I finally got back to my life class last night and did 16 drawings during the two hours on newsprint with charcoal. The poses are the usual warm up 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute then up to 10 and finally 20. I'm beginning to get a little frustrated with the shortness of the poses, as I feel I'm just getting the form down to a reasonable degree and the pose changes again.
I think at the next class I'll concentrate on a tighter view and see if I can develop it more in one of the 2o minute poses. I have been asked to tutor the next two weeks classes as the regular tutor won't be available. Its a mix of interest and frustration to do this. Its always interesting to guide others as they develop their work, but frustrating not to be able to draw at the same time.
Here are a few of the sketches that I did last night of the male model that we had. He's highly energetic in the initial poses, and some make me wonder how he'll ever get up out of them again. He does settle down in the last half of the class and is usually sitting by then which lets me breath again!
I have life class tonight after it being cancelled the last two weeks, so I'm anxious to get back into again. So lunchtime I was loosening up a little with a sketch of this painting. I love the pose, but don't know if I can convince the model to hold it for 30 minutes to do it justice.
My week has been pretty busy and I haven't had much time to do any significant drawing. I'm feeling the withdrawal of it. Saturday is my day to rush around and do errands, clean, cook and by the time I've done that I usually collapse on the sofa by late afternoon and fall asleep. Then Sunday is teaching again. It may be time to cut back a bit.
I've made some starts on portraits, both animal and human, but they haven't amounted to anything that I'd want to show the world. I have so many ideas spinning around in my head, at times just nothing comes out.
I love the shades of blues in this photo of a pond that's along my walk route. Its usually quiet there with just some wild ducks appearing to take up occupancy. Until the ice leaves the pond, the silence is interrupted by snowmobilers. Living in the country, most people think its a quiet, idyllic life, but at times, its quite the opposite, when either snowmobiles or ATVs race up the trail to the woods and ponds beyond the house in the wee hours of the morning.
I always have a desire to draw faces, either animals or people. I think its been something that I've gravitated towards since beginning to draw as a child. There have always been people in my art. This is probably why I find it so difficult to branch out into landscape, floral, etc., etc. I prefer my comfort zone.
Explaining how to maintain proportion in drawing the human head is repetitive for beginners and they don't usually 'get it' right away. I teach that by letting students measure on themselves and others physically to find out where the relevant points are in relationship to each other. Once students are able to make the connection between measurement and getting proportion right, they often make great progress. Its partially understanding the principle of anatomy and part switching over to the right side of the brain. It also takes a lot of practice and time, another stumbling block for learners who want a perfect drawing and want it right now without much pain involved getting there!
Not all drawings need to be long and complex to obtain the spirit and likeness of an individual. A sketch, like the one here took about 30 minutes and provides an accurate records of that moment in time, the lighting, the clothing, the expression that all go together to create the character of this man. Sketches are great warm ups to a more structured drawing. I just transfer the main lines to my new paper, enlarging or reducing if I need to then I'm ready for a longer session to achieve the detail and realism that I want in a drawing.
Elephant study graphite, Canson sketchbook copyright Jeanette Jobson
Style is what makes an artist's work recognizable as their own. Its like a signature, identifying at a glance that the work belongs to a specific person.
Style does take time to develop and in my case comes with several identifiers. I've looked at my art and see some aspects that make my stamp on my work.
1. I prefer dry media, either graphite, coloured pencil or pen and ink (ok not quite dry but close) 2. My method of drawing follows traditional lines - a master line drawing, then shading or colour 3. Many of my drawings have a delicate touch to them. I don't go for large, bold drawings, I prefer precise lines and softer colours. 4. Subject matter. Many of my drawings involve portraiture of animals or people. I do stray into other subject matter, but always come back to the living.
Do these all add up to an identifiable style or are they my comfort zone? Or does my comfort zone lead me into my style of drawing? It probably is both and I'm sure my style changes from time to time as I experiment with other mediums and supports. Developing style is a lifelong learning experience.
Every artist who evolves a style does so from illusive elements that inhabit his or her visual storehouse. (Mary Carroll Nelson)
Xhosa child graphite sketch 8 x 10 copyright Jeanette Jobson
I've explored this question before and the answers, while many, come back to the same things.
I draw because I like to intimately explore objects and recreate them in detail.
I draw because I have an instinctive need to do so. It becomes as automatic as breathing. There is no pressure externally to make me draw, but there is something internally, unspoken, unseen that urges me to make marks on paper or canvas.
I draw because it takes me away from the mundane world and lets me escape into the end of my pencil where nothing exists except the scritch scritch sound of graphite going onto paper. I am always surprised when I snap out of that meditative state and realize that time has passed.
