Part 4 Project 3 Ex 3 Stance

Stance

Last week was my last one at my Life Group.  I'm going on holiday then having planned surgery so I'll be out of it for a while.  This leaves me with work to do but no life model.

I've managed to find someone who will pose a few times but somewhat reluctantly.  She is an older lady who is unused to modelling and I hope our relationship stands the test. Proportionally she has an average length body but quite short legs.

Each sketch took 3 or four minutes.

Stance 1

Standing with one leg forward.  The red line indicates the central axis.

Stance 2

The model put her weight on a Masai stick and was leaning forward a little.  This accounts for the pretty awful foreshortening in the first sketch.

Stance 3

The Masai stick again but a more dynamic pose. Note the arm, my model changed position from the first to the second pose.

This time the centres didn't seem to match up properly.  The right leg on the second sketch went wrong and I had so many lines I didn't know where I was.  Hence the purple correction.

Stance 4

I got in a mess with the left leg in the second sketch and had to re-position it.

These were quick sketches and I'm reasonably happy with them.  The proportions are sometimes not so hot  but I still panic a bit when I've to work at speed.   I enjoyed working with my fountain pen once I got used to it and I like making the gestural shapes.  They seem to work well when speed is of the essence.

I'm not quite sure if these drawings fit into this section but I did them today at the Art Society.  I'm pretty sure the first ones do.

Getting form with a fineliner
(from photo)

Getting form with a fineliner
(from photo)

I did these three across an A3 page hence the repeat of the figure with her back to us.  I was trying to get all three figures to be the same scale.  I did but they all lost their feet.  I started at the tummy button and built the figure from there using just loops and squiggles.  In spite of this approach the figures seem to have substance.

I also did a couple of pencil sketches again using photos.

Degas and the figure

Degas (1834-1917) was trained at a time when drawing the nude was pivotal in art education and he painted and drew figures clothed and nude, throughout his long artistic career.  He began by drawing scenes with numerous figures as though to get in lots of practise.

Young Spartan Girls Challenging boys - Degas (1869-62) (1)

The figures we are so familiar with were meticulously observed and sketched time and time again and over his lifetime Degas developed his style into something very personal and innovative (1).

Degas spent time painting and drawing prostitutes and depicted their harsh working lives.  Many of these were not found until after his death.  In The Serious Client, Degas seems to be getting some amusement from the situation he is drawing.  It is almost cartoon like with unabashed girls and half a man.

The Serious Client - Degas (1876-77)  (2)

Later Degas moved on to paint and draw many pictures of women at their toilette, brushing their hair, bathing and towelling themselves dry. They are based on more classical ideas than his brothel drawings. I find them very intimate and sensitive.  

After the Bath - Degas (1891-2) (3)

The above drawing is a lesson to me in how not to overwork a drawing.  The marks here are spare but still there is movement in the towel as the woman dries herself.  Her hair looks wet as it hangs in a clump.  Degas gives no clue about the woman's surroundings.

Dancer Adjusting Her Shoe - Degas (1873) (4)

Degas planned his paintings by doing drawings and marking a grid so he could be accurate when he transferred the image.  I particularly like the Dancer Adjusting Her Shoe as it is from such an unusual angle.  There are many such preparatory images of dancers.

Towards the end of his life Degas began to draw in a more experimental way using charcoal in a vigorous and fluid way.

Femme se coiffant - Degas (1894) (5)

These figures are a million  miles away from the Spartan Girls.

I learn a lot from just looking at these wonderful drawings.  For instance in the last image the foreshortening of the right arm, the large hand and the small face are object lessons for a beginner. 

For the future there are Degas portraits to look at - what a treat.



(1) http://www.musee-orsay.fr/

(2)  http://www.artesmagazine.com/2011/12/museum-of-fine-arts-boston-with-comprehensive-exhibit-of-edgar-degas-nudes/

(3) http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/clark/degas

(4)  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/29.100.941

(5) http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/edgar-degas-femme-se-coiffant-5532397-details.aspx

Part 4 Project 3 Ex 1 Basic shapes

Basic shapes

My course notes say I have an hour (with breaks) to concentrate on the axis of the body and basic shapes.  I should be drawing several poses from the hour sitting but I'm struggling to get that again in the group setting. I have several drawings that I think might fit the criteria for this exercise but they are different poses and probably longer than suggested.

