Life class #7

In a break from my normal life class, a friend asked me to go with her to the Saturday morning session which is run by a different tutor and has different models. There is also a mix of very short poses and up to 45 minute ones, as opposed to the 5 to 15 ones my weekday class has.

Two short poses. It really was a challenge to go straight in to this and get the basics down without getting distracted by the detail.

Although the proportions are out in this crouched pose I like the flow of the shapes described by the limbs. The tutor in this class is very keen on promoting stylistic variation and experimentation, rather than the core concepts, so it was quite liberating to be able to run with some of my ideas and recieve suggestions as to where I could go with them.

I tried to just capture the minimum of line and tone in this pose. I did not have enough padding on the board so there are pentimenti on the figure.

The arm is a little short but it was interesting to draw the profile of an older model's torso.

This stylistic study came about almost by accident. The facial features remind me of a figure on a Greek vase...

The hardest part of this was drawing the facial features upside down. So much for "Drawing on the right side of the Brain"...

The head is too small for the body but the overall effect has a monolithic quality, like Henry Moore's figures where the heads are deliberately smaller

These line studies and the two below were all done during the 45 minute pose, which was far too long for the way I work. I loved the angle I had, but found I preferred to work diffent media on the same pose rather than change position. I also had the opportunity to do a detailed study of the foot with the side-on view of the toes.

This graphite version is my personal favourite of all my life work to date.

The black conte shadows happened as a last minute idea, but do anchor the body to the surface.

Life class #6

I like this curled up pose, however so little could be seen of the upper foot that it was difficult to capture, and the result looks more like a small foot as I made the span of the toes too narrow.

Although far from perfect, I think this is successful if only that I didn't make the face look Neanderthal in proportion (unlike other efforts with faces)

I can't decide if the hips are too wide or the shoulders too narrow on this one- my focus was on getting the curve and twist of the spine. The crown of the head should have curved a little higher too.

I'm quite pleased with this one although the foot perched on the stool got away from me, and the lower leg is a little short.

This short pose caught me out as I got carried away with the bunched leg muscles and failed to complete an overall study.

This was a challenging pose with the foreshortening leaning towards me. The legs are okay but the proportions of the upper arms and torso are out and that Cave-woman thing happened with the face thrust forwards...

Life class #5

A quick pose (2 minutes from memory). The relative positions of the shoulders are a little off, and the foreground hand possibly a tad too small.

A fairly successful attempt although I had to take two attempts at the line of the body so the shoulder should be further out also.

I like the solidity of this study. The most difficult part was the foreshortening of the model's lower legs where they were tucked in towards her.

A rather more successful standing pose than most.

I caught the twist of the body but the far shoulder now appears a little higher than it should be

The hands are better not commented on but the overall proportions are correct

Another quick pose which lacks mass on the near leg.

I made the error of compressing the head to fit on the page, thus it is too small. Consequently I did not have time to include any background or what the model is leaning against.

A prone pose in charcoal. I particularly like the shadow falling across the lower leg where the other  lifts over it.

A less than successful attempt at a sitting pose with that ridiculously small chair!

Life class #4

One of my more successful efforts. I like the simplicity of the line and I got the proportions mostly right. I would have liked to include the line of the buttocks but had my board the wrong way round in order to see over it!

An attempt at a more tonal approach. Again, I'm relatively pleased with this.

I attempted to model the form with the side of a piece of charcoal. The paper I used was very thin so there are marks showing through from the drawing board surface.

The visible arm is too short, lacks mass, and appears to be resting in mid-air. the head is on the small side too.

The tilt of the face is a little off but overall I think I caught the pose.

I seem to have the most problem with standing poses, although as I usually work from a sitting position I should probably stand at an easel and attempt these.

Prone poses are what I enjoy most. It is rather more like looking at the shape of a landscape and I find them easier to arrange on the page. The arm lacks mass, however, and the lack of definition on the feet still gives the impression they are too small.

A New Series of drawing/paintings

I seem to have been away from both blog and coursework for an eternity- but have tapped into a completely logical yet strange source of inspiration. This started when I bought a book on contemporary drawing- not listed in the course reading list- which I found by chance in an art shop in Truro as I was struggling with one of the research units (still not written it up). The second catalyst was when a friend asked me to erect their horocope- I've practised astrology for 30+ years but have slowed down over the last few years until now.

