I have a selection of work sent from different references, so i'm going to start with the ones directly related to the visit to the Wellcome Collection on the 8th. Funnily enough, this is one of those places that I was going to book up, but it was closed for refurbishment for ages, and i was always slightly worried about crowds. I hope you found it a good spot!
GERALD first of all :- "They are all orthodox sketches i.e. I was looking at the subject as I drew, but I was trying to work quickly and minimise detailing to record what was important to me."
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| Gerald no. 1 |
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| Gerald no. 2 |
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| Gerald no. 3 |
I have just looked back at the last entry from you. I think you need to stop gathering information now, and see which of these drawing styles is best for giving you freedom the be creative when you work them up, counterbalanced with enough information to satisfy your drawing desires.
Last time, you kept the detailing to a minimum, with some really quite open tonal blocking - working a lot from memory. This time you've gone much more for the structural drawing. This is especially the case in no. 3, where the dynamic form of the subject is fully explored. Nos. 1 and 2 have areas of skilled observation (eg. skeleton - is it a bit abused in its anatomical order??). They are super drawings, but I can't say which form of information gathering will be most useful to you. I think that needs to be your challenge for the forthcoming month - explore that question.
Next came PAT K, who has also sent in some work from previously, so I will deal with that later. She says :-
"The building and displays were interesting historically and also from recent addiitions to the building and recent discoveries in medicine.
I found the two images I'm including very relevant to the present building-1stKurt Schwitters1922 collage. (image 2 below)-and 2nd image-Le-Corbusier& Pierre Jeanneret-villa Savoye
Poissy1928-31-Taken from a book I have on Modernism."(image 3 below)
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| Pat Drawings |
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| Pat image 2 |
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| Pat image 3 |
How very interesting, Pat. I am assuming that you've sent these two images through because you like them? Although one is a 2-D creation, and the other is a photo of something 3-D, they both have one thing in common, and that's their boldness and clarity of form. There is no indecision, no fudging, no suggestion. It is all very clear where one shape or space stops, and the next starts. They are both very, very tonal - no colour, really in the 2nd, and an overal colour tint in the first. It's the clarity of boundaries and decision-making which is so interesting with respect to you and your work!
So - your work......... Drawing top left (1) HAS that clarity. I can see what you were getting at, and it is a very powerful image. It is also rich in mysterious spaces and pleasing shapes. Bottom left (3) - ditto, but you may feel the image is a bit shallow in its possibilities. Bottom right (4) is very bold in colour, which is again different for you. I can see that you were really trying to be brave and push on to something else. The one that is a bit more muddled, maybe, is top right (2). I can see what it was, and you have tried to define your spaces, but it doesn't have the fascinating possibilities that no. 1 offers - places where the imagination can go.
And I think that's the key. Rather than fudging the actual definition in the drawing/painting, make your decisions clear, but let those resulting forms do the work of taking the imagination on a magical mystery tour! Very difficult, but your two illustrations do it, and your drawing no.1 does it.
STEPHANIE managed to get to the Wellcome Museum, saying :- As you will gather I’ve signed up for a painting course, all day on Tuesday at the Art Academy — it’s intended to try and help you find your ‘voice’. We will see. I’ve recently been in Scotland, and made a number of landscape sketches, including some with some floppy watercolour. I want to use them as the basis of the work I start in October on the course, but will bring them in December. Difficult to capture on the iphone, and I need more time to work on them.
I had a tense day on Tuesday, due to a lot of other stuff going on, so relaxed (or tried to!) by looking at the Sexologist Exhibition that was currently showing. I had had in mind trying to do a really detailed drawing, so decided to copy the only etching that Van Gogh had ever done — of his doctor, Gachet. It was a fascinating exercise, trying to render his strokes on the page. As you can see by the comparison I only got part way through — and now, looking at them side by side, I see how much more work there is to do.
The other thing that intrigued me was a big, fat ugly sculpture called ‘I can’t help the way I feel..’ v poignant. Done quickly, partly blind with a square bit of graphite.
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| Stephanie drawing from sculpture |
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| Stepanie Drawing from Van Gogh etching |
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| Van Gogh etching |
I want to start with you rendering of the sculpture. I REALLY like it. That's what comes of working intuitively - you FEEL the form. The varied marks you've made with the side and point of the charcoal are very powerful, and I can really feel the fatness coming through from your drawing. Whatever comes from your new course, make sure you stick to partial blind drawing - it works so well for you, and stops you from becoming too stilted and self-conscious.
Then, your copy of the Van Gogh. Again, you've got that lovely line, so I'm guessing these were made partly 'blind' too? That hand is so very difficult, but you've managed to get it really well, and it helps to not think 'hand' while doing it. It's just a set of shapes.
As you say, his mark-making and description of form and volume through these marks, and space behind etc. is remarkable. Making it colourful without using colour!
I will be most interested to know how you get on with your course. Enjoy.
ELIZABETH did not go on Tuesday, but said :- "I did not go today but they are a selection from what I have done over the last week. Some of the drawings concentrating on windows and some on some people worshipping. They kindly let me draw them."
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| Elizabeth no.1 'High Praises Ministry' |
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| Elizabeth no.2 'High Praises Ministry' |
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| Elizabeth no.3 'High Praises Ministry' |
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| Elizabeth no.4 'Figure in Window' |
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| Elizabeth no.5 'Figures by Window' |
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| Elizabeth no.6 'Orangery' |
This is definitely the right plan - just follow a couple of simple themes and see what you get out of them. Just think of all the past greats who have just done that - Morandi and his bottles being just one.
The studies of the worshippers are very tender and beautifully executed, especially the first two. I love the way you can transpose a drawing from +ve to -ve.
I find the window pieces quite magical. You have played with the sense of transience and transparency with the figures. Are they reflected, or seen through? Are the even solid themselves (esp. no. 5)? And then the way that you deal with the windows themselves - lots of little panes, each with it's own bit of handling.
I can't really add to this, except to say that you just need to keep exploring these two themes, pushing a bit more each time, and just see where they get you. Familiarity will give you the foundation from which you can experiment. Well done, you!
Lastly, I also have some other images from PAT K., worked up from last time. She says " The aim was to simplify the image-subject.? And to add more colour-to aim to extend my usual palette"
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| Pat no. 1 |
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| Pat no. 2 |
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| Pat no. 3 |
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| Pat no. 4 |
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| Pat no. 5 |
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| Pat no. 6 |
These were sent in before you had your very brave day at the Wellcome. I can see, already, that there is a desire to be more positive in your decisions-making about areas/colours/ tones etc.
Straight away, i will say that I like no. 5 especially, because the colour of the trees has been reduced, leaving them as an interesting TONAL area, and allowing the orange to come through against them. No. 3 also has a very nice rhythm of the blocks against the sinuous shapes of the trees. That leads me on to no. 4 - here the shape/colour of the trees doesn't add anything to the picture. In no. 3 they make a lovely couter-rhythm. In no. 4, they sit there (!) less effectively. No. 6 has got a bit indecisive - especially visible against all the others.
Just be careful not to make all you little square shapes the same size and weight. Look back at the Schwitters earlier - all on a theme, but with plenty of variety and movement too.
Anyone else to send in? Penny? Jane ? Pat W.?
Please do, if you have anything to share.
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