Drawing through a shower curtain and what happened next

 Zoom life drawing continues.  I have been part of Mick Kirkbride's Insight Art zoom life drawing since it started.  It is absolutely brilliant! Today Mick hung a shower curtain so we could barely see the model.  Mick is an advocate of struggling with the materials.  What he didn't know was that my studio was bright today and it was even harder for me to make out the model (behind an opaque/translucent curtain), projected onto the wall.  

After I drew the three sketches behind the curtain, I thought how the ambiguity and blockiness of the figures recalled Bonnard. I took out a book of Bonnard paintings and opened to a page that had similar colours to what I was looking at and drew the model before me.

16 x 16cm (about an hour) pastel on paper prepared with tinted pastel ground

Bonnard - Nude with Chair

10 minute sketch through a translucent/opaque shower curtain. 

10 minute sketch through a translucent/opaque shower curtain. 

10 minute sketch through a translucent/opaque shower curtain. 

Colour!

On Instagram, I took part in the ten day challenge.  That is an opportunity to post older work for ten consecutivve days. I don't often look back, and the task of choosing was interesting.  One thing that I noticed was that, in general, my work (of late) is much bolder and brighter, not to mention more detailed than what I was doing before. People liked my older work, and so do I, but what I'm doing now makes me happy, now.

Today I finished a piece that reminds me of a hawaiian shirt. That is an after-thought, but if I were shopping, it would be the shirt I would choose.

Self Portrait in Eden, egg tempera on panel, 30 x 22 cm, March 2021

Last week was about romance and the cliche of red of pink (Bridgerton style). It turns out painting all that red is tough, though.

Me and My Duke, egg tempera on panel, 30 x 25cm, Feb 2021

The week before was about colour and pattern and the hope of warm weather and would the pandemic be over enough for a trip to Maine.

egg tempera on panel, 30 x 22 cm, Feb 2021

                                         

And before that I wanted to bring the sunshine inside and painted a tribute to some beautiful golden apples.

Golden Apple Days, egg tempera on panel, 26 x 26 cm, Feb 2021

Choosing a Support

 

The difference between working with egg tempera on paper versus a panel. My first painting of 2021 was an egg tempera on paper primed on both sides repeatedly with Sintopia then I used PVA to attach it to a piece of thick, acid free, mountboard. I pioneered this support (for me) last January and sort of enjoyed working on the surface.  I liked the outcome. One of my friends wondered why the pieces painted on paper were brighter than my panels. 

Weekend Garden, egg tempera on panel, 25 x 27 cm, Jan 2021

 

Foo Dog and Flowers, egg tempera on paper primed with Sintopia, laid on board 21 x 15 cm, Jan 2021

II’m not sure if it is the material or the way I work with it. Last year I found the sintopia was very absorbent and dried instantly.  This year I didn’t find it as dry. Painting on a panel is more satisfying.  The surface builds up evenly and it is a gorgeously smooth. The paper is more resistant. Also, the product feels more substantial. I’d be curious to hear what you think!

The impact of looking at artists' work while drawing

Zoom life drawing classes are more than a novelty now.  On a good week I ‘attend’ three.  Mick Kirkbride structures the classes so that we have a mix of short poses and longer poses and he always shows us the work of one or two artists to frame the way we might choose to look at the poses and respond to them.  

The three classes are equivalent, same resources but different models. Last night I think the model’s name was Eleanor. We began with two three minute poses followed by a five minute poses and two longer poses, I think they were 40 and 30 minutes. After the quick poses we looked at Bernard Dunstan, RA and NEAC https://chrisbeetles.com/artist/619

I have a new blog on my website.  You can find it here:

https://www.rebeccaguyverart.com/blog-3

Drawing on Zoom

A4 15 min

I'm taking a life drawing class, based at Insight Art, broadcast on Zoom.  I project my computer screen on the wall and draw from that. The class lasts an hour and meets three times per week. Insight Art

Mick Kirkbride teaches by showing us examples of artists, suggesting that we consider some of these artists' sensibilities and approaches. The poses range from three minute poses to up to an hour. So far the longest pose has been about 55 minutes.  I have worked on paper up to about A3, but most of my drawings are smaller.  

A5 20 mins

A5 35 mins

part one 17 cm square 

part two 17 cm square (55 mins)

17 cm square 3 mins

monotype, 20 mins, 15 x 10 cm

15 x 25 cm, 5 mins

17 x 24 cm, 5 mins

15 x 15 cm, 25 mins

17 x 17 cm, 25 mins

A5, 15 mins

20 x 16, 15 mins

 

'A Scholar' in Lindisfarne sketching in an old book

Near the Sea

We arrived in Lindisfarne just as it was safe to cross onto the island, Tuesday evening 6:30ish. Patrick and I hadn't left East Anglia since February and most of the time we were home or at a food shop five miles from our door. We had both wanted to go to Holy Island since seeing it from the window of car or a train on our many trips to Scotland. Louise Kirkbride organised a painting week with Mick Kirkbride teaching, and that was perfect.  

There were five artists (plus Mick) and a few partners (jincluding Patrick) as well as Jacob, Lou and Mick's son. For a few others, Covid stopped play and they were missed.  