1. The model sat on her left hand thank goodness and the pose was upright.  As I drew with my soft pastels I tried to use them to show warm and cool areas and define shape.  The head is better than usual but I had some problems with the right shoulder.

1. Sto seated - soft pastel - 30 minutes

2.  Sto lying on cushions - soft pastels lots of blending.  Cropped by the scanner..

2. I loved doing this it seemed to work from the word go.  The colours have helped me to get shapes.  I drew it in 20 minutes

3. Charcoal - I just like this

I'm well aware that I've strayed from the text a bit here but I hope that I've been able to demonstrate what the course requires.  I feel that I have to work with what I've been able to manage in my particular circumstances.  All of my work is using a life model and I'm reluctant to use photos.

Part 4 Project 3 Ex 2 Basic shapes

Basic shapes

I have an hour to do 6 drawings.  I am restricted because I am working in a group setting so instead of using six different poses I'm going to have to change my position every 10 minutes during an hour long pose.  The model is sitting on a box with weight on her hands and this gives her a very upright position.

I tried to scan but my images were too big so I went back to photos.

1. My first drawing was very much a line drawing.  I find that I need a warm up drawing to get myself going.

The head is disproportionately large (1a) but my scanned image (1b) with the head cropped looked much better.

1a. My warm up drawing - awful head

1b

2. A bit more weight this time

2. This time Sto looks as though she has some weight on her hands; I have managed to get some tension into the arms.  The shoulder line works and she is sitting upright.  A great improvement on 1.

3. The right shoulder was hard but the left leg worked well

3.  I think this is the best of my drawings because it has some depth and it is in proportion.  The breasts need sorting out but with a few more minutes that would have happened.

4. Poor proportions

 4. These proportions are awry and the model seems to be leaning backwards.  The line of the left torso/leg is OK and if she had a seat the model might even appear to be seated.

5a. Here I was looking up at the model from the floor

5.  This time (5a) I tried to draw looking up at Sto and it wasn't at all successful - she looks as though she's standing leaning against the box.  I'm not sure how I could remedy this.  Having said that I like the torso if I do a crop.

5b

I find that everything in this fast drawing discipline is fleeting and there's little time to put things right.  Heads let me down very much - it doesn't bode well for portraiture.  There's a large element of two steps forward and one back I'm afraid.  I find it hard to be consistent.

I only managed 5 drawings.  I'm not sure whether I overshot on my 10 minutes or whether time was called early.

Part 4 Project 2 Ex 2 A longer study

A longer study

I've had to wait for my Friday Figure Drawing Group before I could do this hour long pose.  I was supposed to concentrate on proportion and check my work constantly.  The problem I find is that I get too carried away and forget to check as I should.  The pose was a challenge because of the foreshortening of the legs and the twist of the torso but I think they turned out OK.  I had some trouble getting the position of the head right and I have to work on hands before I can draw them competently.

Pencil study of Sto - a little short of an hour

Sto was very relaxed during this pose and I think I have captured that.  In the end I found that it was very important to get the head/arms/hands right. They are the most crucial part of the drawing to capture the relaxation of the pose.

The body generally looks fairly solid and believable but the curled up pose was hard to draw.  I'm not sure whether I've been able to convince the viewer that she is sitting.  I think the lower part of the body looks a bit flat.

The proportions are passable but I need to get into (and maintain) the habit of checking all the time.  I also think I need to use guide marks much more in the initial stages of the drawing so that things are where they should be.

I didn't fill my page and I know I should have done.


Research Point 

I laid on the bed in front of a long mirror and looked at the foreshortening.  I take such views as normal but when you really, really look it's very strange.  My feet were the same size as my head and my arms almost disappear.  As I drew them my toes looked impossibly large. Everything looks squashed except my feet and my head.

Laying on the bed

If I lay flatter on the bed my feet looked looked bigger as my body disappeared. I sat up a bit and tried to draw but found it very uncomfortable so I took a photo.

I have found some pieces of art that use foreshortening very purposefully.

The Mourning over the  Dead Christ - Andrea Mantegna (1475) (1)

Compared to what I drew Christ's feet look very small and his head large.  I think the artist may have done this on purpose as Christ's head could be said to be more "holy" than his feet.

