Peering through the Panes
My week began in the Churchyard of Old St Pancras with tutor Kathryn Maple, and after a brief walk around to get our bearings, our first task was to complete a series of thumbnail drawings no bigger than the size of a stamp. The scale of a stamp was apparently something I couldn’t see myself doing, so I actually started a bit larger drafting out 3 compositions quite quickly. As Kathryn came around, she pushed me to try the scale of a stamp and well .. it just clicked.
Thumbnail studies
The fantastic thing about working so small is you don’t have to get bogged down by all the detail you’re usually looking to capture. As I completed one thumbnail drawing after the next, I felt like it really was an approach I could use continuously to quickly generate ideas and test compositions. Later on in the day, we moved onto completing some larger drawings, and we were also given some advice regarding navigating the space around us:
The paths around you can be used as tools to direct vision.
Lines don’t always have to be fully realised, leaving lighter or random marks is also part of drawing.
Think about the physical movement of your hand and arm. Don’t get trapped into holding yourself in one position, think about how you move and change the angle of your arm and what that does to a drawing.
I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t taken away by the Churchyard all too much; the heavy construction machinery roaming around took away what is probably usually a peaceful space. One thing I certainly took away though was the thumbnail approach, and if you keep reading you’ll see how I use it again later on in the week.
A Girl at the Window
"What one can see out in the sunlight is always less interesting than what goes on behind a windowpane." - Charles Baudelaire
As an artist who is deeply interested in portals, doors, entrances and pathways to alternative existences, the first class of “Enduring Images” had me generating imagery I have become increasingly excited about. Earlier on in the day we did a series of rather short drawings lasting no longer than 20 minutes. A pile of printed drawings sat beside me so I could reference the brilliance of Joaqin Sorolla, Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse and Edward Hopper as I worked.
As the afternoon came around, I was ready to use colour for the first time this year and began painting small gouache pieces as the amount of time we had to draw was extended.
“Windows have always interested me, because they’re a passageway between the interior and the exterior.” - Henri Matisse
I think one of the things that is difficult to balance sometimes is not allowing yourself to slip into too much comfort in class and just do what you’re good at vs. challenging yourself and trying something new to push your practice further. The classes that I really, really enjoy always make me question my work and force me to wonder if I’m too comfortable.
As I mentioned already, the thumbnail approach earlier in the week inspired me to quickly capture a scene in the class as everyone sat during a presentation. This new way of capturing an image so quickly is something I haven’t done before, so I’m excited to see how many unexpected moments I can document as the year goes on.
Exactitude is not the Truth
(yes another Matisse quote, thank you to Ann Dowker for the heads up)
My week concluded at The British Museum, and we all set out to draw from a large selection of Greek pottery, many of which depicted different Greek myths featuring well-known characters and monsters. As I started off a bit slow, my drawings were described with a meditative, flat “mmmmmmmm”, meaning I needed more variation in my tone or mark-making to really get a sense of volume in my drawing.
“MMMMMMM” Drawing
Tone and mark-making wasn’t my only issue though. As the day went on I became stuck in a rather miniature world; sticking only to smaller sheets of paper that where only tiny figures could emerge. The drawings below actually belong to the same piece of paper, the one on the left started off at a scale far too small and then after taking Ann’s advice, the scaled up drawing on the right certainly worked better.
As my brain began to slowly dissolve and my eyes stopped looking, I found a monster to entertain me for the last hour and had one last duel with my paper and pencil in hand. At this point, I was really trying to contemplate on all the mistakes I had made throughout the day regarding scale, composition, and I hoped to make a bolder drawing that shouted a bit louder than the others.
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Come next week, I’ll have new locations to explore in Gardens and Greenhouses, approaching shadows in Enduring Imagery, and praying I won’t get lost in the next section in The British Museum.
See ya next time,
Tomas
