Drawing studies - private study

Here I have been playing about with the images in some old photos of me and my father.  I want to use these images to create a series of pictures that peel back the layers that time and sophistication have built up to try to recreate the halcyon days of my childhood.

I have used this image to create an embroidered drawing

Using embroidery to create the drawing of a young girl is also questioning both her role in society and her femininity - embroidery being very much a feminine means of expression.

If I don't create something soon I shall burst

My studio practice for this semester is painting.  So far we have looked at the practical side of stretching paper and canvases but we still haven't set brush to canvas yet.  Our brief is Still/moving and I have used Fritz Lang's Metropolis and urban architecture as my starting point.  I have played around with ideas which I will post in due course but the point of this post is until I can get my stretchers I can't prepare any canvii (plural of canvas) and until I have a canvas I can't paint.  And if I can't creat I WILL BURST!!!!!!!

With that in mind I spent Tuesday morning on my own with a lot of cartridge paper, some PVA glue and a stick of complessed charcoal.  I started by taping 4 sheets of A1 size cartridge paper together and then had me some fun!!

Layering up torn cartridge paper to create rough contours of face

Adding charcoal definition

PVA and more paper.  Also use PVA to work the charcoal

The picture so far....

There is still a long way to go but at last I feel as though I am doing something not just thinking about doing something.

The Full-on Drawing Session - Part 2

 Further quick fire poses followed.  First using the hand you do not normally favour - for me this is my right hand.  It felt very hard not being in control of the charcoal which felt unfamillilar in my right hand.  But the picture was much better than I anticipated.  This says a lot about hand eye co-ordination and about how I at least think TOO much about the marks I am making being "correct".  In this exercise it was as much as I could do to just make the mark.  Perhaps I should use my right hand more often if only to help me improve on my proportions.

Next we drew the figure whilst not looking at the paper.  There is a solidity and a feeling of form to this drawing together with a simplicity of line that I really like.

Next up: not looking at the paper AND using the hand we do not normally use.  There is a soft, feminine feel to the line here with the shape almost foetal in form.

One short break and then back to it.  This time taking random words from the dictionary and drawing in that syle.  So model in the style of a CUBE:

Model in the style of MAD:

Model in the style of PIZZICATO



And finally model in the syle of FAVOURITE (I took this to mean my favourite style)



Finally student in the form of a small blob of grease on the floor. Two and a half hours of really intense work and concentration but a great deal of fun and I have learnt a lot about how I translate images onto paper. 

Drawing Studies the first 3 weeks

Oh Lord is about all I can say.  Drawing studies is fun, scary, hard work, challenging, exciting, intimidating and frustrating. Usually this is how I feel at some point during each session.  It is however a wonderful way to start the week and is something to look forward to over the weekend.

Week One - Warming Up

This was more of a limbering up and getting back into the way of drawing.  It shocked me just how poor my mark making and observational skills had become over the summer when I had done no art at all.

My first attempt after the summer:

The poor model really didn't deserve this attempt. 

Second attempt:

Using graphite and sanguine conte.  A better attempt but when I looked at others work I realise just what a mountain I have to climb.  It is very different from Craven where I became too comfortable that what I produced would pass muster.


Week 2 - Sight Size Drawing

OK so it sounds simple.  You look, measure and draw to exact scale using a ruler.  How hard can this be?  Answer: Bloody difficult!

The poor model is neither a hunchback nor a Neanderthal.  Basically I forgot to a) close one eye whilst measuring and also b) keep the same eye closed!!  What a pratt.  My only excuse was it was a Monday morning and I had only had about 4 hours sleep.

I was assured by my tutor that my second attempt would be much better.  Hmmm.  Sometimes you just have to prove the tutors wrong.

It is reminiscent of a Henry Moore sculpture and there is certainly a feeling of mass.  Sadly as a sight size drawing it is not a success.  This really dented my confidence especially as others appeared to understand and execute far more successful drawings.  If I can't master this simple technique how can I hope to improve my drawing and painting skills.  Feeling very despondent. 

I have  a very long way to go before I can come close to Euan Uglow:

Week 3 - Experimental

After last weeks debacle I wasn't looking forward to drawing studies.  But.....this was a very full on session just playing with media and styles.

Our first exercise involved very quick 2 - 3 minute sketch before turning our paper through 90 degrees and changing media.  So:

Doing this felt incredibly liberating and helped to dispel the gloom engendered in me from the week before.  I enjoyed this as it is somethingI have never done or considered before and yet I admire many layered and dimensional work by others. 

The second exercise was about mark making and drawing an emotion.  I chose to use charcoal as I like the range of marks and textures one can get.  The 6 emotions were: happy, sad, lonely, manic andgry and peaceful:

And separately:

Happy

Peaceful

Manic

Sad

Angry

Lonely

A great exercise and something I want to use again elsewhere in my work.

Like I said a full on session - there is still lots more to upload but that must wait for another posting window....

Still trying to sort out the Art/Life balance

There is a lot to add to the blog since my last post.  Everything seems to have taken off and it feels as though there is so much to do after a very slow start.  This has also meant re-evaluating how much time I can spend on art and art related activities.  As the degree must come first time for the blog will of necessity be rather patchy.  Still I know I will regret not keeping the blog up as I think it will be an important tool for me to chart and monitor highs and lows over the course of my degree.

Holy Island

I re-read my post from yesterday and having stopped cringing at how "up myself" I have become I thought I would also put some of the other indirectly art related things I have been doing on the blog as well.  Last Friday Chris, Jack and I went to Holy Island to get some pictures of "sticks".  Here are some of the results:

The first "stick" that we found on the causeway.  It was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard that trying to hold the camera still was rather a challenge.

A close up of the padlock on one of the boat sheds.  I love these upturned boats that are used for storing fishing paraphenalia.  They are all weathered and the colours and layers of metal and paint are endessly fascinating to me - I always feel there is a better picture to be taken or painted just around the corner. 

Here is the roof of one of these upturned boats.  The patches and layering reminded me of Anselm Kiefer and how his work is taken back and layered again and again.

A Mother and Child picture here.  Would love to work this up into a companion piece to go with Mrs Trogg and Baby that I based on the bargaining stones on the North York Moors (I must also get round to photographing the finished piece rather than this latest work in progress).

Mrs Trogg and Baby.  Part of last years Final Major Project at Craven College.

.

Here are the "sticks" that Jack and I went to photograph.  I have to say my pictures were pretty dismal.  By this time I was frozen and wet and the wind was still blowing very hard indeed.  Perhaps if I still had any feeling left in my fingers I might have been able to hold the camera and manipulate the controls a bit better.

I just love the delicacy of this seaweed as well as the colour contrast against the stone.

More sticks on the causeway.  Very "Land Art" It almost feels as though there should be mirrors fixed between the poles to reflect the sea back onto the landscape.

Just fell in love with them. 

Moved onto Bamburgh and the sea defences.  Couldn't resist snapping the dice.  Something to make you smile.