Emily Loosely

Sue wasn't well so we took turns timing.  Emily struck five and ten minute poses and then moved for about fifteen minutes, holding 3 minute poses.  I've chosen these four from the session. I like the top drawing because I worked differently and think the marks had a kind of energy and looseness I can't always find.

The drawing below feels like Emily and I like the drawing, colours and marks.

My sister has been taking an art class and she sent me an image of a wonderful negative space drawing of a rocking chair she'd made 'for homework'.  I think that was in my mind as I took the side of light blue/grey soft pastel and traced around the figure. I like the way I've broken up the space in this one.

And this one is a little silly but makes me feel like dancing.

a few quick poses

Sadie 14x13cm, pastel on paper

Sadie, 12x15cm, pastel on paper

Sadie, 22x20cm, pastel on paper

Back at life drawing but only for 1 1/2 hours as had to sit an exhibition. These are 3/7 drawings I made in the session. My goal today was to be direct.  

Is it good to struggle? I sure did!

Valentina, ink and pastel A4 30 mins

On Saturday I went down to London for a course with John Dobbs at Heatherley's`: The Reductive Figure .  I was excited but I had a few complications to contend with.  I had a drop off for something I had been preselected for that I had to fit into the day.  There were replacement buses from Witham to Newbury Park and I was meant to bring all the gear to paint with. As I was packing up I made the executive decision that I would not bring oils or even acrylics but would take a smaller kit (gouache and pastels) and paper rather than canvas.  With everything scaled down I felt I would be able to travel down without incident.

John shared a David Park quote from A Painter's life  and wanted us to paint directly, quickly and boldly. I had arrived a little late and was sandwiched in pretty tightly.  I had to keep stepping sideways to see the model which is always a disaster. My contacts and my reading glasses weren't helping me to see very well and I was some distance from the model.  Before I began I was already struggling. The first drawing (above) was the most successful as a whole.  The second pose was a seated pose and I have to admit to throwing it away. After that one, John suggested I work on a part of the figure, the head and the shoulders. The goal was to say something that I WANT TO SAY about Valentina. I always notice her neck and the way her mouth turns down. I blame sidestepping for my lack of ability to see her as carefully as I might have. By this point I was regretting my materials. I had meant to bring charcoal too and thought I had, but for some reason it never made it into my bag. Every time John came by he told me it was good to struggle. I guess it was obvious!

Valentina, ink, gouache and pastel A3 30 mins

In the final pose, which lasted all afternoon, I found myself beginning with washes of colour. Once I'd begun I couldn't stop layering these washes of Gouache over each other as if it was egg tempera. I had no white so used a white pastel to lighten the hues. Cordelia offered me some of her white gouache which I used sparingly. As I am not a watercolour painter and haven't honed my skills with this media I was struggling to make them cooperate and to say something. The something I was saying was not related to the 'assignment' but once I begin something I find I need to keep struggling to find a resolution. I'm not sure this is always the right approach. So while this is unresolved, I am interested in Valentina's skin and the way her face disolved into her chin. 

2+ hours Valentina, gouache & pastel A3

To answer my own question, struggling certainly isn't comfortable and perhaps it's not necessary to persevere all the time.  Maybe it would have been better to begin again but I 'm glad I went to the class, find John an intuitive teacher and being with other painters is always wonderful. 

Seeing the model through the material

ink and pastel on pastel ground on paper 16 x 16 cm

I was describing to my friend, Jo, today about how when I draw I feel I am struggling against the materials. It is as if through the struggle I make sense of what I am seeing. It seems like the material I use results in a different way of seeing the subject. 

Today at life drawing in Sudbury as I prepared my materials for a three hour session, I decided on ink and pastels.  Jason Bowyer held a workshop in the summer and I found mixing those materials was an exciting lens to look through.  I think tonally and about the shapes and as I work and layer marks, colours and tones on top.

ink and pastel on pastel ground on paper 16 x 16 cm

ink and pastel on pastel ground on paper 17 x 25 cm

ink and pastel on pastel ground on paper 16 x 16 cm

ink and pastel on pastel ground on paper 14 x 13 cm

On Friday I went back to the NEAC life drawing class with Mick Kirkbride.  I thought we would be working in one of the gallery spaces and so did Mick so when it was changed back tot he usual space which is smaller, we had a bit of a squeeze to fit and I opted to sit in a chair to help out. I was looking up at the model.  The lights had been taken down but I liked my view and the lighting was fine for me. I began in charcoal and moved onto pastel.

charcoal on paper 20 x 30 cm 

Mary, the booked model, had goofed and was not in the country so we had a stand-in model at the last second. Roberta had modeled years ago but had not modeled in ten years - she was fabulous on Friday. Someone said she was like a statue and that's why I decided to do the second drawing, from the same place in my London altered sketchbook: The Silent Traveller in London' on the page about statues.

Since making the scans below I have recalibrated my colour profile so the images below are not very good… Still they show monotypes made last week in life drawing where I struggle the most to amek the material become the model.

montype 10 x 20 cm

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…

Basking in Doreen's Glow

Doreen, last drawing, 30 mins, pastel on paper 16 x 16cm

I was in Jane's seat today.  The table is a little small for my stuff but the light is good and the view was great today. I love drawing Doreen. I had prepared lots of pretty pieces of paper for pastel and watercolour last night. I had looked at Birdget Moore and Sargy Mann over the weekend so I was thinking in blocks of colour.  I felt more like myself.