While I was drawing the chart- which is akin to constructing a mandala- a meditative experience- I started to think about all the stuff I'd read recently about contemporary drawing, and what it could relate to. And I thought- if I take the aspect net (the pattern made by angles between planets in a chart) and superimpose it on an abstract painting made personal by what I know about the person involved- what would happen?

I realise I'm talking a lot esoteric, a bit abstract and a bit scientific here, and possibly surreal as well. Bear with me...

Anyway, I did a painting for my friend and superimposed the aspect net on it, using different weight lines to differentiate the strenght of the aspect influences. And d'you know- it worked. The differing line widths had my trial onlookers peering closer to unravel the full picture. And you do have the feeling of having to look closer to discover- of having to get to the bottom of the matter. I personally feel like that when confronted with one of Naum Gabo's Constructionist works- which is why I currently think that this falls under Constructivism, using pre-determined data sets to produce an outcome.

So I was on a roll now, I got a load of other birth data together and ran with it. Sometimes I used metallic lines, sometimes significant colour choices. (Either of which don't aways photograph particularly well) In addition, I used data from specific times and places to generate patterns of events which were significant in my life. then: as I am currently going through a bit of upheaval personally, I generated data for what was going on in the here and now. Some of this got mutated by my descision to utilise comparative data where an artificial set of "midpoints" (akin to an average) is produced and a completely different aspect net shows up.

At this point it seeems right to say that I love where this idea is going. I am using symbolic systems which I have worked with for many years to produce coherent visual images, and can deal with issues of self-discovery, redemption and healing, all of which have eluded me in my former essays into the abstract. I feel as though I have finally tapped into something which is true to my "voice", and the ideas keep flowing. Having produced 10 works and 2 working drawings in 10 days I am exhausted, but my compulsion to continue is there.

Whether I can find a gallery to represent me remains to be seen, but I have had some useful pointers tonight from contemporary West Cornwall artists having shared a little of what I am currently embedded in. The current art market is difficult and with potential customers tightening their belts, the niche market needs to be more carefully sought. Presentation is also key and tonight I tapped up contacts on any ideas on good framers who understand the needs of the artist and- more importantly- the gallery. (P.S. got two solid ones- never forget to chat to the peeps in a drop-in class...)

However the hour is late and I'm going to leave you now, I will have the Spiral Dance series online asap at http://www.awmcguire.webs.com/ in it's own gallery i.e. "Spiral Dance".

Thanks to anyone who read this to the end...
Liz x

Struggles with figures: Life drawing part 3

Having spent all day locked in the studio trying to catch up on some still life work and with rain and gales rattling the windows, I almost talked myself out of going to life class this week, but eventually reminded myself that at the very least I was going to fill a sketchbook (at the rate I'm now working on larger sheets, that may take some time).

I found it very difficult to settle this time, and my first couple of attempts definitely lacked a certain anything.

My first attempt took several attempts to get the mass of the right leg vaguely accurate, and I couldn't get to grips with the overall proportions. I also found the model's long hair really interrupted the lines of the neck and shoulders and made it far more difficult to get these correct.

The second attempt was a little better although I haven't really got the sense of her sitting on the block- she appears to be levitating slightly. I decided to change to larger paper for the next pose.

This was a lot better although I still fell into my usual trap of not getting the feet placed correctly. On the plus side, I managed not to fall off the page while fitting the model to the picture plane.

I was rather relieved to make a good fist of this fourth pose, although I now see as I write that the half hidden leg suggests a rather fatter shape than it should be. By this time I had also realised that the model's bone structure was showing clearly and that I should capitalise on this to describe the form of the body.

Everthing went downhill again with this one, though, while there are several parts which look pretty good they are all too disjointed or out of proportion to add up to a whole.

This second standing pose was also off, and I concentrated on getting the twist of the torso right.

The reclining pose which followed was one I should have liked to have a longer time for. I opted to work in white conte and charcoal to emphasise the tonal shapes on the foreshortened torso. I felt it was coming together quite well when I ran out of time!

I came similarly unstuck on the next pose, where I found it very difficult to get the bunched muscles in the bent knee, and spent too long trying to rectify this that the rest of the drawing suffered from inattention.

Consequently the hips are too wide, the arms too thin, the head misshapen- I could go on but I'm sure the reader can see the faults for themselves!

