Life Drawing 21.3.17

Continuous line drawing

Life Drawing always seems to come around very quickly but this time it really did as it was only three weeks since the last session. It was a busy evening, I had 12 artists so a bit of a squeeze but enough room for everyone and a good atmosphere. I asked our model to pose in the centre of the room so we had more space to draw and this also meant a variety of different angles for each pose.

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Our model for the evening is a professional life model, he modelled for us quite a bit when I first started running the sessions but this was the first time he's been to our new(ish) venue. We had a range of excellent poses with lots of interest in them, such as twists and crossed limbs. Particularly with experienced models I rarely give much direction for poses as the model generally has much better ideas and certainly has a better idea of what they can hold for the allotted time.

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

Blind Drawing

I've had a really busy couple of weeks and haven't been doing as much drawing as I'd like so my focus for this evening was getting back into the 'drawing zone.' Almost all my drawing this evening were blind drawings, meaning that I didn't look at the page at all whilst drawing. I love this way of drawing as it forces you to really focus on what you're looking at and notice things that you may otherwise miss.

Multiple drawings on a page

Blind Drawing

Shading and notes

As regular readers know I like to try and change something or try something new each session I do so this time I was slowing down my line drawing. I generally draw very quickly, especially when doing blind drawings, but for this session I made a real effort to take more time and try and consider my lines more. I'm quite pleased with some of my slower drawings, especially my heads. This has been something I've been working to improve for a long time and although I still have a way to go I've definitely got better!

Continuous line drawings

Drawing over drawings

Continuous line drawings

Last time I did a more traditional pencil drawing with actual shading. I tried that again this evening but fairly quickly abandoned it as I realised that actually I don't really like shading, I like drawing with line and the challenge of creating form without using tone. It did, however, give me some ideas for teaching life drawing so next time I'm asked to teach a life drawing session I've got a few ideas up my sleeve...

Continuous line drawing

Feather Drawings...

In Circles, 2015

Over the past 18 months or so I've developed a bit of an obsession with drawing feathers. This is partly because I find them very pleasing to draw and partly because I am interested in their symbolism in relation to my art work.

Daily drawing

Daily drawing

Daily drawing

I find drawing feathers to be quite a Zen sort of thing to do, to capture the different shapes and textures of different feathers requires a certain degree of concentration but there is also a natural rhythm to the drawing process which allows the mind to wander a little. The sound and feel of the pen gliding over the paper is also very calming so all in all it's quite a meditative process.

White gel pen on black paper

White gel pen on tracing paper

Silver gel pen

One of the reasons I started drawing feathers is my interest in birds. It is often hard to draw birds 'in real life' as they don't stay still for very long but feathers can be collected and drawn later. The feather stands in for the bird but is also slightly uncanny (I have a long running interest in the uncanny) as it is no longer attached to the bird, prompting us to think about why it is no longer attached. Like hair there is something slightly unsettling about it when it is detached from the body.

Daily drawing

Daily drawing

In many cultures feathers are associated with the sky and transcendence. For example, the Celtic Druids wore feathered cloaks to invoke the power of the sky gods. They believed this would help them transcend the earthly realm and enter the celestial realm. Again the association with birds and therefore flying means that feathers can be seen as  representative of flight and escape or transcendence.

Feather Fan, 2014

Four Feathers, 2015

Study for Icarus, 2015

I started out just drawing feathers, I then started arranging the feathers and this is something I have been developing recently and is an area I intend to develop further. I have a few ideas and I suspect that as I start to explore these ideas new ones will come along and suggest themselves.

Life Drawing 18.8.15

Challenging angles and reflections

A very challenging session this time! Just as we all draw in different ways all the models have their own styles and bring something different to each session. This time our model, Jude, gave us some really interesting poses that really challenged us, it was hard work but good as I had to focus on what I was doing and concentrate on drawing what was there rather than what I thought was there.

