Life Drawing 26 November 2008

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I've been meaning to create some collaged paper to take to drawing and finally I managed to throw some things together yesterday. I used a good quality printmaking paper to have sturdy background, and used binder medium to apply old text (from my collection of 100+years old books acquired specifically to use in artworks), and papers from magazines and scrapbooking materials. On top of that I quickly brushed some acrylic paint with medium to thin it down. Because it was done in such a hurry there are wrinkles and lumps.

I did three drawings using some of these as a base, and it was an interesting exercise. I can see I have to take care about where dark pieces are placed. I had one interesting dark piece of paper that I don't want to obliterate, but to enhance the drawing I'll have to lift that area out with light media of some kind. I might work on with these pieces at home, using modelling paste and paints, pastels etc. The bases are sturdy enough for that. I used a stick of graphite which was good to work with but doesn't photograph well and tends to reflect light. It might be a better idea to begin with willow charcoal and then moved to a more solid media once the basic drawing is blocked in, willow would wipe of the surface quite easily if I wanted to make changes. I'm thinking 'aloud' here.

The other two drawings are on A2 cartridge paper, the warmup drawings and then one quick drawing blocked in roughly with soft pastel.

Life drawing 19 November 2008

All done on brown or buff paper in mostly compressed charcoal and pastel. I scribble over the paper first in colours then draw on top of that. Mostly I block in the form lightly with a short piece of compressed charcoal, using it on its side. I then begin to draw, aiming to get one line...to look, commit and draw.

The painted sketch is done in a new product I picked up yesterday...can't recall name (my materials are still out in the car)...its watercolour in a tube with a brush, you take the lid off, turn the collar to 'on' and paint/draw. The brush isn't the best (they're for children...) and if you squeeze the tube ink can run down the page - though that could be used to effect. It was interesting to try them out, but difficult to control, and a limited colour range of red, yellow, blue and green.

The scribbly sketch is five 1 minute poses drawn in Crayola Twistables on white cartridge paper. All drawings are on A2 size paper.

Life Drawing group

John Mulvay runs the life drawing class at Waihi College (in Waihi, New Zealand). He provides the easels for those who wish to use them, organises the models, makes sure the room is heated for the model to feel comfortable. He provides tutoring for those who require it, and leaves us alone if that's what we want. Also provided are diagrams of skeleton and sometimes interesting drawing books. There is a quote on my blog from a favourite book of his. Every week I look forward to this short uninterrupted period of concentrated drawing.

This is a link to a couple of photographs of the life drawing class in progress.

Life Drawing 12 November 2008

All done on buff paper. The centre picture is done in a red chalk pencil with some addition of pastel. The others are in compressed charcoal, conte and/or pastel. I used a very thick compressed charcoal stick which didn't allow for fine detail.

New Zealand election 2008

I voted on Saturday. Although record numbers registered, overall voter numbers were down...a lot. Why is that? I don't understand why people don't exercise this democratic right. Sophia Elise has written an interesting article about this...do take look.

Life Drawing 5 November 2008

Some of the drawings from this evening - on lightweight buff/brown paper with pastel and compressed charcoals. I roughly ran pastel over the paper before drawing to add some colour. The orange and black drawings were quick warmups.

The group gathered in a music room at a local college as our usual room wasn't available ... hence the guitars.