Lush - Duarte Vitori (2)

This looks so awkward and the feet are just HUGE.  I think the artist intended us to be taken aback.

I used foreshortening on of my early figures at the group.  I didn't find this difficult as long as I drew what I saw and not what I thought was there.

The models bottom looks proportionally larger because it is nearer to me.



(1) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/213452/foreshortening

(2) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/244461085999041896/

Part 4 Project 2 Ex 1 Proportion

Proportion

I know that people come in all shapes and sizes but generally we all follow pretty much the same proportion.  When something is out of kilter we spot it immediately.  It's remarkable that I can get it so wrong but I do.  Many artists distort or fragment the human figure; Picasso and Matisse are examples.  I guess it's very much like driving; you learn to do it properly then develop it to suit your needs (for good or ill).

I've looked at various information to help me to draw figures.  I started with Vitruvian Man in which Leonardo de Vinci combines the philosophy, geometry, mathematics, religion and architecture of the Renaissance.  The work was based on that by Vitruvius, an ancient Roman architect.

Vitruvian Man - Leonardo de Vinci (1490) (1)

For my purposes the detailed ideas about about proportion are the most interesting. These can be found on Wikipedia (1).

I also looked at the some work by Neil Plotkin (2).  Plotkin shows how Euan Uglow developed his paintings by very using very precise measuring.

Study - Euan Uglow  (2)

Summer Picture - Euan Uglow (1971/2)

In many of his paintings Uglow left in his guide marks so that if necessary he could go back to a piece of work later.

In my Life Drawing Group I'm constantly being told to put in initial marks as a guide and there is a video by Sheila Ceccarelli from Access Art that gives quite clear instructions about doing just that (3) using the sight method.

Frank Curkovic shows another method of measuring (4) that bases everything on boxes.  I'm not familiar with this method and to me it feels very mechanistic and unappealing. 

I did these quick sketches at my life drawing group.  My course instructions ask me to do several 2 minute sketches from different positions around the model.  Because the studio is small I found I couldn't do this because everyone else was doing a long study and there was nowhere to move to.

Because my position was a hard one with foreshortening of the legs I decided to do several images hoping that as I got more familiar with the shapes my drawing would get better.  There was more than an element of panic around because two minutes is no time at all.  

;;p

My manual suggests that I start drawing from the middle of the figure and my two attempts were dismal - my poor model lost her head.  The foreshortening wasn't to good and in the second image I didn't get time to put the seat in. 

I managed to changed my position just a little in the two drawings above and I started from the head (these images are cropped because they are scanned from A3 paper). I think the first one (larger) is a bit better from the point of view of proportion - the torso isn't quite as long and the model looks as though she's seated.  I tried to think of what I saw as "shapes" with the thighs becoming an ovals - I found this helped with the foreshortening.  The second image is a bit of a backward step,

This final  two minute sketch is the best.  The proportions are OK except for the arms which are smaller than they should be.  I realised too late that I should have put in some basic position markers for the head, navel, knees and so on, as a guide. 

I found working so quickly very difficult; I was panicky and forgot the basics.

I put markers in for the next studies which were 10 minutes and the proportions are better although the heads are very flat looking.

I'm not too keen on the solid outlines I've used in these two drawings - I should have used tone or more gestural marks but there doesn't seem to be a lot of time for thinking.

Because things were atarting to get a bit repetitive I made this final piece of work 30 minutes long and in charcoal.  Whilst it's not brilliant I have managed to get some solidity to the figure.  I'm pleased with the right collar bone and the highlights on the breasts.  Having time to look for the tones was a bit of a relief.

By the time I had finished this the pose was over and there was no time for trying other media.  I was sorry that I couldn't try other positions but other people had needs as well.  Unlike my previous work I can't use photos as an aide memoire so when it's done it's done.

This is a very different way to use my newly acquired skills and it's a huge leap.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

(2) http://paintingperceptions.com/figure-painting/euan-uglow

(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgw1CXghL5k

(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AMufOx4Hgk

Part 4 Project 1 Ex 2 Form with fabric

Emphasising form with fabric

I have to to draw a seated figure paying attention to the way the clothing moulds around and covers the body.  The instructions say that the head, hands and feet should be just indicated.  I was a bit apprehensive about this as I'd found the  previous exercise hard going.