Continuous line

Blind drawing

Continuous line

The poses were challenging because they featured unusual angles and perspectives. After doing Life Drawing for a while you build up an understanding and knowledge of the body and how it fits together. When the model throws in an unusual angle or twist this knowledge is challenged and so you have to use your observational skills rather than relying on previously gathered information.

Blind drawing

Blind Drawing

Continuous line

Continuous line

To add another challenge Jude had brought a mirror with her which was a great idea and added another layer of interest (confusion?) to our drawings. I really liked the use of the mirror; as well as giving us reflections to draw it also changed the lighting and created unexpected highlights as light was reflected back onto Jude's body. I'd be interested in doing more work with mirrors.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Reflections

Continuous line

Because the poses were quite challenging I spent quite a bit of time doing 'blind' drawings. This is where I don't look at the page as I'm drawing. I find it very helpful as it helps me to properly look and observe, as I am not looking at what I'm drawing on the page my focus is almost exclusively on observing which helps me better understand the pose so I can then go on to produce a more accurate drawing.

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Magpie Madness

Perching Magpie. Ink and paint. 2014

I've been really lucky this week and have had two almost full days in my studio. I've been able to get going on a couple of the projects buzzing around in my head and this has lead to a sense of creative satisfaction and a plethora of new ideas.

Colouring in

Building up colour

I have been continuing with my magpie obsession and spent Wednesday working on some big drawings to help me plan out my textile pieces and clarify my ideas and thoughts. I've also been keeping my daily drawing going which I think is really helping with keeping me working. I'd say focused and motivated but I think inspired to continue is probably more accurate.

Adding water

The first big drawing I worked on is pretty big (A1 and a bit) because I have serious scale issues, I just can't draw or make anything small. I try but however large the piece of paper I start with my drawings always fall of the end so I have to add some more paper to catch them.

Detail

Head detail

After roughly sketching out my magpie in pencil I used water soluble crayons to build up the colours of the plumage. The crayons are really chunky and very satisfying to work with and I felt a little bit like a child colouring in (which is an excellent feeling.) I then added water so the crayons became more like paint. I like the slight unpredictability of this part of the process. However carefully you layer and blend your colours you never know quite what's going to happen, the water flows as it pleases, sometimes taking much of your hard work with it.

Flying Magpie. Water soluble crayon, ink and oil pastels. 2014

Flying Magpie. Water soluble crayon, ink and oil pastels. 2014 

I also added a watery inky background and again the water flowed into my drawing, sometimes where I wanted it sometimes not so much. When the water had dried I added highlights to the plumage using iridescent oil pastels. They shimmer beautifully in the light but don't photograph well (or more likely my photography skills are lacking) so you'll have to take my word for it!

Standing Magpie. Inks on prepared paper. 2014

Standing Magpie detail

Standing Magpie detail

When I'd finished this large drawing I worked on a couple of smaller drawings. I was interested in trying to capture the shimmering, changing colours of the magpies plumage and the stark black and white contrast. I decided to have a play with inks, like using water there is an unpredictability which I like and I love the way the colours bleed and blend together creating beautiful patterns.

Detail of Perching Magpie

Detail of Perching Magpie

Detail of Perching Magpie

I had prepared some papers earlier in the day with washes of watercolour and I chose to work on these rather than on plain paper as I wanted all the contrast to be on the bird and not with the background. I had a few accidents with the ink along the way but a bit of paint and reworking and I ended up with two drawings I'm really pleased with.

Laying out fibres for nuno felting

Nuno felted piece drying out

Today I started working in textiles from my drawings. I had intended to use the big flying magpie as a starting point for a nuno felted piece but I was more drawn to the perching magpie so I went with that instead. Using chiffon as a base I laid out my magpie using dyed wool and silk fibres and then felted the piece. It is currently drying in my studio awaiting it's embroidery. I'll write a bit more about it in a future post as there are enough words here already!