Life Drawing: 1.10.18

Continuous line drawing

After a break from Life Drawing over the summer it was good to get back to it. It didn't feel like that long since the last session as I've been so busy but I did find my drawing was a bit rusty. These sessions have become a really nice social experience too and it was good to catch up with people and hear what they've been up to.

Blind drawing

Continuous line drawing

Blind, non dominant hand drawing

I've written many times about how the model and their personality affects each session; it's not just in the poses they chose, it's the presence they have in the room as well. Our model for this session has been modelling for my groups for several years but recently has lost a lot of weight. It was really interesting how this has changed the way she models and the way session with her felt. As always she gave us lots of challenging poses, she is an excellent model and always pushes me out of my comfort zone but it felt quite different to her previous style.

Continuous line drawing

Blind drawing

Looking at details

I really struggle with foreshortening so I was both pleased and disappointed when our model gave us a really tough pose, I didn't quite get it right this time but each time I tackle it I learn something new that I can take forward to the next time.

Continuous line drawing

Continuous line drawing

Blind drawing

I've been experimenting with encasing my drawings in wax in my studio and as I was drawing during the session I was thinking about how some of my life drawings might work treated in this way. I think it could be quite effective and is something I will possibly have a go at in the near future. In the mean time I need to get back to my daily drawing so that I'm ready for the next session!

Life Drawing: A catch up

Pen, June 2018

I've been a bit behind in my blogging recently as there's been lots going on. I've been particularly lax about blogging about my Life Drawing sessions so I thought I'd do a quick catch up post for the last few months. I really enjoy my Life Drawing sessions and I've built up a great group of artists and models. Before each session I almost always feel tired and fed up and wonder why I do it but by the end of the session I always feel re-energised and glad that I keep it going. I really enjoy catching up with everyone and sharing news and I know I'd really miss them if I stopped the sessions.

Blind drawing, June 2018

Experimenting with adding shading, June 2018

There's always a good atmosphere at the sessions but I find it interesting how much it changes depending on the group, sometimes relaxed and sometimes more energetic. The June session was really busy, we had to squeeze in a bit but everyone was very good humoured about it. There were also a couple of new faces and a couple of people who'd only been to one or two sessions before so it felt quite new and fresh, it felt like quite an energetic session.

Continuous line, May 2018

Continuous line, May 2018

The model also has a big effect on the atmosphere and each model brings something different to the session. I love drawing different people and I find it fascinating how my drawings change depending on who I'm drawing, I find I want to draw each model a little differently depending on their personality and the poses they choose as well as how they look.

Blind drawing, May 2018

Blind drawing, April 2018

Over the past couple of years I've been working on drawing faces as it used to be my weakest area. The only way to get better at something is to practise it and so I have and I'm finally at a point where I'm reasonably comfortable drawing faces and there's some drawings I'm even quite pleased with.

Pen, April 2018

Pen, April 2018

I've also been continuing with my 'blind' drawings (drawing without looking at the page) and these drawings are now an important part of my process. Working in this way is particularly useful for challenging poses as it helps me really observe and understand the pose so that I can then go on to create a better, more accurate drawing.

Pen, March 2018

Continuous line faces, March 2018

I'm not going to be running Life Drawing sessions during July and August because the Prism Arts studios are going to be very busy and full of puppet making activities for Carlisle's Puppet Pageant Parade (Saturday 1st September.) I'm hoping to restart the sessions in September but as we're in the process of moving house at the moment it might be October, depending on how smoothly it all goes! If you'd like updates about the sessions and to be informed when I have new dates you can sign up to my Life Drawing mailing list here.

Blind drawing, March 2018

Life Drawing (sort of) 12.12.17

Continuous line drawing

I've had a bit of a rough week so when Life Drawing came around it was somewhere near the bottom of the list of things I wanted to do (curl up and go to sleep being near the top!) However, as the organiser and person with access to the building I thought I probably ought to show up and I knew from experience that once I got there and got going I'd enjoy it.

Blind drawing

Blind drawing

Continuous line drawing

I was expecting it to be a quieter session than normal as several people had contacted me to let me know they couldn't make it, which I always expect at this time of year. Once I got to the venue and had got set up and a few people had arrived I realised we had a bit of a problem, due to unforeseen circumstances the model couldn't make it so I had a Life Drawing session but no model. After a quick debate with those who'd arrived we agreed that we might as well stay and draw. We took it in turns to sit (fully clothed) and be drawn by each other. 