I draw because I feel a connection to the past and need to keep the craft alive. From the time man scored marks on cave walls to the digital images of today, there is still that need to continue what our ancestors started.
Why do you draw?
Have you closely examined the process and what the pleasures and challenges are for you?
Silverpoint 9 x 10 on Canal paper copyright Jeanette Jobson
I spent yesterday practicing silverpoint. I prepared some fairly sturdy Canal paper using white acrylic paint, not wanting to go all the way to town just for gesso. It rippled a little and I should have used watercolour paper, but this was an experiment after all.
I had been out in the morning and taking a lot of photos locally, using the contrasts of sun, shadows and snow. I've had my eye on this gate for months. Its the entrance to Ryan's meadow where hay is made each summer. The fence is handmade as are most in rural Newfoundland, strung with wire farm fencing between the posts and a simple bar gate.
My silver was sterling silver wire, 22 gage which I inserted about an inch and a half piece into a .5mm mechanical pencil. Then I just started drawing. It is a time consuming exercise and I learned a couple of things in this.
I don't believe that I coated the paper well enough. In my impatience to get going on this, I only used one layer of acrylic paint. I believe, according to my research, that I can get deeper values if my gesso ground is a thicker layer, sanded between coats. You need a bit of tooth to your paper to enable a minute layer of silver to be left on the surfac.e. Next time, I will be using gessoed board or watercolour paper with at least three layers of gesso, lightly sanded.
Layers are built up very slowly and nothing can be erased. Silverpoint is like using pen and ink. It is precise and makes you plan and think where you will place your next stroke, however you can disguise small errors by added more layers.
Depth of tone is limited to about 10% - 40% that of graphite pencil drawings. This has advantages and disadvantages. I personally, like the subtle values, as most of my work is done with a light hand. You can create depth in your drawing, but it will demand time and patience and many, many layers. White highlights can be added or small touches of graphite to emphasize an area.
The silver wire that I used was half hard and most wire used for silverpoint is deadsoft, annealed wire. So I will be ordering some of that or simply a stylus and point online. A couple of inches of wire will create hundreds of drawings as it won't wear down quickly as graphite does.
I will have to wait to see how long it will take for the drawing to tarnish and turn that lovely sepia colour that it should. Environmental conditions, depending on where you live, will accelerate or delay the development of this change in colour which is caused by oxidization. Apparently California is the best place to live if you want quicker changes to the colour. All those environmental pollutants seem good for something it seems!
Taking an image or scan of silverpoint is a challenge as the tones are pale. Its a fine line of adjustment to get the true picture. The image here is taken with a digital camera but the values are a bit too dark compared to the original.
I'd love to see others experiments with silverpoint. I know that I will be doing more soon and may try an animal or portrait. I believe its a learning process and it does feel good to walk in the footsteps of the Masters.
The sun rays were definitely hitting the pine clad hills today and I set out to take some photographs of the land in the grip of February.
Each morning I drive past this lake on my way to work. There is a tiny 'island' in the middle, more like a rock jutting out and in the rock grows a very hardy little evergreen tree. An enterprising soul has swum or rowed to the island and placed the Newfoundland flag there. (click on the photo to enlarge it)
The old flag of Newfoundland was the Union Flag. It was adopted in 1931 and used until the suspension of responsible government in 1934. It was readopted as the official provincial flag in 1952, and used until 1980. The Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to this day does not recognize the new Newfoundland flag as the flag of Newfoundland. It contends that during both world wars, Newfoundland soldiers fought under the Union Flag of the dominion. The legion displays the Union Flag at all of its official functions.
Leonardo da Vinci Study of Arms and Hands c. 1474 Silverpoint heightened with white on pink prepared paper 214 x 150 mm, Windsor, Windsor Castle
I'm in a bit of a slump right now in terms of drawing. I have things I fiddle with, but nothing is coming out as I want and my want isn't really there. I know everyone goes through periods like this and I know it will pass. I feel as if I should be creating new pieces or finishing others, but its just not there right now.I'm tackling some other creative things for a day or two til the drawing hand revives.
I bought some sterling silver wire for some of the jewellery that I make and I want to experiment with silverpoint drawing, one of the oldest drawing media, predating the graphite pencil. Silverpoint drawing is done with a sharpened silver wire on a gessoed support. Because silver reacts, the silver-gray drawing then tarnishes to a darker reddish brown. I need to create a treated surface to draw on, either gesso, or if I can't find that, then gouache or perhaps at a pinch, latex on a firm paper. I'll test it using some of this silver wire in a mechanical pencil holder. There are specific silverpoint supplies that can be purchased, but I won't invest money until I know that I like it or it performs as I want it to.
