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Woke up to white and the pink light of sun on snow. Not sure why I took today's big blank canvas and painted summer in Maine but the snow colours were definately on my mind. I think Figgy calls them 'sweet' colours. I worked the same way I had yesterday, inventing a scene in charcoal from drawings, memory/imagination and parts of a few photos. My challenge was to use some yellow green and make it believable.
Working from drawings, imagination and parts photos I began today with charcoal. It is drawing group Monday but what with the snow and not having the regular car I decided to stay home.
I began drawing because I wanted to consider the light and shapes. When I finished I realised I'd done what I often do, put a line down the middle of the space. Not sure why but I thought an ironing board would unify things, create some more complication and create a reason for the woman on the chair.
This is only a few hours of painting so will come back to it again, and probably again.
My preferred wayof working with pastels has always been plein air, or from life, anyway. This is a departure. I decided to draw from a painting that began as a drawing that I abstracted and invented. This is not as abstract as the painting, so more invented. I like the painterlyness of it.
This painting was stalled for some time. I wondered what would happen if I collaged some pastel drawing motifs onto it. It was obviously Maine so I found a few drawings and attempted to translate the energy to the painting. I put one of Rose Hilton's catalogs at my feet and began.
This is my painting response to my earlier post, Notwithstanding Local Colour. This painting has layers of paint under it, a tree painting a very loose vibrant overpainting over that and this which has tightened up but has some interest for me anyway. I hope I can return to it and resolve it, but for now I'll turn it towards the wall. It's mysterious the way you can paint many different ways in a short space of time...
Life drawing every monday. I've been going to the same group since I moved to England 13 years ago. When I was teaching full time it was impossible to get to Sudbury, but mostly I go now. There is the occasional new model, but Blue has been modeling for the group all along. I missed it but apparently she modeled when nine months pregnant, years ago. The sessions have a loose structure. Sue, a model herself, started the group 20 something years ago and is in charge. Usually I am in a rush in the morning and it's lucky if I remember everything but yesterday I decided to prepare something different for the session. I rubbed pastel into paper that I'd outlined with masking tape. I treated the pastel in three ways: I brushed mineral spirit on two rectangles, clear gesso over another and brushed fixative over the final one. Each was a different colour. There were two on a page. I had no idea what would happen at drawing or even if I would feel like using them. In the previous session I only used charcoal. I never really know which tool I'll grab when Sue says, 'this will be a three minute pose,' or whatever.
Sue strucutred things in a way she never has before. She asked Blue to pose three different ways and to hold each pose (in rotation) for 1 min, 5 minutes and 10 minutes. So, we would have three opportunities to draw Blue in each pose. The top drawing is one of the three ten minute poses. The other two are 20 minute poses (which is the routine) after our break.
It's always exciting when you breathe new life into a painting you've put aside. Still not sure where this is going, but like the energy so far.
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