Continuous line drawing

Continuous line drawing

Continuous line drawing

It ended up being quite an entertaining session and as it was different to the usual set up it was interesting and threw up some different challenges. One thing I found really interesting was that I was particularly drawn to people's faces. Usually when I'm Life Drawing I focus on the body, especially the hands and feet but it was interesting that when drawing a clothed model I was more interested in the faces. 

Continuous line drawing

Blind drawing

Continuous line drawing

I'm not good at sitting still at the best of times so for me it was really hard to hold still when it was my turn to pose. I also found it very weird everyone looking at me, I'm used to being in front of people and talking and demonstrating but just sitting and people watching me I found quite uncomfortable. I'm glad I had my sketchbook and could do a bit of sketching too as I modelled! I've always been impressed with my models ability to hold poses and their professionalism but I think this session gave all of us an extra level of appreciation for them. I'm looking forward to January's session when things will be back to more or less normal!

Layers of sketches

Life Drawing: 14.11.17

Sketchy Faces

After a few months off it was really good to get back to Life Drawing. I haven't been running the sessions since June for various reasons too boring to explain and I didn't realise how much I'd missed them. For the first couple of months it was nice to not have to rush around getting everything organised and ready and after that I mostly forgot about it. However, being back I realised how much I missed the challenge and also how nice it was to see all my regular artists.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Blind drawing

Continuous line

I've been keeping up with my daily drawing pretty well recently, I've only missed a couple of days in the past few weeks but even so I felt really out of practice at this session. I'm always telling people how good for their drawing Life Drawing is and it really is different to other types of drawing. I think it's a lot to do with the fact that your drawing a real live human rather than an object, which is obviously a very different relationship.

Left handed drawing

Continuous line

Blind drawings

I wanted to try something a little bit different this evening so I took a roll of paper to work on. My idea was that it would last me the whole session and I could just unroll a fresh section as I needed it. That plan didn't work out quite as I'd anticipated, I'd filled the roll within about twenty minutes but I did really enjoy working, quite literally, on a roll and I like the way the drawings from different poses flow into one another. I think my problem is that however much paper is in front of me I feel the need to fill it, bigger paper doesn't mean I can fit more drawings on it just means I draw bigger! However, I think I will try this again as it's quite satisfying rolling the paper along as you draw and the resulting narrative of the drawings I found very interesting.

I also did lots of blind drawings (drawing without looking at the paper) in this session, particularly for the poses I was struggling to capture. I find this a very fun and liberating way to work, the results can be quite comical but I have found that it helps me improve my proportion in my drawings as it really forces you to properly look at what you're drawing and observe how different sections relate to one another. I often find that if I'm struggling a couple of quick blind drawings will usually help me see where I'm going wrong.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

I'm now looking forward to the next session in December!

Life Drawing 25.4.17

Continuous line

The weeks whizz buy with alarming alacrity and here we are again at Life Drawing time! It was a much smaller group than last month and as always I found it interesting how the number of people and the character of people affects the atmosphere. This session had quite a calm, relaxed feel about it, with everyone quietly absorbed in their drawings.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Before we began the session one of the topics of conversation was about drawing with your left hand (if you're right handed) and whether doing this allows you to connect on a spiritual level; we know that drawing with your non dominant hand requires different neural pathways to be accessed but is there a deeper (or higher) connection too? There was much scepticism but it was an interesting point and lead me down other avenues of thought. I often think that one of the advantages a drawing always has over a photograph is the very obvious physical human input, now of course that doesn't have to mean there is 'soul' in it but often that word comes up when describing drawings, particularly of people.

Continuous line

Continuous line, left hand

Continuous line, left hand

As I was drawing I was pondering this spiritual link and whether I believed it or not and I was reminded of an online article I read fairly recently (I can't remember where) in which the author was explaining how a particular portrait embodied the fears and worries of the time it was produced in. In the comments section below there was quite a vitriolic discussion between those who agreed with the author and those who, to put it mildly, thought that a picture is a picture and to ascribe these other meanings was pretentious art speak. I should add that it was, certainly at first glance, a fairly standard portrait.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

I was reminded of this article particularly as I'd just done a rather shaky, uncertain drawing which was a bit unusual as normally my drawings of this sessions model tend to be quite bold and strong. The way I feel definitely impacts how I draw and I wondered whether the drawing was a reflection of something bigger than just my personal feelings as I din't feel particularly stressed or unhappy during the session. There is no doubt that we live in uncertain times and I began thinking about whether that was coming through in my drawing. Of course, it could just be that I was tired and so less sure in my drawing but I really do think that when you draw you put a bit of your inner self onto the page. You may not choose to call it soul but I do believe that a drawing, or any other piece of art, tells you not only about its subject but about its maker and consequently their life and times.

Hand studies

Blind drawing