Here are some links to silverpoint for those interesting in trying their hand.
My other creative alternative is knitting, which I haven't done for a long time,, even though I have cupboards of a storage room stuffed with balls of yarn or all types. I agreed to teach a few beginners to knit in March, and need to reacquaint myself with the movement and feel of yarn and needles. I have been a knitter since grade school, just likely less enthusiastic in those school days when we had to knit squares for blankets for less developed countries.
I moved into a stage of constant knitting for many years, only to have it lapse when drawing took over most of my time. I began a Master Knitter course in the late 1990s, however part way through it seemed that the endless squares were more like tension swatches than a verification of my skills, so I didn't complete it. The concept was to provide, in several phases (3 or 4 I believe) of increasing difficulty, proof of your skills through a variety of squares of work that eventually could be sewn together to make a bedspread sized blanket. I have about half the course completed and still sitting in that storage room cupboard, waiting. I guess I should sew the squares already made into something instead of letting them languish.
I also believe that acrylic yarns should be abolished. Yes, I know they serve a purpose in this wash and dry society, but the feel of real wool, alpaca, cashmere or soft cotton or linen can make or break your interest in a knitting project. And, if I'm going to invest time and money in creating a knitted piece, then it needs to be unique, both in pattern and materials.
For those interested and not close enough for me to show them the techniques, try a couple of these links to get your started on a new art form.
I liked the shapes of this elegant bird and wanted to try it in colour. However I'm not very happy with the initial stages. I'm hoping its just in its ugly stage and will pass by soon.
I thought I'd try the drafting film again and soon remembered just how few layers you can achieve on this surface. However, it is deliciously smooth and buttery to draw on. I'm using Derwent Coloursoft pencils and haven't tried them on the film til now. Perhaps I'm just out of practice on this support, but I don't like the initial efforts. This may be one of those to add to the 'mistakes' drawer.
The background start is not good and the colours in the feathers is far to candy pink. Yes, I think this one will be trashed and another started. I know I can erase on drafting film, but have found it just doesn't have quite the same smooth surface after erasing, so I avoid it when possible. Sometimes its useful to just look at things on the computer screen and reality appears more clearly than when it is in front of you.
Skull Study I Graphite 8 x 10 Canson sketch pad copyright Jeanette Jobson
I was a little taken aback recently by hearing a person who was drawing a figure say that they didn't know where the ribs were on the body. This was echoed by another couple of people around the room and I was inwardly gasping in amazement. I guess I figure that everyone who sets out to draw the human form in whatever format, from full figure to portrait, knows at least some basic anatomy. I guess I was wrong.
Anatomy was absorbed by me early on in my art life through studying the figure, attending life classes and having bone structure and muscle explained to me in sculpture classes. Then I got into anatomy in full detail when I trained as a chartered herbalist. For the best part of a year, I studied and memorized parts of the human body, how they performed, how they broke down. Muscles, bones and organs became a way of life in a depth I never would have imagined and I found it fascinating. Yeah, I was the geek who fell asleep with the heavy copy of Gray's Anatomy (no, not the television series) on my nose. Now Gray's Anatomy is also available online, even though I have to say that I prefer a real book in my hands, especially one so full of detail and description.
So to hear people who were drawing the figure say they weren't at least vaguely familiar with what I would call school grade anatomy was surprising to me. This put me on a quest to remedy that, at least for my drawing class participants. I want to find a skeleton or at the very least, a skull for them to draw. There are lots of images and I have anatomy books full of bones, but its not the same as the real thing. But its not as easy or as economical as you would imagine to come up with some bones on this island or even in Canada for that matter.
I've browsed all over the place and found a few suppliers where prices range from the thousands for real human skulls or skeletons, down to very reasonable prices for realistic looking copies, suitable for educational use. Just finding the right price and one who will ship to Canada on my terms is the challenge.
So if anyone has a skeleton in their closet, and want to find a home for it, let me know. It will be put to good artistic use.
Meanwhile, there are a number of artist anatomy sites online that are great for reference material and learning resources.
I've never drawn birds much - hardly at all in fact, but I find myself drawing them off and on for the last couple of weeks. Not detailed images but contour drawings, in the hopes that one will inspire me sufficiently to continue one with it.
I loved the shape of this flamingo, all curves and smooth lines. This may be 'the one'. This is a sketch is put together at lunch time on computer paper and a horrible office pencil. Note to self:Put a decent mechanical pencil in your bag!
