Didn’t do my daily drawing blog yesterday!!!!! I went out for the annual Life Drawing Group curry, to the rather excellent Vojon Restaurant in Swansea and by the time I got home it was way too late to blog. I thought I would have had enough time as we met at the curry house at 7.30 but we all had such a good time that we didn’t get home ‘til after midnight. It’s always hard to choose because it’s such an excellent menu but they have a garlic-lovers selection and I was in the right mood for a garlic overdose, so I had the Garlic Lamb Frezi with garlic rice. The garlic rice was so garlicky that it’s probably best described as a spot of rice in a bowl of garlic. Delicious. Luckily husb also had the garlic rice, so we were able to sleep in the same bedroom.
There were seventeen of us, fourteen artists of all ages and three of our fabulous models. One of them is in this drawing. He’s one of our baby boomer models and he’s a joy to draw. I’ve used as my base a piece of Bockingford 250 gsm. I did a transfer print onto it some time ago, using a photograph [of an ancient mountainous village in Northern Pakistan] which I printed out with an ordinary inkjet printer. I placed the image face down on the Bockingford and quickly brushed the back of it with acetone [nail varnish remover], slapped a bit of tissue paper on top and speedily trundled it through one of the etching presses. This transferred the image onto the Bockingford, but in the process the image can change quite a lot, especially the colours. After all that palaver, I decided I didn’t like it so I drew on top of it in Faber Castell Pitt pens. Then I liked it 🙂
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Nice drawing. I’m glad to see that us old guys are good for something…even if it’s just sitting there (my favorite pastime).
Hansi
lol thanks 🙂
A terrific piece. You celebrate the fullness and richness of the older model as very few artists do. There isn’t an ounce of patronizing or gloating in the ravages of time. Instead you make the figures more human and more beautiful. I love this piece.
i also appreciate your sharing of your technique and materials. I have a good friend who is a fine artist and he has a terrific way of re-cycling, I’ve seen him grab a watercolor painting and hold it under a garden hose when it doesn’t suit him. He also flips over the 300 gm paper and uses the other side if he feels the painting hasn’t measured up. Some lucky buyer will discover when someday they reframe one of these that they’ve got a bargain TWO paintings for the price of one!
Thanks for you lovely comment. I’m getting more and more interested in working with baby boomer models as we’re a very distinct demographic. I like your friend’s technique – I have a few double-sided pieces framed up as well lol 🙂
I use a Chartpak blender marker to transfer images from old toner printer copies to paper and fabric. Get excellent results by rubbing back of paper with fresh marker, then burnishing the back of the paper with a dried out marker.
Also will transfer photocopies of drawings to lino–gives a nice place to start carving–not too precise.
Trouble is, it’s hard to find these older printers-everyone has laser printers.
Like the way you re-use-upcycle other artwork–“nothing is wasted”.
Thanks for the tip – I like using recylced work because it breaks the inhibitions I feel when I look at a pristine white surface 🙂