Figure Drawing 1--the Gesture Drawing

I was going to add to the previous blog entry to expand upon "the gesture drawing" but instead I thought I would just give the topic its own space.

Our gesture drawings are timed.  We have a live model.  The teacher has a timer. 20 seconds or 30 seconds are about the length of the poses.  The model changes to a new position when the timer goes off.  I use vine charcoal on newsprint.  We do this for about a half hour, then we start doing longer poses.

Some of my drawings have the length of time, written on them, but they all should.  A gesture drawing is a loose capturing of the moment of the figure.  Details are omitted, as there is not the time.

No outline is allowed- one has to sort of scribble out a person onto the paper really fast.

I am not impressed with the ones directly below- too stiff

These are a little nicer- more movement is apparent. these are probably 30 seconds.

This might have been a ten second:

I like these below, but a little too outliney!

This one, in my estimation is a good one.

five minute--is below

Figure Drawing 1

In figure drawing we have a weekly assignment to draw a region of the body.  We also do gesture drawings observing from a live model. I have no photos of my gesture drawings- but will add later. Actually check the next blog.  I will share some of the latest work.

I was very fortunate to have a good angle for this pose! This one is not complete..we will work on it this week.

 This is a copy of a master- Michelangelo:

We were allowed to add a background.  I realized after that the mountain was placed wrong (the Matterhorn, so I "moved the mountain!"

My professor liked the background.  She thought that his lower legs and head are a little out of proportion.  So I got a 91 %..which is still good..probably will fix it.

She suggested darkened backgrounds--This is about the arm bones...

I really like this one!

Printmaking 1- the Monotype

With the wood block project, much effort was spent on getting the block right in order to produce many copies of it.  With the monotype, one only gets a single copy of the finished product.  It can be frustrating to spend a lot of time on an image painted on plexiglass only to have it come out sub-standard. One only gets one shot at a monotype!  I was experiencing such disappointment, so I changed my strategy.  The last time I went in to work, (Friday) I quickly painted up a bunch of botanical renderings. This first photo- I used up some paint--in an abstract expression of color:

These are the flower paintings- I was inspired by a wild flower handbook.

This is the Rieves paper soaking- It costs around 6 dollars for a big sheet.  The sheet of paper must be cut up on the paper cutter--and that is challenging in itself. When ones brain is focused on creativity, switching to the analytical- mathmatical side of the brain is not always that easy! The paper must soak a minimum of 15 minutes.  After it soaks it must be blotted to remove the excess water.

This is the above blue flower picture while I was creating it.  The Linseed oil thins the paint.  The white paint is a little thick at times.

Sorry that this is not the correct orientation--These girls are drawn from a reference photo.  My mother is in the center, as a child.  This print, has a border, which is accomplished by cutting a newsprint mat, which is placed around the image- prior to printing.

These below, are my first attempts.

We have the choice of oil paint or monotype ink.

The final submission for grading is between 5 and 25 prints.  The above chipmunk photo was taken by my former boyfriend and I took the photo of my grand-daughter.

Print Making 1- The woodblock experience

Printmaking starts at 11 on Tuesdays and Thursdays after Tai chi.  Tai Chi is extremely exhausting.  So when I get to printmaking, I am ready for a nap.  I am certainly not ready for frustration.  Our first project was the woodblock print.  We were instructed to find a picture of an elderly person and we drew from the reference photo.  Next the drawing was transferred to the block using winter green oil.  The step to follow was the carving of the image.  After that we did "working proofs".  We tweaked the image with our carving tools and proceeded to make "artist's proofs".

I chose an image of an elderly third world woman.  This photo is right before I started carving out her features- I had just removed the background.

This is my first artist proof- I thought I needed to fix and improve her.

The second run of prints on the fixed and improved image was not improved at all in actuality.  I applied the ink to thickly and she actually lost definition. Below the fixed and improved is on the left side of your screen.

This was the set of fixed and improved(not), just after printing.  

