The Shapes Marilyn Makes!

Marilyn is a remarkable model who can hold the most outrageous poses with precision and quiet. She has long toned legs the body of a former ballet dancer. Today we began with a 15 minute pose followed by a series of 3 or so minute poses. I worked in colour to begin with and have not included those here.  The four below are a sample of what Marilyn got up to and the one above was a twenty minute pose.

pastel over monotype

monotype plate before printing

monotype (ghost) with release agent

pastel over monotype

Excited to explore pastel over monotypes again! I generated about ten prints today in life drawing as we had a series of five and ten minute poses.  This is the final 25 minute pose. The plate is 10 x18 cm, which is a nice shape for Marilyn. I did not draw 'backwards' so the plate is the way I saw the image. I had forgotten two items this time: my roller and my brushes but luckily Judith lent me a brush.  One brush is tough to work with and it was a medium sized flat.  I had no way to wash my brush and my colours got quite muddy. (i usually use different brushes for different colours). Usually when I use pastel over monotype I work in black first.  In fact, I think this is the first time I have worked over a colour print. I would have loved to have painted this pose.  Perhaps these three studies can be used to do that…

Marilyn in ten minutes

pastel on paper 13 x 14cm

altered book page spread  11 x 7cm pastel drawings

pastel on altered book page 21 x 14 cm

charcoal on paper 28 x 13 cm

pastel on paper 14 x 16 cm

For the first half of our drawing session, Sue asked Marilyn for five ten minute poses, although one lasted an extra five minutes.  The final pose was half an hour. I brought some images with me to inspire my palette and then began igonoring them, looking hard to see what the drawing needed that corresponded to what I was looking at.

I didn't put my pastels away at the end of each drawing so there is more consistency of colour than usual between them.  I prepared my ground and taped around the edges before I set off today and tried a few new approaches - watercolour with clear gesso and a little pastel ground, gouache with pastel ground, pastel with clear gesso.

Monday Drawings

A Selection of 2016 Monday drawings

Erin, pastel on paper 6 x 6

Since the New Year I haven't missed a Monday morning.  I get to the venue early, to help hang the plastic  in front of the window, to roll out the rug and to get a space on the side of the room where you can see the model.  If you are on the other side the model is backlit. Sue organises the sessions and we usually have some fast poses 1-2 minutes or 15 mins of a moving model and some longer poses, 10 - 30 minutes.

We have a range of models (in terms of age, hair colour, height, size, flexibility, agility). Many of the models have been coming for as long as I have been going (more than 15 years). Erin has been modeling for us for a year or two.  She can hold a pose in standing but doesn't 'fold' well.

Like Erin, Marilyn is athletic with long legs. Marilyn never moves and is always enthusiastic to push herself to hold poses until her feet turn blue.

Marilyn, pastel on paper, 6 x 6

Esme, pastel on paper 6 x 6

Esme has modelled for us twice.  Like the other two, she is brilliant to draw. She makes strong poses. Each model has her own character (we have a few men too) and for me, the trick is to stay loose enough to capture it and to avoid getting bogged down by the local colour and the setting.

Pasteling Over

I arrived late at my drawing group today, caught behind a tractor.  The first pose had already begun. It was a ten minute pose and I didn't think it would be worth it to use a piece of my prepared paper so I found a pastel that wasn't working and began to transform it into a new person, a new pose, new light.  In the past I have wiped the old image away and have been left with a muddy background.  This time I simply began working on top. I did that all morning and these were the most successful products.   I like the feeling of time and the richness of the layering.

Some of my recent life drawings

Emily 

Marilyn

Emily

Marilyn

Marilyn

Marilyn

Sue

I went to a gallery recently to show my work and although they were really positive about some of my work, the person I spoke with felt that my life drawings were too 'traditional'.  

My wonderful life drawing class is a mix of different kinds of artists, former draughtsman, artists who simply love to draw and abstract painters work alongside each other. When we draw, there are gasps and sighs and we all talk about the shapes.

Drawing in colour

In the split second after a model strikes a pose, when you know you will only have minutes, to tens of minutes to say something, grabbing colours can be almost arbitrary. I usually start with three colours and then choose the next few to get a range of values and to complement my first choices. Sometimes the model is really quick and I barely have time to choose the first few and rely on what is in my hand to begin again.

I am starting to draw in order to paint, although in that split second I don't think I'm thinking about anything like that.  I am just trying to get the shapes in the rectangle to work together.

 Not all poses or choices work, but a piece of something unsuccessful may inform something later.