I got ready for the trip by preparing a book to draw in. This title was appropriate, as I had been the NEAC Scholar and Mick had been my mentor. As I drew, I found that the words on the page were also apt and they became my titles.  I have not finished the pages as I like to whiten the areas around the specific words I have chosen, I may try to resolve some of the drawings that haven't quite worked, yet, but I fear that my list is so long that may takes weeks so thought I'd show you my progress so far!

In the Sedgy

This was my first drawing, made in the harbour; it was the perfect place to begin. I was determined not to dwell on my drawings.  I can see some lobster pots but doubt you can...

It Established its Right

This was my last drawing, looking across a pool of seawater in front of the lime kilns, with the castle to the left. Patrick and I were driving back to Suffolk.  The water gave me a very hard time, changing from almost white to dark blue as the clouds went in and out.  

Rain Near Priory

Rain Near Priory was not made in my sketchbook.  It was raining too hard and I worried that the wet might damage the drawings I had made earlier in the altered sketchbook. I faced the storm which pelted down rain and puddled the pastel.  I used a rag to wipe everything off a few times when I thought the storm was abating, it never did while I sttod there. In the end I kept what I could and gave into the chaos, smudging with my fingers the pastels disintegrating in my hands.

So Far as Distance Goeth

From the harbour you could look ahead and see the castle and the boats, look left and see the tussled hills and sheep, or look behind or right to see buildings. This is unfinished, delighting in one of the other less iconic views.

Standing at the Boundary Wall

Standing at the Boundary Wall was made before Near the Sea.  For me, one of the most striking things about the view was the blue, almost black, of water. People walked out onto the ledge and I could just see their stick figures in the distance.  The tide was coming in as I finished the drawing and deciding where I should freeze it in time was one of those variables of plein air drawing that it's hard to get right, for me.

Tales of the North Country

This is the only page I drew on in my second sketchbook, (same name). This was another quickie, to capture the flavour of the layers of landscape and the buildings I saw.

The Opening

Our experience was that it rained when the tide came in and as the tourists raced to get home across the causeway. The opening was made as the rain died down, shortly after Rain Near Priory. When the rain returned and we were ready to head back I had only noted the gesture of the harbour from behind the Priory gate. It wasn't a really quick sketch, instead I held back defining it. The light was viscous. The following day there would be archeologists with the Big Dig on the other side of the wall.

The Sound of the Bell

This was from the first morning of drawing.  The tide went out, the tide came in and the confusion of what was water and what was mud is all too apparent!

We Must Cross the Water

We were high up and the wind was blowing in my face.  My hat blew off, but the downward road caught my eye and I unpacked my easel. I think the fixative made this even darker than it already was.  The relationship between the wall and the water was constantly changing and my final marks made everything worse.

By the way, my new website is live.  There are still quite a few improvements to make but let me know what you think in the meantime! https://www.rebeccaguyverart.com
 

What is it about drawing in a book?

so far as we can judge, pastel on 'opened book', 40 x 35 cm framed,

This drawing in the book English Wildlife (I found the book in Needham Market car boot sale), was one of a few images I made while thinking about the word 'Borders' with reference to The River Stour. The Colchester Art Society together with Ipswich Art Society is exhibiting at Firstsite, in Colchester.  Borders exhibition details

 

As I was drawing, I thought about a 'walk and draw' I took with Ruth Philo from Flatford, some years ago.  Ruth introduced me to Rebecca Solnit. Rebecca Solnit mentions the blue of distance and it was that ‘blue of distance' that Ruth saw in my drawing. I am interested in the place where the horizon extends. I wonder how far it goes, or I can see. For me that border is a border of suspended disbelief, of longing, of hope, of ambiguity.

 

When I get a book that I think might inspire me, I look at the words at the top and bottom of each page, hoping that something will give me a starting place. 'so far as we can judge' was perfect.

 

I worked from drawings, memories and fragments of photos to try to conjure the Stour, as that is one border which separates Essex and Suffolk and was the essence of the Firstsite collaboration. I was delighted to learn that the drawing sold last week. If you are interested in seeing more of my drawings on books you can find some on my website. More 'opened books'.

Firstsite exhibition 

day after day without, pastel on 1/2 an opened book,  

This has been a busy family week and because of the heat (and lack of rain), my garden has needed lots of TLC so less time in the studio than usual. But while I watered etc… I was thinking of new ways to make book pages and managed to do a few drawings. In this one, 'day after day without' I took a book apart and glued part of it down onto half of the cover. I want to have the option of making portrait drawings without having to make two related drawings.  I like having the cover as part of the piece. The image is my front garden and I was thinking about lockdown and how I have noticed so much more of what is nearby.  I am attuned to nature in a heightened way.  These are CHANGED TIMES and it is a little day after day without.

Flowers and Food, pastel on book pages. 

I have noticed how bleached everything has become because of the heat and drought. Even some of my bright flowers seem muted.  The potentilla was peach and is now almost white. Having said that, some flowers are eye-poppingly lurid.  I love magenta! This still life was a response to the bleaching of my world in the hot sun. It is also narrative, a response to the words on the page. 

 

And in other ways of playing with the media, the lavender at the bottom, which I hope reads as a book cover, is not really a book cover.  I made book cover facsimile with bookend paper and card. The drawing is not glued down yet.  The drawing was made on three book page-spreads glued together. These experiments will go somewhere, I hope.