 Other people's work:

 This is where you scrape out some ink.  The clean- up is a lot of work..right here I am beginning to clean up.  When you role the tool in the ink it is supposed to make a certain squishy sticky sound.  You can tell by the sound if you have too much ink on it.  We cleaned everything with a soy-based oil cleaner.  We also rolled the roller on an old phone book.  The palette on the right is filled up with waste ink.

This is the press.  It is important not to leave the bed centered under the press part or it will make dents in the wood supports.  If there are dents in the wood supports it will cause the  print to not be even.  We worked with rice paper for this project. We also used newsprint over the top of the print during the printing part.

I said while I was working on her, "If I get an 80 on this I will be happy" .  Grades are not my main motivator, but....anyway- my professor gave me an 82.  I thought that was good, especially since the class average was in the seventies.  We submitted 5 final prints and two artist's proofs.  I ran a whole extra printing, which was unnecessary.

First Painting --the Monochromatic

Our first project in Painting I was the Monochromatic.  We bought a canvas for this project.  First one must understand that there are many steps to undergo in the process of creating a nice painting. (this narrative is choppy as I am tired!;-)    An imprimatura is an under painting.  The underpainting was drawn on in charcoal, and sealed with fixative.  Initially we chose a spot via lottery. Next we drew thumbnails to work out what view would create the best composition.   1.pencil sketch is first.  2. Charcoal rendition on to canvas.  3.  Then the monochromatic rendering goes over the charcoal imprimatura.

This is the monochromatic-one color tone, raw umber.  We were allowed to use white also.  In the pic below the imprimatura shows under the initial applications of value.  (we had to mix a palate of all shades of raw umber with white)

We applied a mixture of Raw Umber, paint thinner and Liquin to the canvas.  We wiped it with a rag to get the excess off. (this is after the charcoal sketch is fixed with fixative)  Next we put in dark outlines with the raw umber of the shapes.

Graphite pencil sketch below--initial effort at communicating the still life.

Charcoal on canvas below.

This is the working of the various values in the objects.

Below, it is nearly finished--

This is the studio!

Update on Ceramics- Pinch Pots!

On Friday at four pm the little ceramic projects came out of the kiln, at Finger lakes Community College.  I am an adult learner art student, embarking on an adventure in ceramics, in case you are new to my blog.

I was interested to learn that the kiln has to run at a very high temp--1600F or so for 24 hrs to change the chemical composition of the pots so that they are no longer "greenware".  I am unsure of the exact temperature, but fortunately the temperature can be monitored and the professor can control it via a computer.   There are different types of ceramic ware. There is earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, and all require a different temperature for firing.  We are working with stone ware.  My pine pot and the little bears came out of their second firing, post glazing.  I have yet to see how they came out.  But here is the prior to the second firing photo.  Tomorrow, on Sunday, I am going to go in to work on my coil projects and I intend to check on the pinch pots.


Pinch projects prior to glaze application: "bisque ware"

I applied a coat of blackish copper oxide on this also to darken it.

These are the glazes.

Update on pinch pots one year later!

The Arm--In Pastels

Every week we receive an assignment to draw a body part.  This week I handed in my drawing of an arm which I drew (painted) with pastels.  I flipped through my library book and found an arm.  The book is about Florentine art, Drawing in Early Renaissance Italy.  I rendered my drawing and then, when crediting the original artist- Vivarini from the 1480's, I read that he did his drawing from Model books, rather than from a living model.  If I had searched further, I would have made a better choice with Michelangelo's arm on another page of the same book.

 I found that pastels are fun and difficult.  I liked my limited pallet choice.  I had recalled that my daughter in law- advised creating shadow with a complimentary color..so I went with orangey yellow and a blue background and blue for value.  I also learned that what I created is actually a painting not a drawing, because I filled in the whole page.  I probably should have left a border and will for the next.  I drawing in pastels is considered a drawing when the pastels are used just for the subject.

Pastels are so difficult because they don't erase well.  The task of creating this image was not as terrifying as working with ink, but there were a few moments where I was unsure if I would be able to fix an area of color.  The shadow on the biceps was not curved correctly and at one point I moved his hand upwards.

 My instructor told me to make sure I covered the piece which I did with tracing paper.

I really do like the final outcome of pastels!  Much more interesting than graphite!