Life Classes
14/12/16 17.00-19.00
The challenge this week was two models, one male and one female. This gave us an opportunity to explore the differences between muscular and angular and rounded and soft with various media and mark making. Our male model was tall and slim, not unlike Egon Schiele, so I tried to use definite line with felt tip pen in our short poses to achieve strong shapes and almost branch-like limbs.
On the other hand, our female model was voluptuous and curvy, so I changed to the softer medium of conte stick and used more sweeping marks to define her.
Drawing the two models together illustrated the differences even with using the same medium. In the final long pose of 20 minutes, I could use John’s back as the background for more of a portrait of our female model which worked well from the viewpoint I had.
- 2 minute pose – brown felt tip pen on paper
- 2 minute pose – brown felt tip pen on paper
- 2 minute pose – brown felt tip pen on paper
- 2 minute pose – black conte stick on paper
- 5 minute pose – black conte stick on paper
- 10 minute pose – black conte stick on paper
- 10 minute pose – black conte stick on paper
10/01/17 17.00-19.00
This week we had a treat of longer poses to enable us to work into our drawings more. As we have our classes in the sculpture studio, there were several half-finished or rejected cast figures lying around. For the 25 minute pose, our model John was positioned with a child figure, which although incomplete, made quite a touching image. We had to decide whether to make the figure look real or as it was, made of plaster. Although, this was not my intention as such, the boy looks fairly real and had the same treatment as John.
The 40 minute pose was really interesting as, again, a cast figure was included. It was of a woman, about to dive into the sea, however, when laid down on its side looked as if it was reclining. John then draped himself over the figure and as the light was fading, a lamp was shone on them to offer more highlights. For this one, I decided to use brown paper as a mid tone and black conte and white chalk for the darks and lights.
- 5 minute pose black conte stick on paper
- 25 minute pose black conte stick and white chalk on paper
17/01/17 17.00-19.00
We had a female model this week, Sally was six months pregnant, so a lovely subject to draw. To avoid her having to pose in different positions, this week, the model stayed still and the students moved around her. We found our starting viewpoint and then sketched for 30 seconds and moved on to another view. This really got us warmed up and then we were able to make informed decisions where to stand for the longer poses. Moving up to the three-minute drawings we made more choices of view to decide our 10 minutes posed drawing, up to 15 minutes.
- Same pose but different viewpoints for 30 seconds – black conte on paper
- Same pose but different viewpoints for 30 seconds – black conte on paper
- 1-3 minute sketches – black conte on paper
- 10 minute drawing – conte on paper
31/01/17 17.00-19.00
We had a new model this week, Reuben. He was able to achieve some quite dynamic shapes for a while, so we could explore more expressive poses. We had the traditional short warm ups and then a couple of longer ones at 15 and 20 minutes.
- 1 minute poses – charcoal on paper
- 1 minute poses – charcoal on paper
- 1 minute poses – charcoal on paper
- 3 minute poses – charcoal on paper
- 5 minute pose – charcoal on paper
- 15 minute pose – charcoal, white chalk and putty rubber on charcoal tinted paper
07/02/17 17.00-19.00
This week we had Reuben again. Always using our studio location to our advantage, some large geometric shaped pieces of hard board that were lying around made interesting props for our model to use.
The combination of dynamic poses and the geometric shapes made some fantastic short sketches possible. I mostly used black conte on paper but switched to sepia ink on water-colour paper after the break. Although, fun to use, these were not so successful, however, I enjoy trying different media and pushing myself. My favourites of this week were the 1 minute poses.
- 1 minute poses with geometric props – conte on paper
- 1 minute poses with geometric props – conte on paper
- 3 minute pose – conte on paper
- 5 minute pose with geometric props – conte on paper
- Seated 5 minute pose – conte on paper
- 10 minute pose – sepia ink on watercolour paper
21/02/17 17.00-19.00
This week, inspired by the BBC Big Painting Challenge program, we were presented with long bamboo sticks and easels. These were limited in number so we took it in turns to use them, some more cheerfully than others, I have to say. Sticking with charcoal on paper until my turn, then switching to some jumbo, really black charcoal just before to get the feel of it. Once this was taped to the end of the bamboo stick, which was around 2 feet long, it was quite unwieldy to apply it to the paper. However, once I got the measure of distance and pressure, it was good fun and very expressive to use. It also gave me the chance to see both the model, Caroline, and paper at the same time without moving my head. I think this helped with proportions as they were directly comparable. Because of this, I used the stick to map out my composition for the long pose even though I switched to soft pastel to add colour.
- 1 minute poses charcoal on paper
- 1 minute poses charcoal on paper
- 5 minute pose charcoal on paper
- 5 minute poses chunky charcoal on paper
- 10 minute pose – chunky charcoal taped to the end of a 2 feet long bamboo stick on paper
28/02/17 17.00-19.00
Our treat this week was one long pose in whatever media we wanted to use. I broke out the oil paints and canvas in anticipation. Of course, we weren’t going to get away with it that easily, another BBC Big Painting Challenge exercise awaiting us first. On scraps of paper with ink and a big brush, we were to follow the rule of looking for 90 seconds and painting for 30. We had a few runs at this and it loosened us up for the long pose, I have no pictures of these as they were left behind. I made a couple of sketches to work out my composition before painting having previously coloured my 24×30″ canvas with a mix of burnt sienna, ultra marine blue and white acrylic to have a neutral ground both in tone and temperature on which to work.
A few reworks at the beginning to get the lean of the pose and positioning and then I was away. However, due to not being to get too far back from the canvas I noted that the proportions were slightly askew when the session came to its end. At home, I made adjustments with charcoal when the bent leg was too long, the forward foot a little misshapen and the head too large, The head, I realised, because of the carnival mask the model was wearing, had been elongated from the forehead to its top and can be fairly easily rectified. The photo below shows the charcoal reworking and once adjusted in paint will be photographed and posted.
- Compositional sketches for oil painting
- Painting with charcoal adjustments
- Painting with charcoal adjustments and tape to show where the top of the head should be
07/03/17 17.00-19.00
Our model this week was John. Our main projects were to be a 20 minute portrait and a 40 minute standing pose where John would be hanging on to a wire cable from the ceiling. First of course, a warm up exercise! Using whetted paper, a large brush and diluted ink, we were to paint a series of poses on one sheet. These were quick 1 minute poses where the main lines and gestures should be recorded. It was interesting to see the ink disperse on the wet paper, along with the colours that appeared at the fuzzy edges of the marks, in my case a blue/purple and yellow.
For the portrait I used soft pastels and a buff tinted pastel paper and for the standing pose, soft pastels and a aqua/green tinted paper. Initially, for the portrait, we tried a quick ink sketch in the same method as the warm-up, which was really effective and denoting light and dark areas of the composition.
- A running race series of 1 minute poses with diluted ink on wet paper
- A standing to crouching series of 1 minute poses with diluted ink on wet paper
- Ink on wet paper preparatory sketch for portrait