While it rages outside, I create my own little worlds indoors

African Palette, pastel on prepared mount board 23x22

Today it rained and gales raged, rattling the windows of the studio. I barely noticed as I was immersed in my African Palette, finding the depth of the colour.  It was another one of those drawings that didn't paint itself. I could match the colour but every piece needed layers to get the excitement that the colour had in REAL life. 

On Tuesdays I often call in at the Mind charity shop in Hadleigh after pilates. I often buy something.  In this still life, objects from that charity shop are: the purple tablecloth that is the bottom rectangle and the jug above the orange. It took me at least three weeks to succumb to the jug, though. I planted the primroses in another jug from the Woolpit car boot.  

sketchbook project page - African Palette

I often set up my still life the night before.  That way I can sketch it quickly first and then sleep on it. 

House of Cacti, egg tempera on panel

This is the third of that bright object egg tempera series.  It is a smaller panel and the objects were arranged in a very convoluted way.  In the back is one of my old faves - a Cacti I drew years ago after visiting the Botanic gardens in NYC with my dad. The cacti soldiers marching East are from Woolpit but they are IKEA, apparently. Can you find the real cactus?

sketchbook project page - Mexican Table

 

Andrew, charcoal on paper, A4, RA live life drawing

And last night I tried something new… I projected the RA  live life drawing on the studio wall and had a life drawing session.

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.  

Risk Taking and Quick Sketches

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!

What Comes Next in a Series?

Car Boot Oranges, egg tempera on panel 23 x 16cm, 

A few weeks ago I made a still-life  Jugs where I was exploring how to balance light using layers of pigment vs white mixed with pigment. The egg tempera class I'd taken with Mick Kirkbride was focused on using layers of pure pigment mixed with egg to create luminosity. Ruth Stage uses milky/eggy colours.  I had the idea that by using both kinds of painting you might be able to create light in a particular way.

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.

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. 

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. 

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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?

Objects as inspiration

Jugs, Egg tempera on Panel, 23x16cm

The husband of one of my friends is giving a course on hoarding.  We went to the car boot sale on Saturday and I couldn't resist a few more ceramic objects.  The vase below is one of them.  My mother is drawing objects too. She sets them up and creates beautiful zen brush drawings on her iPad. So does my sister and my brother and our daughter buys jugs when she can. My mother tells me one day she will take all her objects back to a charity shop for others to be inspired by.  Whatever, I can't help arranging my own and working in all kinds of media to create a story with them.

Sympathy in Green , pastel on paper, 46x46cm