Some people freeze at a blank page. That doesn't happen to me but I do work more intuitively and feel liberated to move things around, change colour and make compositions in a different way when I work (quickly) in a sketchbook. At 58, even knowing that I sending a book somewhere to potentially have an audience doesn't make me too tight. I look forward to the time each day when I will draw without intending to do anything beyond draw. Obviously I am scanning the drawings - there will be 32 in the end that I'll send in the sketchbook to the Sketchbok project https://www.sketchbookproject.com. I'm not sure if I will ever use the drawings I'm making for anything else but I believe that just recording all these arrangements is making it easier for me to use those intuitive muscles in the future!
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Saturday, March 2, 2019
What Comes Next in a Series?
Car Boot Oranges, egg tempera on panel 23 x 16cm, |
I set up a new still life up a few days ago but it wasn't until yesterday that I had time to work. The still life was made up of objects I have bought at the car boot or from local charity shops as well as a few of my brighted spined art books. My goal was to create a companion piece for Jugs.
What you can't necessarily understand is that in Jugs the light is coming from behind and the pattern at the back is a kantha folded on a radiator under a window. This time the light is primarily natural but I also pointed lights from both sides. I chose similarly coloured objects to Jugs and this painting was made working from life.
Labels:
Car Boot Oranges,
Egg Tempera,
Jugs,
Rebecca Moss Guyver,
series
Monday, February 25, 2019
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 |
2+ hours Valentina, gouache & pastel A3 |
Labels:
Gouache,
ink,
John Dobbs,
life drawing,
pastel,
reductive figure,
Valentina
Friday, February 22, 2019
How the tiger got into the drawing.
Placid Stalking, pastel on prepared mount board, 30x33 |
When my day is uncomplicated it begins with an hour or more of drawing in my sketchbooks. As I draw I explore, I revise and dream about the future. I try to keep THOUGHTS out of my head but that's pretty tough. On a good day the planning for what's next comes after when I look at what I've done. Drawing in my sketchbooks can mean something finished, or it can be something open and about the next idea. That can be because I am impatient to get on, or it can be because I run out of time, or because I want to retain something unfinished for later. The drawings below are the pre-drawings for the drawing above.
Add caption |
I added the tiger and used it later in the bigger more finished drawing. Here I paid no attention to scale. Perhaps all of these ideas will translate into a painting?
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
Objects as inspiration
Jugs, Egg tempera on Panel, 23x16cm |
Sympathy in Green , pastel on paper, 46x46cm |
Monday, February 18, 2019
Snow of Memory
Snowy Walk, egg tempera on panel, 30x20, |
I have tried to keep the snowy light in my head so that I could make a little series of pictures of walking in the morning light. I did some drawings and took some pictures and tried to look and look. I looked through paintings and kept two books open as I worked on this: Wolf Khan, pastels and particularly: Looking towards St Peters (1963) and Bonnard (Phillips Collection exhibition) Piazza del Popolo, Rome.
Wolf Khan, Looking towards St Peters |
Pierre Bonnard, Piazza del Popolo, Rome |
The place and the situation are a collage of memories, stitched together to make a believable moment. The figure with the hat was added later and I removed some things that were distracting. The moon was a happy accident. a drop of water that removed the tempera.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
The Figure in Context
Conversation with View, 23x16, egg tempera on panel |
I printed a photo of the panel and drew some figures in with a pastel pencil so I began. what i love about working on egg tempera that has set is that you can actually wipe off the bad drawing and it reamins exactly the same. It is permanent! and there is a differnt kind of underpainting to explore.
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