Giant Puppets!

Two Giant Puppets

December is upon us and my schedule returns to normal madness rather than total madness, which is quite a relief to myself and my nearest and dearest. I can now also perhaps find a little time to post about some of the things I've been doing recently. 

Giant's evil side

Giant's good side

One of the projects I've been working on has involved making three giant puppets to go down to Chester for their Winter Watch parade. Following on from the Pageant in Carlisle over the summer Impecunious, an artists collective of which I am  a part, made a bid to the City Council to fund a project to make some puppets to go down to Chester. The aim of the project was to work with some of the participants from the summer project to help build their skills and confidence and to keep the momentum from the summer project going.

Polar Bear

We based our puppets on a local folk story about the Carle of Carlisle; a fearsome giant that Sir Gawain of Arthurian legend lifts out of enchantment. We chose to make a giant, a bear and a boar. As the project developed so did the characters of the puppets. For example, the bear became an icy polar bear. The puppets are made by first creating a willow frame which is then covered with latex and tissue paper. The puppets are then painted and costumed. 

Boar (made by Ali McCaw)

Boar

One of the participants suggested that the giant should have two faces, a good side and a bad side as in the story he at first appears quite evil but once the enchantment is lifted turns out to be quite a good character. We ran with this idea making a giant that can face each way. Costuming the giant was quite a challenge because of the size and the fact that he needed two fronts but I think overall we were quite successful.

We showcased the puppets at The EDS North Hub Christmas Fayre at the Old Fire Station in Carlisle on Saturday and the puppets head down to Chester for the parade on Thursday. Let's hope the weather is fine for them!

Life Drawing 17.10.13

Continuous line, pen

We had a new model for this session and it was really interesting to see how how models approach poses very differently. We had some great poses and it was a nice challenge to have someone unfamiliar to draw.

5 minute pose

5 minute pose, several drawings on one sheet

Hands and a foot!

I was really pleased with my drawing tonight. Unusually I took a lot more time than usual on the longer poses (just doing one drawing rather than several) and although there is always room for improvement I'm pleased with some of the results.

15 minute pose, pen

30 minute pose, water-soluble graphite

I also went back to my water-soluble graphite this week and am pleased with the way the drawing has come out. It was an interesting pose with the legs turned in which made for some funny angles but a good challenge.

Continuous line

Hand study

Foreshortening

I really enjoy running these sessions but it is sometimes a difficult balancing act. From a drawing point of view it is great to have new models, giving us a different challenge and stopping us relying on what we know and focusing instead on really looking. On the other hand, the 'familiar' models have all been great models, been reliable and helped get the group started so I don't want them to feel they've been 'dumped' in favour of, literally, a new model. I'm hoping that next year I will be able to offer sessions to everyone and no-one will feel left out!

Life Drawing Winter 2013

The last few life drawing sessions for this year! I can't believe how quickly it's all come around. As ever, feel free to come and join us and get in touch if you have any questions.

Life Drawing 3.10.13

Drawing with loops

I've talked before about how mood affects my drawing and vice versa and this session was a good example. At the start of the session I was quite stressed and uptight because a few things had gone wrong beforehand (well, not so much gone wrong as not gone right!) but by the end of the session I was feeling relaxed and more energised. This was also reflected in my drawings, I found it hard to focus at first but soon began to relax and enjoy my drawing.

Drawing with loops

Drawing with loops

Martin, as ever, gave us some excellent poses. He used an umbrella for the first warm up poses which was great, it was a bit 'Singing in the Rain' which was very appropriate given the weather. It also led to a conversation about themes and the idea of doing themed sessions, I think it could be an interesting one to explore. Funnily enough it also came up in an email conversation with another model so I think there must be something in it!

Paring things down

'Blind' drawing

I was experimenting a bit with my pen drawings this evening, trying out drawing in loops and then in contrast paring the lines right down to try and capture the essence of the pose. The results were mixed but like all experiments some useful and interesting bits came out.

Pencil loops and lines

Pen

Pen loops

The next set of sessions takes us up to Christmas so if you feel like a bit of relaxing drawing in the madness that is the festive run-up come and join us. All the details are below but feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Life Drawing in Carlisle

Life Drawing 5.9.13

I drew a lot of feet... This one is done in water-soluble graphite

I was in a particularly good mood for this session as it was just before I set off on holiday. Because I was feeling quite relaxed I just got on with my drawings, doing a lot of continuous line and not really worrying too much about how they turned out.

Long pose. Water-soluble graphite

Water-soluble graphite stick dipped in water

Pen, multiple studies

Pen, continuous line

Using 2 pens at once

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Continuous line

Life Drawing 22.8.13

Water-soluble graphite

Another busy few weeks and no time to keep my blog up to date! Since the pageant I've done some melty plastic workshops, life drawing, mint fest and a few other bits and bobs. But I will start with the last life drawing session.

Continuous line, pen

It was a very enjoyable session and as always our model gave us some excellent poses, I always enjoy drawing this model as I love the rhythmic curves her poses create. I especially enjoyed the longer poses this session and was pleased with my drawings. I worked with the water-soluble graphite both in washes and using the graphite stick dipped in water to get strong, dark lines.

30 minutes, water-soluble graphite

'Random Fall' Continuous line drawing, pen

Continuous line, pen

I did a lot of line drawings again as well as quite a lot of 'blind' drawing (drawing without looking at the page.) I very much enjoy the freedom of drawing in this way; because you are not looking at the page you don't expect your drawing to look good so you stop worrying about it and just draw. As a consequence the drawing actually does tend to be quite good because there is no pressure and no worries and you very much draw what you see. I also find that the more I do it the better it gets, the communication between the eyes and the hands becomes very quick, almost bypassing the conscious mind. It is quite an instinctive process and very relaxing.

'Blind' drawings, hands and feet

Semi-blind drawing

'Blind' drawing

Parade Madness!

Griffin head-this was my 'pet' project and I was ably assisted by several of the participants in the project

This week has been my annual week of crazy also known as the Impecunious summer project. This year our project was the Carlisle Parade which kicked off Carlisle's pageant week.

During the week I ran several banner making workshops

I asked people to draw something or somewhere they loved in Carlisle

These designs were then made into flags and banners

Laying out the banner of Carlisle loves

The finished banner

Banner made from work done at this years Culture Bazaar

We have been working in partnership with Chester Watch (who run fabulous parades in Chester) and the city council. We've been making giant puppets, banners and all sorts of other bits and pieces. It's been a week of late nights, willow weaving, sewing, painting and all round creativity with loads of people coming down to the Old Fire Station and getting involved. It's been great!

Our work space at the Old Firestation

Willow frame for the griffin head

Skinned with tissue paper and latex

Foam eyes and fabric feathers

More feathers

Faye transformed into a griffin!

Feathered wings

Furry lion legs

This article from the Cumberland News was written just before the project started and this one has some pictures from halfway through the week. We were on the radio and we even made it onto the news!

Puppets in our viking long boat

Turning Mark into Carlisle character Jimmy Dyer the fiddler