Sue, before Doreen arrived, 5 mins, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

 Doreen was a little late so Sue sat for us briefly.  I could have carried on drawing Sue.  Her hair made a nice shape and her colours were delicious! 

a few mins, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

It was a bit ambitious to use watercolour in these quick poses but it made me work quickly and insisted that I really look for what was significant.

a few mins 2, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

a few mins 3, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

15 mins, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

I stuck to the same basic palette all morning but mostly avoided line unless it was absolutely necessary.

15 mins 2, pastel on paper, 14 x 13cm

Doreen moving slowly, pastel on altered book page

This was the first drawing of the day and rather than do lots of shapes as Doreen walked around the room I stuck to my initial first minute pose and tried to see the room around her in comparison to the colour of her skin. I think that set me up for my final drawing and was why the room came alive.

January light

It's one of those reassuring January things when the flower of the hellebore appears. As you know, it's been busy around Nayland Farm and frankly amazing that I have mananged to do anything let alone a little painting on book pages. I wedged myself in the corner of the studio while Figgy and Jonny made monotypes for the week they were home. Over a few days, before the hellebore drooped and closed I worked in spurts. I made a conscious decision not to have any pattern and wanted a feeling of white so chose my objects with that objective. I would have painted on (but needed to teach Figgy to frame her own gorgeous monotypes) and I still could but there is a certain freshness that I suspect I will just leave. But what do you think, should I crop it to the edge of the painting or not, or should I crop it into a square?

Meanwhile, I returned to London on Friday to visit John Dobbs (WONDERFUL) and to draw, or in this case make monotypes with the NEAC drawing school. Kate sat for the full two hours and I made two prints and two ghosts.

Line,colour and tone - quick studies at Sudbury Life Drawing

Emily, pastel on altered book page, 9.5 x 14 cm

Fig came with me to life drawing today.  It was a full house. Emily is a still, quiet and contemplative model. I had some new Jaxell pastels to try out but I was looking at tone, line and colour as I saw it today, so did't get a chance to use the bold deep colours. I looked over at Jo's musky unison pastels with awe. Quite partial to the drawing above, tried to find the essence, not particularly successful otherwise. 

Emily, charcoal on cartridge, 26 x 29cm

Emily, pastel on paper,12.5 x 21cm

Emily, pastel on paper, 16 x 16cm

Emily, pastel on altered book page, 9.5 x 14 cm

New Year, new defiant start - NEAC Drawing School

 I ran into Mick from The NEAC drawing school at the Life Room exhibition at the RA. That bit of serendipity felt like a great beginning to my January in London - such a small town that I run into one of the only people I know! I'd already seen the Drawing Year exhibition at the royal Drawing School so I mooched around dragging my bag of tricks, a new bag of tricks until 5:40, having a tea here and happening upon an exhibit there. 

When I arrived at the Mall Galleries studio space at the back, ready to begin my second six months as a Drawing Scholar I felt puffed up and determined to BE MYSELF and produce work that isn't just jumping through hoops. NO, that's not fair… It has not been jumping through hoops, it has been back to art school and art school is about being open enough to do some things that you don't succeed at so well, trying things and gaining new perspectives and skills, to see where it takes you - to grow.  I've been doing that  and it's been great, but over the break I realised that I also need to apply this learning to 'my practice' so I don't just produce work that doesn't feel like me in the sessions and end up hating what I show at the exhibition in June.

Mick was wonderfully receptive and in the two hour session I made two prints and printed two ghosts. I brought my pastels but was so excited about the journey of the line and the pentimento that direct monotypes bring to life drawing that I never got there.  Perhaps next week!

Looking for the meaning

I attended a brilliant life drawing workshop with John Dobbs on saturday at Heatherley's Art School. John is interested in capturing the essence of the subject .  You can see his work here: http://www.johndobbs.net . The day began with a series of really quick sketches (1 minute timed) where we tried to work intuitively to find a way to indicate what the key element in the subject and pose were.  Richard held a rope, crouched, stretched and I used scrap paper and a stick of vine charcoal to indicate direction. weight, light.  

John showed us some of the artists he thinks do what he is interested in best including Park, Lobdell, William Theophilus Brown, Rembrant - there were about ten.

John wasn't so interested in whether the drawing was accurate but more whether we could say something about the subject that was meaningful.  He had us do an exercise that I won't share as I think doing it is the important thing but it helped me to experience the difference between 'copying' and 'observational drawing'. 

The above drawing was the penultimate and longer than anything previously, nearly an hour.  My goal was to get Richard to READ THE BOOK and to show the mood through his posture.  I like the pieces of the drawings below as I believe them too.

At Sudbury life drawing I decided I needed a colour fix so only used pastel for the two hours. What I wanted to address was combining light and colour more effectively.  One of the stand out messages in the workshops has been YOU NEED MORE DARKS. The last drawing, the one at the top may be more effective although Pete's left thigh doesn't do what it should.  I like the gesture of the three last drawings.

I was still a little sick when I wen to my last NEAC drawing school session with Mick Kirkbride on the 24th of November. It had been a long day with visits to the Modigliani and lunch at the RSA with some family friends and Patrick. It's interesting that with a big piece of paper and an hour, I run out of time now.  It's a case of constantly adjusting. I know I need to look more, though.

Last drawing with John Dobbs

John Dobbs with former scholar

And Carol Webb invited me back to a daytime portrait session.  She's had models who can only sit in the evening this term.  David Stone, an artist: http://davidstone-art.co.uk, sat for us for a few hours last Wednesday.  I had planned to paint but in the mad rush from refugees and school meeting I forgot half my supplies so drew instead.