My husband promised me he could sit still for long enough - I told him half an hour.  It took a little longer than that but this is what I drew:

Richard with his Kindle

I'm much happier with this than I was with the towels in the last exercise. Although I used graphite I managed to get the shading better and used plenty of tone. I think the figure looks solid and the perspective is OK.  Perhaps the right leg is a bit iffy but generally I'm pleased.   By and large the clothing seems to give form to the body and I have managed to keep things in proportion.

I found that if I made curved marks (sort of round the body) I could achieve some shape.

Part 4 Project 1 Ex 1 Fabric

For my first drawing work in Part 4 I have to draw fabric.  This filled me with some trepidation as whenever I've tried to draw it before I've struggled.  My instructions say I should make two 15 minute sketches one using line and the other one using tone.

Whether it was my mindset I don't know but I wrestled with this for the best part of a day getting more and more frustrated.  

I think at first I made life too difficult for myself by throwing a towel onto the table.

My first attempts were not what I wanted.  This is the best of a bad bunch.

My white, fluffy towel looking more like a lump of clay

I decided to rearrange my towel and put it over the back of a chair.

Line drawing of my towel on a chair

My line drawing continued to look lifeless.

Tonal drawing of my towel on a chair

But my tonal one was a little better.  At least it looked like fabric.  I thought perhaps I should try another medium - perhaps I was getting hung up on pencil.  I tried my pastels.  I scanned it in both greyscale and colour.  

Pastel drawing of my towel on a chair scanned in greyscale

Pastel drawing of my towel on a chair scanned in colour

I wasn't particularly happy with this but when I propped it up and stood back I got a pleasant surprise. It was by far my best attempt of the day.  It has to be something to do with the soft pastels.

My next task is to identify "tricky" parts of my fabric and do a number of detailed sketches. Stupidly I returned to my graphite pencils and so to a solid looking towel.

I'm ashamed to say that at this point I snatched the towel from the chair.  I'm really starting to beat myself up over this exercise so I think I'm going to move on and keep it in the back of my mind.

I'm supposed to reflect on my experience of drawing folds but I think it's pretty clear what I found hard.  And probably why.

Part 4 Research Point 2

The depiction of the nude

Ways of Seeing

On a cold, wintry afternoon I settled down to watch "Ways of Seeing" with John Berger. (1)   This series of four programmes was recorded in 1972 which makes it well over 40 years old and I was not expecting much.  It is is a black and white, poor quality image, relies on the technology of the day, is studio bound and features John Berger giving what amounts to a university lecture with poor visual aides.  It was nothing like the slick, travelogue art programmes we get now.

And I loved it.

The dialogue was straightforward, intense, and full of ideas that at the time were new and still feel fresh now.  The idea of a man expounding a feminist viewpoint in 1972 must have been amazing.  But what did he offer that impressed me so much?

Part 1

Berger suggests that the way we interpret Western Art is determined by habit and convention.  I take that to mean that he thinks we accept what we are told without asking our own questions.  Berger believes that because (even in 1972) reproduced images were so accessible our judgement is impaired because of the manner in which they are viewed.  We rarely have the opportunity to see the original work as the artist intended.  For instance the intention might have been to inspire reverence which is difficult to capture in a newspaper reproduction placed next to advertisements. 

The main premise of Part One is that extraneous influences get in the way of our seeing paintings "properly". Berger gives us the opportunity to look at Vermeer's The Milkmaid in silence because external noise can influence our viewing.

The Milkmaid - Johannes Vermeer (1657 est)
Oil on canvas (2)

This seemed to me to be an unusual thing to do but I was amazed to find that in the silence I thought I could hear the water pouring into the bowl.  And I really looked at the image - all this and it was only in black and white.  It was a very powerful illustration.

Berger goes on to say that we view art through the mirror of our experience - there is always a personal context to viewing.  A painting I really like is another Vermeer, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter.

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter - Johannes Vermeer (1663 est)
Oil on canvas (3)

There is a lot of speculation about this painting; what is she reading, is she pregnant, why is the map of the Netherlands on the wall?  What Berger is suggesting is that the viewer brings their own baggage to the interpretation.  For instance someone who is expecting a love letter would view the painting in a different way to someone who had a son or daughter fighting in a war.  One would be welcoming the positive and the other dreading the negative.  It's all about context and the way our world view changes us.