Finally, I rather liked this study of her back, but wished I had managed to fit it on the page as it is a really good pose which could be worked up into a painting.

Overall it was a rather frustrating night, although I was not the only one struggling to get into the flow. I felt that I could have got much more from it had I not been bogged down by trying to get the overall picture- and as a result I think I will concentrate on particular sections of the body next week if I find something particularly appealing or interesting, rather than always trying to draw the entire pose.

Life- but not as we know it... Life Drawing part 2

Having just recovered from a nasty bout of flu it was touch and go whether I was going to make life class this week, but I dragged my wooly head down there eventually. Still planning on using my sketchbook primarily, this week I chose to use a "sketching horse"- a plank bench with a support to hold the working surface up in front of you. (Note to self- next time take a cushion; they are not kind to buttocks!)

Our model this week was of a completely different build to the last, being more curvaceous, less muscled, and shorter in height, and it was interesting to apply the rules of proportion I'd (briefly) swotted up on.

Having got caught out as we started abruptly I seized what I thought was a sanguine pencil for the first study, only to find it was an Inktense red crayon, which although the point wore down quite quickly I thought in the end worked quite well. If anything the head is a little small though.

For the second pose I opted to use graphite- it turned out I hadn't brought a sanguine pencil- I didn't have too much problem with the outline but struggled to place the shadow along the spine correctly, something I was already attempting to rectify when the tutor pointed it out.

The third pose, standing, I remembered to draw a light guide for the divisions so my effort didn't have short legs. I had to keep looking at the compressed forearm muscles on the right arm, but as far as drawing what I saw, I couldn't see that I had made an error although they appear oversized in the drawing. I spent so long trying to fix this that I only briefly placed the head at the very end. I also made my usual error of not lenghtening the foreground leg enough although I was pleased that I had remembered to check the line of balance through the vertical.

On the fourth pose I changed to conte stick. This time there were no comments as my tutor passed by, so I guess I was on the right lines, although I'm not sure if I had drawn in the right foot at that point- I feel the foreshortening is a bit off. The face was a bit rushed too, but caught the angle of the tilted head.

We now had a reclining pose, and faced at first with the model's back view I had to think how best to start. I underestimated the lenght horizontally but did remember to let the leg go off the edge of the page instead of trying to fit it into the available space- I'm trying for accuracy at the moment: Picasso-esque distortions can come later! I used contour lines to build up some shading and model form, and overall was rather pleased with the end result.

We broke for a cuppa, during which I decided to have a go on some large sheets with charcoal, so I set myself up with a board and sugar paper ready for the off. Still perched on the "horse" I didn't really have room to support the larger board in portrait mode, so made the decision to crop and draw the upper torso only. I tried to use a more tonal approach once I had established the main shapes, so as to model the form although the electric lighting does make it difficult at night to see shadow as there are several overhead light sources. I've not been in this studio during the day to see the effect of the big north lights in the roof.

I stayed with charcoal for the next study, trying to use only tone, but added some white conte on the highlights to define the upper edges. The head turned out too small, and I rather misplaced the position of the chair back as it pushed into her back higher up from where I have drawn it. And yes, it was that small; the model did make a joking complaint about it when she got up.

Steve suddenly decided to spring a five minute pose on us so I quickly changed back to sketchbook and graphite and focussed on getting the lines down as accurately as possible. I found myself almost drawing without looking at the page, as I had all my concentration on the model and felt rather than saw the marks I was making. The further leg had a larger space visible underneath but I feel it is quite a successful drawing.

For the final pose that evening, I chose to use white conte and the red crayon I had used initially- I'm not entirely sure where this idea came from and I questioned my wisdom about five minutes in, when it was rather late to change. However in the final analysis it didn't turn out too badly; I felt I had caught the line of the back which had first leapt out at me, although once again the head is on the small side, and the near hand is not entirely correct.

It was useful to have done some pieces on a larger scale this week, while I remind myself that I need a good selelction in the sketchbook to submit later on, large paper is far more user friendly when making the big gestural marks that charcoal begs for. Once again I enjoyed the class and had the opportunity to speak to other people, and the highest praise was offered by the model herself who thought I had done some good drawings (we were in the foyer where I was spraying fixative) and said I should stick with it. So... more next week I guess...