Dived into the opportunity to show some of the lifedrawings made in 2017. It was a great show with some fab takes on the male and female nude. A handful of my fellow Candid Arts trust lifedrawing regulars were showing to which made for a fantastic view into what goes on in my favourite shared studio.
The four pieces entered were from various lifedrawing session across London and demonstrate a developmental period of my practice were I transitioned from using oil pastels into using acrylic paint as a medium. Although still investigating light and form I decided to focus on natural tones at this time.
This was one of my final 40 min oil pastel pieces (made – Tim Allbrights lifedrawing in Aldgate) in 2017 and marked a hard stop in my oil pastel practice, which has continued to this day (Jan – 2019). At this point I felt I was capturing light and a perceived movement in a still form quite well. My lust to use brush and paint was too strong by this point but now I feel there may be a need to return to this one day.
Intended an hour at The Royal Drawing School life-drawing dropin. I had no idea I would be fortunate enough to get a chance for a 2 hour pose. I spent a bit of the time faffing around looking for an angle and drew some quick sketches so that my eye could find the best place. This was great , I’m finally using things that have been taught me and using them as parts of my whole approach. I put to paper, two quick 1 min charcoals from very different angels and then settled on this foreshortened pose
New to paint I went much slower but that was also a fault of knowing how long I had. The tutor was quick to inform people present that they should still approach the pose with the same fury they do on longer poses (so there’s a lesson for me)
I was struggling profoundly with colour these days but Adrian Duttons classes were starting to. One thing I felt about this exercise is that I still have a long way to go concerning palette control. The piece still resembles my drawing style. Thinking back now it might be nice to return to this.
‘As cold as the snow outside’ – acrylic on paper. I went to the Royal Drawing School in Shoreditch again. The weather was absolutely brutal for that time of year, so cold and it was snowing with a bitter wind.
The lighting above the was so bright, provided by a florescent tube and the cold light from a sky light. The model herself, as a result, almost shone, in contrast to the red of the sofa. Such was the cold light on the models flesh that I almost painted her blue and had to make a few dabs of paint for the sofa to understand the contrast. After an hour I hadn’t even got the sofa in and the pose was over
Bensdraws 