New Term, New Work

After a long (perhaps a bit too long) break, my first class back on The Drawing Year was "Drawing a Head". Our first session was lead by tutor Marcus Cornish, and he started off with a breakdown of the skull and how the structure of the bones has a dramatic effect on how the face sits. In particular, we focused on the orbital points (landmarks around the eye) and how we could spot them while observing someone.

My head drawing skills are pretty challenged, so it took me a while to really capture the different areas highlighted in the presentation:

Morning Drawing - Sitting for one another - Charcoal on Paper

The second half of the day had a slightly different focus and we were looking at how the weight of a line can suggest perspective. Heavier lines in the foreground help push lighter marks back, so as we drew we had to think what part of the subject was closer (therefore darker) and which part was further back (therefore lighter).

The drawing I did somewhat reflected this, but I felt that the perspective of the face was not necessarily dramatic enough to demonstrate the idea:

Drawing focusing on line weight, Charcoal on Paper

An Unfortunate Surprise at The National Gallery

My excitement to study from the mass of paintings at The National Gallery was cut a little bit short when we were told that pretty much half the gallery has been closed off (for God knows how long) for a rearrangement of the collection. Nevertheless, I began my day caught up in the detailed expressions of Joseph Wright’s “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump”:

Short Study of Joseph Wright - Pencil in Sketchbook

As my morning was spent caught up in small sections of larger paintings, in the afternoon I attempted to somewhat capture a full composition and spent the rest of the day studying a Rubens painting. Aside from being somewhat disappointed by appalling selfies and a woman who sat next to me taking pictures with a frog toy (???), I actually managed to focus on a larger drawing:

Study of Rubens "Judgement of Paris", Pencil on Paper

The Story Begins

My final class of the week was Drawing a Story led by tutor Mark Cazalet. This week we dove into the short stories of Anton Chekhov, beginning with “The Darling”. Mark emphasised that the class wasn’t about “illustrating the story”, but rather creating work based on your own personal response to the text. He gave a great quote from a name I didn’t write down:

“Books are mirrors. You only see in them what is already inside you.”

The morning began with a series of quick drawings that I found rather difficult due to the challenge of using both the model and my imagination to create an image that somehow reflected the text.

Short, incomplete drawings - Pencil on Paper

Due to the discomfort of the morning, I had to bring out my gouache in the afternoon and also pulled out several references including photos from old editions of National Geographic magazine and paintings by Mamma Andersson. Sadly due to an absolutely packed class, my view of the model in the afternoon was rather limited so I had to improvise a bit when it came to my painting:

Gouache in Moleskine Sketchbook

This piece was somewhat influenced by the opening quote of the lesson, but also by the protagonist of the story “Olga”; who seemed to mirror every lover she became entangled with throughout her life.

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See ya next week,
Tomas