by scraping back, using thinners and using other media.  However, my proportions on the body are right and I'm happy with that.  The picture behind the model really caught my attention, done by a first year student and although the limbs are exaggerated there is still proportion and great beauty in the lines.  The subject obviously caught my attention too.  I was completely daunted by the model's geometric sixties dress to start with but I just got in about it and was fine.  A major problem was that the dress was black and white and I don't like using black, but the purple works well, and is still very sixties. I was happier with the treatment of the blue cloth, so it looks like working layer over layer works well.

Measure, measure and measure again. And anatomy

For the first time a life class I felt completely satisfied with, deep thanks to Karen the previous night teaching me to measure and remeasure, and to both her and Lesley for buying me Sarah Simblet's Anatomy for the Artist which I have been slowly reading.  I didn't think any of it was going in to my rather dull brain but I am beginning to be able to pick out the antomy under the skin which will also apparently make my drawing more accurate, rather than focusing on surface level details.  This model's hands were beautifully large and I was happily able to lose myself in details of beard, trousers and shoes.

Coloured pencils and pen and ink

This was a restless art class, I couldn't get settled, I started doing a large scale pen and ink with ink washes but kept spilling red ink over myself and wasn't happy with the colours of the model's shirt darkening too quickly.  So towards the end I did a couple of drawings in my sketch book.  I'm very happy with the pencil drawing which follows the contours of the model's face.  The pen and ink drawing was an interesting error, both the head and body are correctly drawn from quite an odd perspective, I really enjoy the challenge of odd perspectives, but they are out of proportion with each other.  I'm fascinated by the relative importance of our senses and the idea of drawing elements out of proportion with reference to their salinity to us interests me, for me the head would be larger than the body because I pay too much attention to cerebral matters and am doing mindfulness to redress the balance.  It would be interesting to empahsise the eyes and minimise the ears, as the senses we tend to prejudice one over the other.

Pen and ink, and drawing pencil

Two sketches of the same model done at class, I do like drawing folds and creases in clothes, though proportion was better on the pen and ink drawings than the pencil drawing.

And a by the way, I'm thanking my small amount of common sense that I have photographed and uploaded pictures of my drawings.  The big sketches are on A2 paper and I'd put them under the sofa to keep flat and safe, and the cat weed on them.  Aargh!

Charcoal and putty rubber #2

A second try at charcoal and putty rubber with a second model.  I had problems getting the charcoal background smooth, kept picking up the texture of the underlying board, and I did it very large which led to some proportion errors but you learn from your mistakes, and it's certainly expressive!

New year better handle on acrylics

Following the demonstration by our wonderful (and patient) teacher I tackled acrylics again, this time working on a background painted in mahogany-red acrylic first with charcoal, then following the lines in dark brown and finally working on the picture with a range of browns, oranges and white for an actually pretty good likeness!  Really enjoyed this, feel I'm beginning to get a grip on how to paint.  John encouraged us not to refine too much and the result is expressionistic and lively

Pen and ink today

I did calligraphy when I was younger and have the dip pens, books and layout paper ready to get into it again, it's on my USS list,  but I hadn't thought of using it for drawing.  This work is in black permanent ink, both as a line and as a wash, and I love the uneven line the dip pen gives.  I really liked this graphic style, and again I have no idea why it's turned sideways.  One thing difficult to get used to was the strength of the ink, but I'll get there, I'm happy with the drawing

Charcoal and putty rubber

My local library is my lifeline, I couldn't afford my bibilographic habit, there's no two ways about it, and I get to consult books that maybe aren't excellent but have useful material.  And then there are books that are out of print but are an absolute goldmine, like Learn to Paint and Draw by Hazel Harrison.  I must admit, before this class I would have thought that using an instructional book was 'cheating', if you can't draw you can't draw, but this book takes you through loads of different drawing and painting mediums and techniques.  It's from this book that I picked up the technique of charcoal and putty rubber.  You cover the entire drawing area with a thin background of charcoal, taking time to rub it and get it smooth, and then begin to work with charcoal lines and then lift out highlights with a putty rubber.  Working big makes expressiveness easier

Acrylic and a little bit out of hand

This was my first try with acrylics and the drawing was fine but then I was faced with the problem of how do you keep the drawing when you paint.  Apparently you can paint in the lines, use charcoal which is darker or build up in layers 'thin to thick' but I just went for thick right away, and the effect is certainly striking if a little overly spontaenous!  Had great fun with the one thing that was under control, the colour, because I was only using alizarin crimson and one shade of blue with white, although I learned never to walk away and come back with acrylics, it's dry by then.  Oh, and that alizarin crimson is very very strong!

Watercolour in sepia

Another first, this time working in varying intensities of ochre on watercolour, learning how to build up glazes to create depth of colour, very much first steps.  This lovely lady is much less podgy and more beautiful than the picture suggests, slowly developing confidence with drawing.  What strikes me is how long everything takes, I get totally absorbed and the time has gone just like that.  I'm finding that ears are much bigger than I thought they were, I guess I tend to judge the size of the organs of their face by the importance of the function, so eyes would come first.

Drawing and Painting

Am slowly taking my first steps in the big world of drawing and painting, am really enjoying it but am a bit lost in the world of materials and techniques.  I'm going to a Thursday night class at Duncan of Jordanstone and we have someone sit which gives a chance to do life drawing, not the naked kind!, and that's challenging and great.  This picture was worked in pastels on untreated canvas, a very rough surface, the proportions are a bit iffy but working big allows you to free up the hand