Most waterfowl have long graceful necks - and usually nasty dispositions. Perhaps its all the sifting around in the bottom of the lake that does it. However, as I've never been in really close proximity to a flamingo, except in a nature park, I can't really comment on what their personalities are like. They are beautifully shaped and coloured birds and I hope to capture this one on paper.
The medium will likely be coloured pencil and perhaps drafting film. I haven't used film a lot, but it really is lovely to work with and I want to give my new hellishlyexpensiveduty/brokeragefeedtodeath Derwent Coloursofts a good trial run. They are beautifully soft and go on very smoothly. Note to Canadians: Never use FedEx for delivery from the USA to Canada if at all possible. They are no quicker at getting items across the border and their 'brokerage fee' is outrageous. It negated any savings I was anticipating in buying my full set of Derwents from Blicks. Plus duty on top,which I don't mind paying. A fee to put something in a truck and warehouse it, yes I do object. $13 in duty and taxes, $28 in brokerage fees. Hmph. I paid almost as much in fees as I paid for the entire order. Life on an island. Some days...
“When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when the tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity. The distinction between crime and justice is no greater.”
George Bernard Shaw
This lovely animal was in the news not too long ago involving tragic death at a zoo in San Francisco. The tiger was being a tiger. The humans being humans. Neither had a pretty outcome and both completely unnecessary.
I have views about the concept of zoos. While they do allow intimate views of animals that would never ordinarily be observed, they also house animals in a confined, often hostile environment, especially large animals, such a tigers who have much larger territories than a penned enclosure. Mental and physical problems arise in the animals and they often react, both as a wild animals should and as stressed wild animals should. However, humans always conclude this behaviour as out of character for the animal.
Radio Man Charcoal on newsprint copyright Jeanette Jobson
I saw the reference for this sketch in the Weekend Drawing Event at WetCanvas and the 1950's feel of it appealed.
I'm a radio fan. Not music stations which, in most cases, irritate me. At least the 'popular' ones. The radio I listen to has more voices, conversations, questions, news and interviews than music. When music reaches across the airwaves, it is related to the person being interviewed or connected somehow to the situation. It isn't strident and doesn't disrupt my world.
However, it isn't what my clock radio is set to wake me with. That is one of the 'popular' stations which is loud and annoying and guaranteed to get me out of bed just to shut it off!
I continue my radio world late into the night as television holds no interest for me, except for a couple of programs a week. Late night enters a new realm with radio. There international interviews and interesting forays into others lives transport me and make me think. Without radio, I would never have known about the artist models strike in Italy the other day, along with an interview with an Italian art model. What did they do when they went on strike? What else? They kept their clothes on.
The naughty, wonderful Rose of Rose's Art Lines has tagged me to reveal 5 more strange and wonderful things about myself. Not one to be a party pooper, I decided to dig deep and find the requisite five uncommon things that few know about me.
1. When I was a small child, in the fall and winter, I used to find mice in the old house we lived in. I would catch them and put them in my little metal school lunch tin (those people of a 'certain age' will remember those) and feed them birdseed and bread crusts. They were my 'pets'. Til my mother found out. I still have a fondness for the little creatures, I just don't want them over-running my house. There's enough in the barn.
2. I have had 2.5 children. I lost a baby at 20 weeks of pregnancy and he/she would be 26 now if all had gone as planned.
3. As a teenager I was horse mad and used to muck out stables and exercise the wilder horses to earn the privilege of riding the horse of my choice. My favourite horse, Ted, an ex racer, had badly injured his leg and he was going to be put down. I begged and pleaded them not too, promising to care for him til the stable finally relented. Every day I would walk to the stable and take Ted to a pond, standing with him in the cool water, to take down the swelling in his leg. After about 3 or 4 months of this, his leg improved enough for him to be ridden again. He couldn't run as fast as previously but he could still move pretty fast.
4. I owned an MGB GT in the UK and before I sold the car, I first sold the license plate for 450 pounds to a collector in Sussex through an agency in London. The plate number was AAA 660 which I guess had some significance to the buyer. I was just happy to have the money!
5. I adore cheese, most any kind. If left to my own devices, I would probably live on cheese and crackers or toast forever.
I know most of my blogging friends have been overtagged, but I would like to invite a few of my newer blogging friends to participate and share a little about themselves in 5 facts and pass on the idea to more of their friends. If anyone doesn't want to participate, that's fine too.
Cindy Haase of Color On! has done some amazing work with rocks. Jan Gibson - Pets to Posies I have known from another art forum and she also introduced me to colourfix paper. She does beautiful animal portraits. Gina Cuff - Dogberry Hill Studio is another Newfoundland artist who does amazing work in art and jewellery. Terry Banderas - Terry's Ink and Watercolour. Terry creates beautiful, strong pieces full of colour and light.