Part 2

Part two is a discussion about the nude in art and an attempt to clarify exactly what a nude is. Kenneth Clarke has said that being naked is being without clothes and the nude is a form of art.  Berger seems to dispute this as rather simplistic and tells us that to be naked is to be oneself; and to be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself.  A nude has to be seen as an object in order to be a nude.  I can go along with this.

It reminds me of my apprehension when I went to my figure drawing group for the first time a few weeks ago.  I couldn't anticipate how I would feel looking closely at and drawing a naked (nude?) person.  Having considered Berger's thoughts I think the completely neutral nature of the professional encounter makes the model an object.  Interestingly the model is very personable as we are eating lunch but slips effortlessly into professional mode afterwards.  The model has been the same woman each time I have attended and she is easy on the eye.  I have some concern about how I will manage a male model or someone less attractive.  There are some contradictions here about my intellectual understanding and the emotional response I have.

Berger maintains that few old masters show a woman being herself; the majority portray her as an object of male desire or idealisation.

Part 3
Part three offers a Marxist based philosophical look at the oil painting and its function and worth. The advent of oil painting gave the artist a much improved medium for depicting objects that looked tangible.  The patron could show off his valuable possessions and material wealth for the world to admire in a commissioned painting. Ironically the paintings became treasures themselves.

Berger contrasts his own opinion of Constable's Mrs and Mrs Andrews with that of Kenneth Clarke.

Mrs and Mrs Andrews - John Constable  (1750) (4)

Clarke describes Constable's painting of the countryside as "sensitive".  The enchanting landscape, says Clarke, is painted with love and mastery.  Berger on the other hand sees the painting as a flaunting of wealth and  privilege.  He believes the attitude of Mr and Mrs Andrews is one of superiority and arrogance.

I can happily accept the arguments that Berger makes but without the legacy of European oil paintings, however morally reprehensible the culture that gave us them might be, we would be the poorer in many ways.

Part 3 didn't hold my attention as Parts 1 and 2 did probably because it has a little more distance from what I am currently studying.  It's stimulating all the same to hear a view other than the traditionally accepted one.

Part 4
Part 4 suggests that we are surrounded by publicity images that offer us a better way of life.  It goes on to look at the subliminal impact of such material and the message it might give to those who cannot attain the desirable objects.  In 1972 when Berger recorded these programmes he can have had no idea how consumerism was going to develop.

Berger spends some time looking at the concept of "glamour" which he says is "a state of being envied" and "publicity is the process of manufacturing glamour".  He suggests that glamour is a new idea and that when everyone knew their place in society and no one had was aspirations there could be concept of glamour.  I'm not sure that I agree with Berger - there have always been people who want more or better and I think this is demonstrated in a lot of art.

Our attention is drawn to the similarity between oil painting and publicity saying that they use many of the same references.  Berger gives a multitude of examples where the advertising world has drawn heavily on the tradition of painting using poses and images based on paintings we are very familiar with.

There is a major difference in oil paintings and publicity however,  Oil paintings celebrate what the commissioner had - it consolidated his position whereas publicity appeals to our aspirations and what we might have if we have the money.  The consequent feeling of inadequacy if we fail to reach our expectations makes us what Berger calls "faceless".

The final section of Part 4 deals with the uncomfortable or even untenable position we are often put in by publicity.  His example is the turning of a couple of pages in the Sunday Times Magazine.  First we see a frivolous advert then a heartrending article pleading for help for Pakistani refugees.  This is followed by more frivolity.  I think what Berger was identifying was we now know as "charity fatigue".

Afterthoughts
Whilst I don't go along with all that Berger asserts the general thread of his thinking sits very well with me.  I have the doubtful benefit of over forty extra years to see how things have developed. Women are still seen as objects and consumerism is even more rife.  There are still the haves and the have nots and people are made very miserable if they can't have the latest must have gizmo.

What will stay with me most though is the feeling that there is another way to look at paintings and that although the societal context is always a huge factor one of the most powerful influences on our interpretation is our own life experience.  What is amazing is that what has set me buzzing is over 40 years old. This has made me really think hard in new ways.

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utEoRdSL1jo

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Milkmaid_(Vermeer)

(3) http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/vermeer/

(4) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-mr-and-mrs-andrews