To be naked is to be deprived of our clothes, and the word implies some of the embarrassment most of us feel in that condition. The word 'nude,' on the other hand, carries, in educated usage, no uncomfortable overtone. The vague image it projects into the mind is not of a huddled and defenseless body, but of a balanced, prosperous, and confident body: the body re-formed.
- Kenneth Clark, The Nude: A Study in Ideal Form
My marathon life class was last night and we had a very energetic model. I always find it a little amusing how male models nearly always use poles and ropes in creating poses to show movement, while female models, for the most part tend to adopt more natural poses. I found an interesting article Reviewing the Nude, Art Journal, Spring, 1999 by Leslie Bostrom, Marlene Malik that examines the role of models. As usual, we started off with one minute poses....I'm beginning to hate those. Well not, not beginning. I've always hated one minute poses. It takes me more time to detach my paper from the easel than it does to do the one minute sketch. While they are useful as warm ups, too many one, two or three minute poses become tedious to me and I want to get on with the 'meat' of the class - longer poses. In this class we don't have anything longer than 20 minutes. Perhaps it was my mood or the huge chunk of compressed charcoal I was encouraged to draw with, but I struggled with these sketches and didn't do any of them much justice I'm afraid.
I've been reviewing the process of how I draw in my head and believe that I am well stuck in a detail rut where I love precise, small scale drawings full of control and realism. In twenty minutes I can only begin to scratch the surface in terms of my comfort level in getting down realistic lines and shapes. Shading is a whole different story in a short time frame. I'm just starting to develop the shapes and BAM, the time is gone. I'm usually the one whining 'awwww geeeeezzz!' when the instructor says the pose is finished.
That gap of 20 plus years since life class is showing me that the re-learning curve is steeper than I thought it would be.
Today is my grand daughter's first birthday. It doesn't seem a year since the world changed and brought her into my life. From the tiny newborn that I visited in Calgary in February to the now crawling, nearly walking girl she's become, it makes me realize how quickly time goes by and how swiftly children grow and change.
The sketch I did above when she was less than a month old to the image below of her shows the changes so clearly. I will try a portrait of her as soon as I can to capture her first year and preserve it for the future. Yes, it can be done in photographs, but for my own selfish reasons, I like to explore every curve of her face and sear it into my memory as only a drawing can do.
I can't be with them for celebrations, but I'm there in my heart.
Oil Study - Self Portrait copyright Jeanette Jobson
Living in Newfoundland has its benefits and drawbacks. One of the drawbacks seems to be the lack of readily available information on sources of art supplies, art clubs, and general visual art network information.
To try to bridge that gap I have created a Squidoo lens on Art Resources for Newfoundland and Labrador. Its a work in progress and will be expanded as I find information and add to what was currently available to me.
There are so many elements to art, from the concept and creation, down to marketing and selling and it often draws a blank in this province as people just don't know where to turn or how to access information.
I did a very loose - and muddy - study for a self portrait in oils to get a feel for it. Some parts are ok, there is a lot of room for improvement and I know better now the palette I need to use to achieve the skin tones for this dark lighting. I'll start the portrait itself as soon as I can get some time to myself. I've got a 16 x 20 piece of gallery canvas that was on sale and is just the right size for a portrait. Oils are still something that I'm re-learning. There are some happy accidents and a lot of unhappy ones in the process.
This sketch was done early this morning and sort of summed up both sides of my stress today, even at that early hour. An impending blizzard, a ton of work ahead, early morning calls to make to cancel appointments, all washed down with coffee to kick start the day.
Add a red stress ball in the shape of a heart and a bottle of Maalox and you've got my day in a nutshell.
However, the process of putting this little still life down on paper becomes stress relief in its own right. Studies have proven that drawing is therapeutic and a stress reliever. Sketching or drawing makes you concentrate on something else and you can become involved enough in it to reach 'the zone' or an almost meditative state. Just having art as an interest ensures that you spend time on it or thinking of it, letting your mind drift away from other problems.
So despite the blizzard making me shut down the office at lunchtime, I took work home and got a lot done, and now will start drawing....my relaxation therapy.
I finally got back to my life class last night and did 16 drawings during the two hours on newsprint with charcoal. The poses are the usual warm up 1 minute, 2 minute, 3 minute then up to 10 and finally 20. I'm beginning to get a little frustrated with the shortness of the poses, as I feel I'm just getting the form down to a reasonable degree and the pose changes again.
